Rebecca, it’s called making a selection around the image and putting it on it’s own layer and then placing a white background behind it. Double click on your ‘ background’ image in the layers pallette will give you what is called an editable ‘layer’in which you can manipulate any way you want. I’m using PE1 and so to do what you want I tend to use the lasso tool to draw around the image I want isolated. After you make the selection around your image you’ll have what we call ‘marching ants’…go to toolbar>layer>new layer via copy ( PE1> ctrl + J )….this will put your selection by itself on it’s own layer. Then you can create a new layer below your selection and fill it with white. Come back if you need more help. There are plenty of ways to do things with this mighty program 🙂
Someone as talented as Jodi can probably get a nice, tidy selection made the first try. I get as close as I can, and then I usually wind up enlarging the image on my screen and using the eraser tool to clean up anything I still don’t want. 🙂
Rebecca,
I do just what Jodi and Beth have outlined. More often than not, I find that when I use the magic lasso tool, it helps to press the caps lock key in order to select more precisely.
Ken
Thank you all so much! I tried the regular lasso with the eraser and got a much better result than i ever have. Now I’ll try Ken’s suggestion. Your help is so appreciated as I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but didn’t even know what is was called. I’ll be back if I have any problems.
Best,
Rebecca
To add to the lasso tip, make use of the lasso selection option symbols in the menu bar such as add to or subtract from selection. I had a brain block on that sweet little feature for a while which made selections hellish.
Terri
I always have problems with the lasso tool. I know, it is my fault, but I cannot get used to it. If you want to do this in an easy way, you dont need to make any selection at all. If you want your subject on a white -or any other colour- background, just create a new layer, fill it with white, set the opacity to about 80% and use the eraser tool to "paint" back your original image.
Photoshop is like a language, each one uses his own dialect.
Leen
