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How to remove the background in Photoshop

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One of the most popular operations that users turn to Adobe Photoshop for is background removal. This is often required when creating collages, graphic design layouts, posters, and other content. The function is useful for designers, photographers, and illustrators. The program implements several effective methods to quickly and qualitatively cut out the background.

The main tools for removing the background in Adobe Photoshop

First of all, you should consider the list of tools that are used to cut out the background. They are available in the control panel in a separate subgroup:

  1. “Magic Wand” – hotkey W;
    2. “Lasso” – hotkey L;
    3. “Pen” – hotkey P;
    4. “Brush” – hotkey B.

You should memorize these tools before proceeding to the review of step-by-step instructions for cutting out the background. In practice, this will greatly simplify the performance of everyday tasks and allow you to do the work faster. To clarify the name of the hotkey for a particular tool, you should put the mouse cursor over its icon and hold it for a few seconds. The tooltip will display information about both the name of the tool and the key that activates it.

Simple methods of background removal

With the help of the tools and methods listed below, even an inexperienced beginner will have no problem changing or removing the background on a picture in Adobe Photoshop.

Read also: How to make a real tan in Photoshop

Eraser

In the graphic editor there is a standard tool for removing the background, which is called “Background Eraser” In manual mode, you can cut out individual elements and the usual “Eraser”, but in this case the entire picture will be erased, so it is better to use a special solution for the background. The tool is located in the “Eraser” menu on the toolbar and is opened by right-clicking on the icon to expand additional options.

After selecting “Background Eraser”, the cursor icon will change to a brush. To change the options, you should adjust the position of the slider in the window that opens. If you clamp the eraser and swipe it over the background, the main object will remain almost untouched.

Confirmation that the background has been removed will be the appearance of small squares that indicate transparency. In case the tool partially touches an important part of the image, it can be easily restored by clicking on the item “History Brush tool” (History Brush tool).

After its activation it will be left to swipe over the necessary part of the image, having previously pressed the LKM.

“Magic Wand”

This is one of the most convenient and fastest methods. It is used for pictures with a homogeneous background, which consists of a uniform color. The instructions for using the “Magic Wand” are as follows:

  1. On the toolbar you need to look for the item “Select objects”, and then click on it and hold for additional options to appear.
    2. From the list that opens, you should select “Magic Wand”, and then make a click on the part of the image to be deleted.
    3. Since the background has been selected, you should invert the selection and then create a mask.
    How accurately the deletion will be performed depends on the selected settings.

  1. The “Sample Size” item is set to 1x1px by default. However, if there are unequal pixels in the background image, for example, similar colors, some of them may not be removed.
    2. The “Tolerance” option determines the accuracy of object boundary detection. If the tolerance is too low, a halo will remain around the model, while too high a tolerance will result in extra elements on the boundaries of the object inside. The standard value is 32 and is considered optimal for most tasks.

Overlay parameters

By the principle of operation, the method resembles the “Magic Wand”, but is designed for images with a non-uniform background. It will affect light or dark areas, turning them into transparent.

  1. 1. First, right-click on the layer with the image in the Layers panel and select “Blending Option” (Blending Option).
    2. Next, click on “Blend if” (Blend if), where there is a scale “This Layer” (This Layer). Moving the white slider to the left will remove the light areas, while moving the black slider to the right will make the dark areas disappear.
    3. If you hold down the Alt key, you can see an additional slider for translucency.

Removing backgrounds with masks in Adobe Photoshop

By mask in Adobe Photoshop means a stencil, which is responsible for adjusting the opacity of individual elements of the layer. The user chooses which parts to leave, and which to remove.

An important advantage of the tool is the masking of pixels, not their removal. That is, the picture in the background is not deleted, but disappears from view. To work with masks, you need to use the “Brush”. And you can draw on it with white or black color. The first makes the layer visible, and the second – on the contrary, hides it.

The step-by-step instructions for deletion are as follows:

  1. Activate the layer from which the background will be deleted.
    2. Enable the mask. A white mask will be added in automatic mode.
    3. Prepare a black brush and remove unnecessary elements, making sure that the tool does not hit an important part.

At long distances from the object, you can apply large brushes to speed up the process. As you get closer to the element you want to keep, the brush size should be reduced. Another thing to pay attention to is the size of the brush blending. If the edges are very soft, the result will be unnatural, the model will become translucent, while excessively sharp elements will make the cut marks rough and jagged.

Once the background has been successfully cut out with the mask, all layer movements will need to be performed together with it. By default, the mask is fixed to the layer, so no additional manipulations are required.