/Inpainting and Outpainting

Inpainting and Outpainting

Painting over a selected region, and extending the canvas past its edges. Between them they solve most of the problems you'd otherwise reroll for — and they are available in every serious tool, including Photoshop.

Inpainting — mask an area, describe what should be there, regenerate only that area.

  • Fixing a bad hand, a wrong expression, a duplicated object
  • Removing something you don't want, or adding something you do
  • Changing one element — a garment, a sign, a product — while everything else stays identical
  • Practical tip: feather your mask generously and include some surrounding context in the selection. Tight masks produce visible seams.

Outpainting — extend the image beyond its original frame.

  • Turning a square into a banner, or a portrait crop into a landscape
  • Recovering headroom the original composition didn't leave you
  • Building a wide environment from a single strong central image
  • Practical tip: extend in modest steps rather than one huge jump, and re-anchor with a prompt each time. Big extensions drift into a different scene.