2 Replies Latest reply: Jun 30, 2012 4:00 PM by Bill Hunt RSS

    Transparent Background

    Heirloom Bob Community Member

      I have made a selection on my photo and erased the background making it transparent. Now when I fill the background with white, I see portions of my original background showing through. How can I easily reselect the background and erase properly? When I use with the Quick Selection or Magic Wand tool, it doens't select all of the transparent background. I seem to remember a tip where I used another feature of CS5 that darkened the transparent background so much that it was eay to erase the missed background.

       

      Bob

        • 1. Re: Transparent Background
          JJMack Community Member

          It sounds like this is what you did.  On a normal layer you made as selection that had a soft feathered edge which you did not notice when you deleted the selection content and saw the transparency checkerboard. Then you add a new layer under it and filled that layer with white.

          You then saw the feathered part the was not completely deleted.  Target that layer and use the eraser.

          • 2. Re: Transparent Background
            Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

            Or, your Erasing was not complete, and you left pixels behind.

             

            To accomplish what you describe, I find it good to create a Mask, pretty much as JJMack suggests, and then use that Selection as a Layer Mask. With a Mask/Selection, it is easy to check it - just go to the Channels Palette, and turn off RGB (or CMYK), so that you are seeing ONLY the Mask. Magnify it, and study it for "pin holes."

             

            By knocking out your background to Transparent with a Layer Mask, you can come back and edit some more, years later, so long as you Save_As PSD, with all Layers intact.

             

            That was exactly how we'd do it in the analog days, where we shot cut Amber-lith and shot those on a process camera, to create our A, or B Masks for photo compositing in the darkroom. Before we used those, we'd grab a large 12x loupe, and study those, filling in any "pinholes" with Kodak Opaque and a very tiny brush.

             

            Good luck,

             

            Hunt