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Make Image Background Transparent With These 5 Photoshop Tools

Do you have a great image whose appearance you would wish to enhance? If you did answer yes, then you have to know the five Photoshop tools that can make image background transparent. These tools are generally very effective and ideal for professional use.

Whether you are a Commercial Photographer or an online retailer, shooting product photos and selling them online. Sometime you need to remove the background of your product photos or edit them to increase online sales or meet Amazon or Ebay guideline. To make image background transparent satisfactorily, you must of necessity use only the right tools. This is because the standards that are expected out of such exercises are way very impeccable. You therefore just cannot afford to gamble with this exercise.

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5 Photoshop Tools to Make Image Background Transparent:

  1. Magic Wand Tool
  2. Quick Selection Tool
  3. Pen Tool
  4. Background Eraser Tool
  5. Channel Mask

These tools form the basis of our subsequent discussions. We have already identified and are going to examine briefly the top five Photoshop tools which you may help you out.

1. Magic Wand Tool

The Magic Wand Tool, known simply as the Magic Wand, is one of the oldest selection tools in Photoshop. Unlike other selection tools that select pixels in an image based on shapes or by detecting object edges, the Magic Wand selects pixels based on tone and color.

To use this tool, to make image background transparent, follow these simple steps:

Step I: Open the Image and Make a Duplicate Layer

Start off by opening the image you are interested in handling. Proceed to save a copy of the image just in case it might get lost. Follow this by duplicating the image layer. This is to make it possible for you to fix any problem later.

Open the image in Photoshop CC18

To do this, hold down the background layer and drag and drop it to the new layer option at the lower portion of the layer panel.

T0 make a duplicate layer drag-and drop the background layer

Step II: Select the Magic Wand Tool

Now select the magic wand tool. Go to the left panel in the Photoshop menu for the tool bar.

Magic wand tool

Step III: Select Background Area of the Image

You now have to select the portion of the image you intend to make transparent. To do this, grab the magic wand tool and click on any portion of the background area. This will automatically delineate the outlines or boundaries of the background you intend to make transparent. Once done, you will see some broken lines blinking around the outlines of the images.

Select background area by magic wand tool

Step IV: Click ‘Delete’

After you are through with selecting the background, click the ‘delete’ button on your keyboard. The background you narrowed on should now be transparent.

Press the delete button from keyboard to make transparent the selected area

Please note that transparency in this sense does not infer the ability to see through. In fact, you will see a faint checkered pattern in the space between the image outline and the frame that encloses the image.

Step V: Make Final Touches

In case after the above step some portions of the image background remain non-transparent, follow the first three procedures ab second time. This should be able to fix the problem. You may also consider going manual or step by step as a final measure.

Step VI: Save the Image

Finish off by saving the image. To do so, click the ‘File’ main menu and then select ‘Save for Web (Legacy)’ from the File drop-down menu. Thereafter, select the image and then conclude the process by clicking ‘save.’

Save the image using save for web and device

2. Quick Selection Tool

This tool is so called as it can allow you to quickly select the exact portion of an image you are interested in. It has a brush tip that is adjustable and round in shape. You engage this tool by dragging it. In the process, it expands outwardly. It is designed to find and follow the defined paths and edges automatically. To use it to make image background transparent, follow the procedures laid out below:

Quick Selection Tool

Step I: Unlock your Photo layer

Unlock the photo layer and generate a duplicate of the selected image. Simply click save as and then assign the duplicate a unique name. This will provide a back-up of the image and secure it against unnecessary loss.

Unlock the background layer of orange image

Step II: Select the Portions of the Foreground Image you want to Retain

Now select the portions of the foreground image you intend to retain. This is where the quick selection tool comes in handy. Simply go to the ‘Tools Palette’ to activate this tool. Next, drag the tool around the boundary of the parts of the image you are interested in.

Select the foreground portion of the image using quick selection tool

Step III: Inverse your Selection

Press Command + Shift + I or click Select then Inverse. This will enclose the image you are interested in and leave behind the background untouched.

Inverse the selection to select the background portion

Step IV: Effect the Change

Press ‘delete’ button from you keyboard to make the image background transparent.

Press delete button to delete the selected area

Step V: Refine the Edges of the Foreground Objects

Proceed to refine the edges of the foreground objects. Use the eraser tool to do this. Select the eraser tool to use it on the area you wish to refine.

Refine edge using eraser tool

Step VI: Final Image

You may, if you so wish, enhance the edge more to make it high quality and final image will look like this.

Final image with transparent background

3. Pen Tool

This tool resembles a pen. It is frequently used to create smooth edges of the selected images. It generates vector paths which convert into selections which may, in turn, be used to extract or mask out groups of pixels. It can also make image background transparent. To use it for this purpose, follow the steps laid out below:

Related content: Learn how much does clipping path cost to outsource.

Step I: Open the image in Photoshop

To do this, go to the menu and click ‘File.’ On the drop-down menu, click ‘open.’ You may also use the ‘Command + O’ on your keyboard to achieve this very end.

Open option in Photoshop CC18

Step II: Select Pen Tool

Activate the pen tool. Go to the Toolbox and select the ‘Pen Tool’ option. You may also use the ‘P’ key from the keyboard as an alternative.

Pen Tool

Step III: Draw the path

Next, draw the path of the enclosure around the object of interest. Press the mouse button on the edge of the specific object which you intend to cut within the image. Drag the mouse around the object and release it once you are through.

Draw path around the bag image

To make a curved path, ident the mouse. This is especially the case if you have round shapes to encircle. In case you want to make a corner, drag the mouse straight till you get to an end. Click the mouse and lift it off the point. Start drawing a new line by clicking the point from where you stopped. Drag the mouse again to another point. Apply this same technique to join two points together.

Path complete

Step IV: Save the path

Save the final outcome. Go to the ‘Path’ palette and double click on the ‘path layer.’ Finish the procedure by clicking OK.

Save the path

Step V: Delete the Background

Delete the background by applying a clipping path. To do this, click ‘clipping path’ on the ‘Path’ palette. Assign the desired flatness (from 0.5 to 1) on the device pixels. This should depend on the size of the image and ought to make the edge of the product photo as natural as can be.

Apply clipping path

When you are done open the image in any other software like CorelDraw and the background is deleted. And then you can use any background color you like. For this image a grey color background has been used.

Bag image with grey background color

4. Background Eraser Tool

As the name suggests, this tool is used to remove background from image with hair or fur which is also called image masking technique. It is located under the regular Eraser Tool in the ‘Tools’ panel of the menu bar. Upon activating this tool, the cursor of your mouse shall change to a circle. It shall also have a small crosshair right at its center. Follow the steps below to use the tool to make image background transparent:

Step I: Open the Image

Open the image. Do this by grabbing the image you want to remove the background of.

Open the model image

Step II: Select Background Eraser

From the ‘Photoshop Toolbox’ select the ‘Background Eraser’. You may alternatively click and hold the Eraser tool to activate or reveal it.

Background eraser tool Photoshop CC18

Step III: Tune Your Tool Settings

Select a round hard brush from the tool options bar. Scale the size of your brush by using the square bracket key ([or]). This will facilitate the handling of your object appropriately.

Circle of background eraser tool on the image

Step IV: Erase the Image Background

Now commence erasing the background of the image. Do this by bringing the brush over the exact portions of the backgrounds you intend to erase. You will see a circle that is the size of a brush. This circle shall have crosshairs at the center.

Erase background color using eraser tool Photoshop CC18

Now set the background color using the eyedropper tool which you want to erase. Now click and move the eraser tool all over the background color and notice that the background color will be deleted. It also allows you to extract unwanted colors which might exist at the edges of any object that is on the foreground.

Model image with transparent background

Use pen tool to select the hand and body part which edge is soft. And then you have the final image without the background and you can use any background you wish.

Model image with green background color

5. Channel Mask

Also called an Alpha channel or selection, the channel mask is basically an extra channel that is added to an existing image. It basically stores the selected images in the forms of grayscale. You may add other alpha channels to generate and store more masks. You may also use this tool to make image background transparent. Follow these steps to do so:

Step I: Make a duplicate layer of the image

Duplicate the image to create a back-up.

Duplicate the background layer

Step II: Hide the Background Layer

Once you are done with creating a duplicate of the image, hide the background by clicking the visibility icon.

Hide background layer

For the channel mask open ‘color range’. To do this, click and then the ‘color range’ from the main select menu.

Color range manu option

When the ‘Color Range’ dialog box opens, select the ‘Left Eye Dropper’ tool and then click on the background color in the pink image window. This color shall turn white upon clicking it.

Color range dialog box

PS: Move the Fuzziness slider out and about until the image is mostly black. This is to remove the background completely. In case you wish to add color, click the ‘eyedropper tool’ using the ‘plus’ sign and click anywhere in the image. Finish by clicking OK.

Selected the background area using color range dialog box

Step III: Save the Selection As Alpha Channel

Select the appropriate button to save the selection. To do this, switch to the Channels palette. Click the ‘save’ selection as the ‘channel button’. It is the second button that is at the bottom of the channels palette.

Save the selection as alpha channel

You will notice a new alpha channel. Press the Ctrl button or the Command + D to deselect https://osterreichische-apotheke.com. Click the Alpha 1 in the channels palette thereafter.

Alpha channel created

The main window shall now become black and white in color. Keep the black areas and leave out the white areas.

Black and white window of the alpha channel

Step IV: Fine-tune the Mask

Fine tune your mask. Select a black brush and the edge of the image hard. Use the brush to paint all over the areas that belong to the object to completely mask it out.

Fine tuned the mask

PS: Each image is unique. For this reason, you may have to repeat the above steps several until you get it right.

Step V: Change the Background Color

To make the image background transparent using alpha channel hold down the Command key and click on the new alpha channel 1 to select the masked area and then delete the background. Now you have the image with transparent background.

You can now change the background color to any you wish.

Final image with a new background color

As you may well have noted, it is quite complicated to make image background transparent. This is because the undertaking is quite involving, time-consuming not to mention requiring a great deal of technical expertise and experience.

Short on time and not sure how to make image background transparent by outsourcing? Learn how to outsource image editing for eCommerce.

You definitely have to practice repeatedly and for longer to be able to attain the necessary skill and expertise. Alternatively, you may also wish to invoke the assistance of an expert in the field of background removal service to be on the safe side.


How to swap face in photoshop cc

How to Swap Faces Using Blend Technique in Photoshop CC

Face swap is a fun technique for any Photoshop experts, even for magazines, Hollywood studios, Commercial Photographers, and eCommerce or online sellers are also able to perform design magic by replacing one face or design element for another using Photoshop swap and blend technique.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you the step-by-step process for this widely used Photoshop face swap and blend technique.

11 steps to learn swap faces and blend technique in Photoshop CC

  1. Open the 1st woman image in Photoshop CC
  2. Draw a selection using Lasso Tool
  3. Copy the selection area
  4. Paste the copied area in next image
  5. Reduce opacity to 50% for a better view
  6. Set up both faces to swap perfectly
  7. Back opacity to 100%
  8. Duplicate the layer and rename
  9. Make a selection of 1st image and contract
  10. Delete the 2nd woman’s face behind the 1st woman’s face
  11. Use blending technique to swap the face

1: Open the 1st woman image in Photoshop CC

Open the 1st woman image in Photoshop CC from which you want to copy the face and blend with second woman’s face to swap.

Open the 1st woman image in Photoshop CC

2: Draw a selection using Lasso Tool

For this tutorial, we’ll use the image of a 1st woman’s face and swap it out for a 2nd woman’s face, but you can use this technique to manipulate images of all kinds.

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Lasso tool in Photoshop CC

First, click on the Lasso Tool within Photoshop and draw a selection around the man’s face, mouth and nose area. The pen tool can be used for this selection by drawing a clipping path to cut out the face. Make sure to include any creases on the person’s face, like near the mouth or nose.

3: Copy the selection area

Now go to the edit option from menu bar, scroll down and click on ‘copy’ or press CTRL+C on the keyboard to copy the selection.

Go to edit menu and copy in Photoshop CC

4: Paste the copied area in next image

Next, open up the image of the 2nd woman photo, go to edit menu, scroll down and click on ‘paste’, or press CTRL+P to paste your selection onto the 2nd image which is your destination image for the face swap.

Go to edit menu and paste in Photoshop CC

5: Reduce opacity to 50% for a better view

You need to reduce opacity of the copied area so that you can match eyes, nose and other face part and resize perfectly. To do that go to the layers panel and change the Opacity to 50%.

Make opacity 50 parcent to adjust both face correctly

Related content: Learn how to outsource your photo editing task

6: Set up both images to swap perfectly

Click on the new layer to adjust. Press ‘V’ on the keyboard to switch to the Move Tool. Move the image up and press CTRL+T. Find the pivot point and drag it over to the 2nd woman’s eye, which you should be able to see in the background. Then align the 1st woman’s eye directly on top of the 2nd woman’s eye so that the face swap will look natural.

Adjust both faces

Click the handle in the upper right corner and hold down both the Shift and ALT keys while dragging the image to scale down, fitting it inside the man’s face. To line up the eye and the mouth, go back to the corner, click and drag up to adjust for any tilt in the face.

7: Back opacity to 100%

Click and drag the other handles to make sure the face you have imported fits perfectly on the new face. Click enter on the keyboard and bring the Opacity back up to 100%. You may notice that the skin of the 1st woman i s not covering any hair on the 2nd woman’s face.

Bring back opacity to 100 parcent

8: Duplicate the layer and rename

Next, click on the background image and then click right button, or press CTRL+J to duplicate the layer. Rename the duplicate layer ‘woman face’.

Duplicate the layer of first image

9: Make a selection of 1st image and contract

In the next step you will stop accessibility to the background. Go to the thumbnail and click CTRL on the layered thumbnail, which will select the 1st woman’s face. Choose Select, Modify, and Contract on the 2nd woman’s face. When the Contract box comes up, enter ‘10 pixels.’

Note: The pixels may differ for different file size.

Contacted selection

10: Delete the 2nd woman’s face behind the 1st woman’s face

Hold the ALT key while using the mouse to zoom in on your image. You may notice that the selection is no longer at the edge of the picture. To remove the visibility of the 1st woman’s face, click on the ‘woman face’ layer and press backspace to delete those faces.

Delete selected area from first image

Related content: Learn how to make product photos SEO friendly and boos ranking

11: Use blending technique to swap the face

You’re almost done! Start this last process by clicking on the tiny box to the left of the 1st layer to bring the woman’s face back. Zoom out by holding the ALT key and scrolling out, using the mouse wheel. Then press CTRL+D to deselect.

Select both layers by holding the shift key and clicking on both layers.

Select both layer holding shifp key

Choose edit and select Auto Blend Layers.

Go to edit menu and click Auto Blend layer

When the Auto Blend Layers window opens, make sure that Panorama is selected, Seamless Tones and Colors is checked, and press OK.

Select Panaroma from blend method

You’ve now gone experienced the magic of Photoshop to swap faces, which blended the two layers together perfectly by automatically matching the skin tones together seamlessly.

Final image after using blending technique

You’ve now learned a technique used by Photoshop experts that you can use to combine images simply by following these eleven steps!

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