diff --git a/mpl_interactions/mpl_kwargs.py b/mpl_interactions/mpl_kwargs.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a8035247
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mpl_interactions/mpl_kwargs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# this is a list of options to Line2D partially taken from
+# https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/blob/f9d29189507cfe4121a231f6ab63539d216c37bd/lib/matplotlib/lines.py#L271
+# many of these can also be made into functions
+plot_kwargs_list = [
+    "alpha",
+    "linewidth",
+    "linestyle",
+    "color",
+    "marker",
+    "markersize",
+    "markeredgewidth",
+    "markeredgecolor",
+    "markerfacecolor",
+    "markerfacecoloralt",
+    "fillstyle",
+    "antialiased",
+    "dash_capstyle",
+    "solid_capstyle",
+    "dash_joinstyle",
+    "solid_joinstyle",
+    "pickradius",
+    "drawstyle",
+    "markevery",
+    "label",
+]
+
+imshow_kwargs_list = [
+    "cmap",
+    "norm",
+    "aspect",
+    "interpolation",
+    "alpha",
+    "vmin",
+    "vmax",
+    "origin",
+    "extent",
+    "filternorm",
+    "filterrad",
+    "resample",
+    "url",
+]
+
+
+def kwarg_popper(kwargs, mpl_kwargs):
+    """
+    This will not modify kwargs for you.
+
+    Usage
+    -----
+
+    kwargs, plot_kwargs = kwarg_popper(kwargs, plot_kwargs_list)
+    """
+    kwargs = dict(kwargs)
+    passthrough = {}
+    for k in mpl_kwargs:
+        if k in kwargs:
+            passthrough[k] = kwargs.pop(k)
+    return kwargs, passthrough
diff --git a/mpl_interactions/pyplot.py b/mpl_interactions/pyplot.py
index 9228ff53..bfc4dbe6 100644
--- a/mpl_interactions/pyplot.py
+++ b/mpl_interactions/pyplot.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     notebook_backend,
     update_datalim_from_bbox,
 )
+from .mpl_kwargs import plot_kwargs_list, imshow_kwargs_list, kwarg_popper
 
 # functions that are methods
 __all__ = [
@@ -128,35 +129,7 @@ def f(x, tau):
         interactive_plot(x, f, tau=(0, np.pi, 1000))
 
     """
-    # this is a list of options to Line2D partially taken from
-    # https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/blob/f9d29189507cfe4121a231f6ab63539d216c37bd/lib/matplotlib/lines.py#L271
-    # many of these can also be made into functions
-    plot_kwargs_list = [
-        "alpha",
-        "linewidth",
-        "linestyle",
-        "color",
-        "marker",
-        "markersize",
-        "markeredgewidth",
-        "markeredgecolor",
-        "markerfacecolor",
-        "markerfacecoloralt",
-        "fillstyle",
-        "antialiased",
-        "dash_capstyle",
-        "solid_capstyle",
-        "dash_joinstyle",
-        "solid_joinstyle",
-        "pickradius",
-        "drawstyle",
-        "markevery",
-        "label",
-    ]
-    plot_kwargs = {}
-    for k in plot_kwargs_list:
-        if k in kwargs:
-            plot_kwargs[k] = kwargs.pop(k)
+    kwargs, plot_kwargs = kwarg_popper(kwargs, plot_kwargs_list)
     x_and_y = False
     x = None
     fmt = None