Method Monday

Thanks for joining me for Method Monday. I'm Virginia and I'm going to show you how to remove a background from a digital image.

I was originally going to turn this into an article, but I decided a step by step tutorial may help some of you and so I decided to write up a Method Monday instead. :) Hope it is helpful.

I use Adobe Photoshop for all my editing. So that is what I created the tutorial for. I am not sure but I believe you may be able to do this with Photoshop elements. I've never used that program but I hear it does some of the same things and is less expensive.

Let's get started.

Digital images usually come in jpg form. And that means there will always be a white background. But what if you wanted to print the digital image onto a colored cardstock or if you wanted to change the color of the background? That is still possible to do.

Step One:



Choose your image. I chose to use Vicky. I opened photoshop, Clicked on file, chose open and found Vicky where I had her saved.

Step Two:



Go to the filter tab and drop down the menu. Click on Extract.

Step Three:



In the Extract folder you will notice a little pen tip on the top left hand side under the word Extract. Make sure that is depressed. You will now begin outlining the image. On your right is a tool option box. You can select the size of this tool and hightlight color. I keep mine on green. Take your mouse or stylus (I use a wacom tablet) and carefully outline the image. Make sure you even do between her arm and body. Whatever you see inside the green line will remain. Everything outside it will be erased. I get as close to the image without cutting into it. But if you do, don't worry about it. You can restore it at the end.

Step Four:



Once you've

Step Five:



Once you've completed your outline, select the fill bucket under the pen tip on the left. On the right side make sure you have a color in the fill box under tool option. I always use blue. Go to the image and fill inside the green. You will notice it will turn blue. Once you fill all the spots where you need it filled, on the right side of the screen is a box called Textured image under Extraction. Make sue this box is checked. All the other boxes are defaulted with settings, leave them alone. Go to the top of the box and click ok.

Step Six:



After you click ok you will be taken back to your image. Notice that the image is now on a transparent background. I purposely left a lot of white so you can see the difference. Also, I went inside the green image and removed some of her leg. I wanted to show you how to fix your mistakes. On the right side there is a box. Click the first button. That is the history tool. Take your mouse or stylus and go over the areas you want to restore. It will add back in the background as much as you want. I love the history tool.

Step Seven:



This shows the restoring of the background. I have arrows pointing to it.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need extra help. There is a way to remove the background in less steps, but sometimes it is not as detailed. With these steps you can really get detailed and remove anything you don't want.

Thanks for stopping by.