How To Remove Image Background or Make Background Transparent

[Fluttrbye]

How To Remove Image Background or Make Background Transparent

Is there anyone out there who can help me understand how to remove an image background or make the background transparent so that all that can be seen is the image with no white background ?

I do not have any experience with photo editing.

I am totally lost on how to do this with the photo editing programs I have, which are:

OpenOffice drawing
Paint.net
Gimp 2

Your help will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you

 

[Didereaux]

the first two programs are not going to get the job done. Gimp2 might, but I am not familiar enough with it to give advice. You might try Elements. To do it well requires some learning, so brace yourself. I will tell you though that some of the very best practitioners can be located on FreakingNews...these people are past masters, and most are very helpful to beginners.

 

[table1349]

Paint.net should work. Here is a forum tutorial for what you want from Paint.net: I suggest you go to the forum section, register and browse for it has a slew of tutorials.

Making Backgrounds of Images Transparent - Beginner Tutorials

 

[The_Traveler]

Is there anyone out there who can help me understand how to remove an image background or make the background transparent so that all that can be seen is the image with no white background ?

An image will always be seen as a rectangle, that's the way that devices work.
If you want to exchange the existing background for another, you can do that.

For example, here is a picture at random that 'looks' oddly shaped,

but it is actually the image edited sitting on another layer as a background that comes close to matching the background color of this site.

 

[Dave442]

I do as the Traveler noted, but if I want the background the same as from the original image, but slightly transparent, I just make a copy of that layer and adjust the Opacity.

 

[Fluttrbye]

Thank you all so much for the help and suggestions!

 

[TCampbell]

Not all file types support the notion of "transparent" pixels. GIF, TIFF, PNG, BMP, and JPEG 2000 (but nor normal JPEGs) do support it.

Photoshop can help you make this (or Photoshop Elements).

If you create a "new" file with nothing in it, then the background is transparent by default and you can copy and paste graphics from other images into your new file. The Photoshop file (.PSD) supports layers and knows the background is transparent but when you export the image to share it or use it elsewhere you have to use one of the file types I mentioned above to preserve transparency (otherwise the background will get converted to a solid color.)

If you have an existing image, you can insert a transparent layer.

If your image has a background region that you want to eliminate then you can use the "magic wand" or "magic lasso" tool to select the region you want to remove. When you use those tools you'll notice a "tolerance" box at the top. If the tolerance is set to "0" then it means that only pixels that have absolutely identical color hue values to the pixel YOU pick will be selected. As you increase the tolerance then it sets a fudge-factor so that pixels which are close to the same value (but not identical) will also be selected. Note there's also the "continuous" check-box which tells it if it should pick pixels even if it's in a different area of the image.

See: The Magic Wand Tool - Photoshop Selections

Now just save your images as any file type that supports transparency.

 

[Wolfox]

You can Use Paint.NET, not the normal paint from Microsoft, but "PAINT.NET" Has also lot of plugins to play with.
EXAMPLE

On the Go i also use ERASER on My Android phone.

 

[GHK]

I'm not familiar with your software so I hope this will be of use, although you will need a Layers facility to get the transparency that you ask for.
Unfortunately, there are two conflicting meanings of the word 'background'. Usually it means the more distant parts of the scene (call this type A). However, when you open an image for the first time it will be labelled 'background' (call this type B).
You can get rid of the background(type A) by selecting it, then using the Clear command. As you seem to have discovered, the area you have cleared will be white or some other colour (depending on the backgd {type B} setting in the Tools palette). For transparency you will need a true layer. You get this either by (a) clicking on the word 'backgd' and clicking OK in pop up, or (b) by creating a new, duplicate layer above the word 'backgd' and making the original Bgd invisible . This will be a true layer (which will be labelled 'New layer' or 'Backgd copy'). Selecting and clearing on this layer will reveal your transparency, which will be shown by a grey and white grid, although there is really nothing there in the image.
All my experience relates to Photoshop. The 'new' subscription method (the simple photography option) is recommended and costs less than £10 a month (UK). If you are serious about your photography it is the way to go, and apart from its processing capability, it effectively provides a language for communicating with other photographers.