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How do I?


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titaniumbean

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I have two syled letters which make up a company logo, I want to splice the two logos (old and new) together. I have each of the components of the logos which I want to put together but they both have a white background; how do I make their backgrounds transparent? Or do I have to custom crop all round them both pixel by pixel?

And can anyone suggest the best way in which to blend the two letters so that it isn't just one layered ontop of the other so it looks like it moves between the two smoothly with a nice gradient change.


Thanks in advance.

titaniumbean. 8}
 
Welcome to the forums, titaniumbean. Open an image in Photoshop. Double click on the 'Background Layer' in the layers palette and rename the layer or just let it be layer 0 and click OK. Now you have a floating layer which will support transparency. Is the white background contiguous or are there white parts within the letters to remove too? I'd suggest trying the Magic Wand tool and click on white. Hit your Delete or Backspace key and all the white will turn transparent.

Now do the same with the second part of the image. When you have both, increase the canvas size of one of them to make sure you have enough space for both elements of your final image (Image > Canvas Size). Now drag the layer from the layers palette onto the image of the other and you will have both layers on one image and be able to move them around.

Now if you are going to end up with a white background you are good to go. If you are going to end up with a different colored background you will find that there remains a fringe of remnant white-ish pixels around the two layers. As I don't know your circumstances, I'll just say look at the Photoshop Help files for 'defringe'. If you need to get rid of a white fringe post back if you can't figure it out and we'll help. If so, also tell us if you use Mac or PC. There is a great little free filter for Mac which does a fabulous job of that...


Ha ha! I just saw in the preview that there is a language filter in this new forum which clipped your user name. I don't know the way around it right now so we're stuck for the moment. 8D
 
Sorry i'm a complete noobie to photoshop.
I thought the fact my name gets starred out is very funny.



I'm running on a iMac G5. Running Photoshop CS Version 8.0
The white background is contiguous.


I'll try what you said and get back to you in a min, thanks for the quick reply.


[Edit] When I load one of the images in the layer section there is a lock next to it, how do I get rid of it/what does it mean? Does it mean you keep everything as one layer, because when I brought the logo to merge into it it didn't give it a new layer and I can't create new layers. I must be missing something very obvious so i'm sorry! Noobies eh!??[\Edit]

[Edit2] I've managed to get rid of all the white space, and crop the images I want, I've now split each of the two images into two (cut down the middle). I want to have the old image left hand side with the new image left hand side more opaque and in the background but just visiblish (if possible visible in a gradient form). Similarily, I want the new right hand side with the old right hand side behind it. Is there a way to make the colour in the logos get stronger as you go left to right in some way by using the gradient tool??
[\Edit2]

Thanks in advance,


t.itaniumbean.
 
Hmmm, I'm a little confused.

To begin with your first edit. When you first open an image in Photoshop, unless it is a previously saved PS file without a background layer, the image will always show up in the Layers Palette as a Background layer and be locked. It basically means that you can't move it or make any part of the layer transparent. You eliminate that by double clicking on the layer and clicking OK on the dialog which appears. It will default name the layer Layer 0 unless you rename it something else. It is now a 'floating layer' which supports transparency.

As you got by that issue OK, you say that you have split those images in half. Where are you with your file just now. Do you have one image with 4 layers? How did you 'split' them?

To deal with the fading issue, you will most likely use a layer mask. Check your help files for Layer Mask and then we can eliminate any confusion once you have the basic idea.

In my earlier post I mentioned a handy dandy Mac only filter which makes defringing white a snap. Peel off White is a wonderful little freeware filter which is worth it's weight in gold. Get it here...

http://www.bergdesign.com/plugins/

Install it by putting it in the plugins folder inside the Photoshop folder in your Applications and relaunching PS. If it turns out that you need to get rid of a white fringe there is a simple way with that filter. I'll describe how when (or if) you need to use it a bit later in this project.
 
lol you're confused this is some confusing software.


It was previously opened in PS yes, when I tried what you said about double clicking (I had already found that by accident) it wouldn't do anything, it must have been a glitch as no matter how many times I clicked on it it did nothing. I got by that by selecting around it and copying it into another file.

I used the dotted square thing! to cup them up. And am now left with one file with four layers, 2 of which (one of each half of the logo) are slightly opaque, and the other ones are behind them, I then blurred the two together a bit to get it to look a bit better.? I'll look up layer masks now, thanks this is the most helpful way for me, not being told how to do the specific thing but what technique to use means I can learn it myself which can only be a good thing.

As it stands I have no problem with white around the edges of the image but tbh i'll download that plugin and install it anyway because i'm sure i'll come up against that kind of problem at some point or another.


Sorry about the edits in my previous post it's just I find it very annoying on other forums I read daily where people reply to their own post, it seems such a waste and can get confusing.


Thanks again, as you've been so helpful i'm sure i'll be back soon asking more easy questions! But you know it's good to keep you on your toes! :-p


Thanks.


t.itaniumbean.
 
Just a few points, that may be useful under certain circumstances.

If your original text is black on a white background, you need only change the top text layers blend mode to Darken for the text below to show through clearly.

You can then add the background layer on top of the stack and change its blend mode to Multiply for the text layers to show through, as shown in the accompanying image.

You can use this method even when the black text has a soft edge, as shown.

The first stage will also work when there is black text on a coloured background, or coloured text on a white background (you can't have coloured text on a coloured background).

This method, when applicable, saves having to make selections.

Sark
 
If you are still having problems, could you post the samples, maybe it would be easier for us to just make a screen shot with layers so you can see the steps required. I'm thinking Apply Image might be easier for you after you have the backgrounds deleted.
 
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