Would like to change background of a picture

[thaiphoon]

Hi,

I just registered here. I'm a Swiss national living in tropical Thailand. I have a question on how to do something. I hope I'm in the correct forum for this):


I have a site with soccer shirts. Many of the pictures I upload are with a white or black background, but recently I saw somebody who used a greyish background with a gradient going from dark on top to lighter at the bottom. It looks much better than just plain white or plain black. Can anyone tell me how I would change a picture like this:




to a picture like this:




I would very much appreciate a step by step tutorial, if someone is willing to do this for me. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[IamSam]

Hey thaiphoon,

I first removed the shirts background. You can use any of the selection methods your comfortable in using. I created a layer mask when I had a suitable selection.



I then created a new layer below the shirt layer and filled it with the gray color.



I then created a new layer above the gray layer, used my Elliptical Marquis Tool to create an ellipse at the bottom of the shirt which I filled with white.



I then added a Gaussian Blur of about 50 to the white ellipse and then I set it's layer opacity to 25%. Done.



Here's the layers panel...

 

[thaiphoon]

Thank you very much, IamSam!

 

[thaiphoon]

Hi IamSam,

I have tried today to follow your tutorial, but I'm getting nowhere. I wanted to post a message with 2 screenshots, but every time I want to send it, I am told that no links are permitted in a post, although I don't mention any links.

I had sent you a PM a couple of days ago to ask for more help, but I never received an answer.

 

[thaiphoon]

Also, I would rather not use an elliptical shape, I have found another picture of which I actually like the background better. I try to attach:



Thank you for your help!