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Taking a completed photo and changing background to transparent


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chriswh86

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Hi everyone! Its been a while since I posted here. Last time i purchased a stock photo and tried to cut out the "person" so I could make the back ground transparent it didnt work out very well at all. The edges of the person were horrible and I couldnt use the image.

I am looking at another stock photo
http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mht...#id=118943068&src=KWMxw3QMlxRsM3tuHR2C9g-1-39

I am worried, due to my skill level of getting another photo and not being able to work with it to get it to a transparent background with smooth edges just as the person appears on his current white background. If someone has tips on how to do it properly, that would be great! I cant talk to the designer for a transparent version etc so.

Thanks all!
Chris,
 
The key here is to as accurately as possible (or as you require) when selecting the background. I made the job easier for myself by creating multiple layers (3 or 4 I think) turning off the base layer (background) and setting the blend mode for all the visible layers to multiply. I then merged the visible layers. For good measure I then increased the contrast. Now it was fairly simple to select the white background. I added a new layer (below the base layer) and then deleted the white background from the darkened layer. I zoomed in and carefully checked to make sure there were no stray pixels that needed to be removed. Once this was done I used the magic wand tool to select for all of the area where the white used to be (the transparent area). The next step was to turn off the dark layer and turn on the base layer. Now comes a bit of a trick. I went into "Refine Selection" and slid the "Smooth" slider a bit to the right, then I did the same with the "Feather" slider. I did not move them much but the effect will be a much softer, less jagged edge. At this point I made the base layer the active layer and hit delete. Of course you can fine tune how sharp or soft the edge is by tweaking the refine selection tools sliders. A bit of trial and error will probably be nec to get it just right. I just did a quickie so the edges may, in some areas, be a tad on the too soft side.

AS you can see from the attached the edges are nice and smooth/soft,,,,and this was using a low res image. If you buy a higher res image from the artist the results will be that much better.

I hope this helps.

Untitled-1.jpgUntitled-2.jpg
 
Last edited:
I thought you might like to see the darkened layer I described above so I am attaching it here. Of course the fact that the background was a uniform light (white) colour made this much easier to accomplish. If the background had been multicoloured or closer in colour to what would be the foreground, or parts of the foreground a different approach to selecting the background would be nec.Untitled-1.jpg
 
Chris, there are literally hundreds of tutorials/videos out there on removing backgrounds! We all have our individual preferences. My suggestion would be to start going through the tutorials and see what works best for you and your skill level.

I myself prefer using alpha channels to accurately and smoothly remove complicated BG's.

As B-man has demonstrated, you can use the smaller low res version to practice!
 
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