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Celeste.Caroline
Celeste.Caroline Calculating status...
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Using a transparent GIF

Apr 9, 2012 9:56 AM

After an hour of frustration I'm turing to this group feeling totally inept.  I'm trying to insert a transparent image into an existing photo using Photoshop Elements.  I have an original photo I am trying to use as a background (I have tried using this photo in a jpg and a psd format).  I have a second photo I have cut a logo out of and saved to a file with a transparent background (have tried psd, gif, and png formats).  The new logo file has a the checkered background and seems to be transparent.  I open the photo I want to be the background and drag the logo on top of it.  A new layer is created but the transparent logo is surrounded by a gray box.  I cannot see the background image through the areas that should be transparent.  In other words, all the areas of the logo image that has a checkered background turns gray when I copy it on top of the background photo.  What am I doing wrong?  Thanks for your help.

426 Views   4 Replies   Latest reply: 99jon, Apr 11, 2012 9:11 AM
 
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  • Barbara B.
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    1. Barbara B.,
    Apr 9, 2012 11:40 AM   in reply to Celeste.Caroline
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    What version of PSE are you using? Try copy/paste instead of dragging, or drag from the layers panel into the background image window.

     
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  • photodrawken
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    2. photodrawken,
    Apr 9, 2012 1:37 PM   in reply to Celeste.Caroline
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    You need both photos to be in "RGB Color" mode.

     

    Open your logo, use Image...Mode to set it to "RGB Color", and save it with the transparent background as a PNG file.

     

    Open your background image and use Image...Mode to set it to "RGB Color".  Then you can copy and paste your logo image with the transparency intact.

     

    Ken

     
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  • Celeste.Caroline
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    3. Celeste.Caroline,
    Apr 11, 2012 8:58 AM   in reply to photodrawken
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    Thank you.  The responses from photodrawken and Barbara helped.  I can now

    copy and paste the transparent image into my backgound.  Now, is there any

    way I change the size of the transparent image once I drop it into the

    background?  Thanks.

     
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  • 99jon
    10,084 posts
    Jan 6, 2010
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    4. 99jon,
    Apr 11, 2012 9:11 AM   in reply to Celeste.Caroline
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    Select the move tool and drag the corner handles of the bounding box to scale the size.

     

    Make sure show bounding box is checked in the options bar.

     

     

     

     

     
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