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how to get rid of a white background layer


jifjaf

jifjaf

Member
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P'shop CS3
Win 7 home premium

I've got a gif that's a green diamond shape on a white background. I want to get rid of the white part so that when I use the diamond in a webpage that’s got a pale grey background, there’s just the green on grey, without the white surrounding it.

I’ve tried various things – none really worked & anyway, they seemed clumsy & botched ways of going about it.

Any suggestion for how can I do this ‘properly’?

TIA


p.s. here's an image that might help...?
 

Attachments

  • green diamond in p'shop.jpg
    green diamond in p'shop.jpg
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Thanks Steve, but unfortunately that's replaced the white background with a black background (see attached screenshot) - even worse! ;-)

Is there some way of either

  • using the eyedropper to 'pick up' a sample of the grey from the webpage OR
  • setting the hexadecimal value for the colour i want OR
  • having a transparent background OR
  • havingno background at all i.e. just the green diamond?
thanks,
Jeff
 

Attachments

  • green diamond & black background on webpage.jpg
    green diamond & black background on webpage.jpg
    7 KB · Views: 25
The image in my last post (with black background) was saved as a gif. I just did the same process again that gave me that result & this time saved it as a png, but still got a black background..........maybe i'm misunderstanding what you suggested, but i can't see how.............?
 
Are you saying when you hit delete the selected white area it turns black?
I can't duplicate that.

screen.jpg

Try Ctrl+X instead of the Delete key.

Like Kevin said you have to save as a png file
 
Make sure that you have it set for a transparent background - that's one thing I have messed myself up with many times. If you have it set to a specific background color, that is what you will see.
 
just tried using ctrl+x instead & still got black (actualy, it looks a very dark green in the thumbnail).

this is what i'm doing:
1) open original green.gif (white background)
2) go to select > color range
3) click on the white with eye dropper
4) delete or Ctrl+X
5) save as .gif or .png
6) wonder why i get a black background whatever i do
7) sit here typing this

I can't see what's different between what i'm doing & what you're suggesting, though obviously i'm doing something wrong (except in the sense that these little challenges are good learnings!)
 
yes, steve the settings look exactly like that - is that how i need them to look?

BTW preferences are in the edit menu in my p'shop - is that different to yours (different version?), or am i/my application just weird?! ;-)
 
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yep, as soon as i hit delete or ctrl+X

so the opacity should be set at 100%? when i looked at the settings dialogue box i wondered if that was the problem - the background was being made too opaque.
 
jifjaf said:
BTW preferences are in the edit menu in my p'shop - is that different to yours different version, or am i/my application just weird?! ;-)
Click to expand...

I made a mistake.
It's under Edit not File.

I notice you had a similar issue with the black with that other image you were working on.
You may have a setting off someplace that I can't figure out or you may have a corrupt Preferences file.

Read this sticky, you can reset everything back to the default settings this way and see if it makes a difference.
 
Is there any way I can backup the settings I’ve got at the moment before deleting them?

I’m working through Deke McClelland's p'shop one-on-one book & I changed the setting as he recommends in there so as to have the same ones he’s writing about.

If not, then I’ll try your suggestion anyway, but not tonight – early start in the morning!


Thanks for your help, I’ll post an update tomorrow

p.s. I wasn't being facetious about which menu the preferences were in, I just thought that if we were using different p’shop versions then we might not be exactly ‘on the same page’.

G’night
 
You could try going Image/ Mode/ then RGB. Copy and paste the first layer, then hide it from view. Delete the white, and then save as .png .
 
Here's an easy way to do this.

1. Copy the entire original image including the white background.
2. Create a new file and make sure the "Preset" is set to "clipboard". Make sure your "Background Contents" is set to "Transparent".
3. When your new canvas opens, just paste what you had copied. **The layer with your image will be named Layer 1 by default.**
4. Create a new layer (Layer 2) and move Layer 2 below Layer 1.
5. Fill Layer 2 with whatever color you would like the background of the green diamond to be.
6. On Layer 1, go to "select > color range", and select the white color of the image. Click ok and then press delete.

That should get rid of the white and leave only the color that you want showing through.
 
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Boots' suggestion worked fine.

I didn't think it was anything to do with the problem I'd had with black background in my previous thread - that was my lack of understanding about masks. I was also a bit unsure about it being preferences, though I don't know why exactly.....hmmm?

Photoshop is a pretty amazing application, but there's so-o many functions, so-o many variables, that it can be a bit confusing for a novice!

Anyway, thanks for all the help guys
J
 
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