Elements 4 query

Dan <dan> wrote:

As a very non-expert user of PSE 4 how do I make the white areas of a picture transparent, so that when overlaid on another picture the content of the underlayer shows thru in the transparent areas of the top picture (layer) ?

1. Set the *new* canvas *Transparent* as default

2. If the canvas already have something, anything you want to transparent you just need to select the DEL will do.

Example.

– If you want to WHOLE canvas to be transparent then Ctrl-A then DELL

– If there is more than one color, and you just want the WHITE to be transparent then select the WHITE then DEL

*BUT* you will need to do STEP #1 for it to work.

Joel wrote:

Dan <dan> wrote:

As a very non-expert user of PSE 4 how do I make the white areas of a picture transparent

– If there is more than one color, and you just want the WHITE to be transparent then select the WHITE then DEL

Does it matter that the picture is high contrast monochrome – and it is the white parts that need to be made transparent ? Basically how do I just select all the white in a mono image ?

"Dan" <dan> wrote in message

Joel wrote:

Dan <dan> wrote:

As a very non-expert user of PSE 4 how do I make the white areas of a picture transparent

– If there is more than one color, and you just want the WHITE to be transparent then select the WHITE then DEL

Does it matter that the picture is high contrast monochrome – and it is the white parts that need to be made transparent ? Basically how do I just select all the white in a mono image ?

does Elements have select color range?

or the magic wand?

click the white area

edit>clear
should leave the image with no background

you must use a format that "sees" alpha (transparent areas)

for use in another file or for print>>tif or PSD
for web use>> SAVE AS gif or png

does Elements have select color range?

Does not appear to have this.

or the magic wand?

Yes to this.

Dan <dan> wrote:

Joel wrote:

Dan <dan> wrote:

As a very non-expert user of PSE 4 how do I make the white areas of a picture transparent

– If there is more than one color, and you just want the WHITE to be transparent then select the WHITE then DEL

Does it matter that the picture is high contrast monochrome – and it is the white parts that need to be made transparent ? Basically how do I just select all the white in a mono image ?

*If* the WHITE part need to be made transparent (which isn’t normal and may not what you have in mind) then.

– Use the COLOR RANGE option to select all the WHITE. And I am pretty sure that isn’t what you really want.

*But* if you only need to select the BACKGROUND then this is another story, and I believe this is what you want. Then you have several options and you can pick the one your are good at.

1. You can use whatever technique you know best (like the Lasso, Wand etc.) to select the BACKGROUND then DEL.

If selecting the forground is easier then select the foreground then Inverse to background then DEL. Or COPY & PASTE to the transparent canvas.

– If you already have the foreground selected (similar to the above) then you can Drag & Drop to a new canvas with Transparent background.

How to select ALL WHITE? well, you make it sounds harder *but* it’s actually much easier, simpler than just selecting part_of_the_white.

– By using Color Range option to select the WHITE color

– And you can use the same option above to select part of the WHITE by combinaing several steps.

– Using Color Range to select all white (background and part of the foreground)

– Then use Lasso (with either Shift *or* Alt hold down) to Add/Substact the selected area. I don’t have Photoshop running at the moment to remember which is which, but you can see either "-" or "+" symbol.

Yup! I have been using the same command daily for many years but I use without thinking to remember the exact Key Command to give to you. I don’t use Pulldown Menu often but lot of Key Commands, and I use too often to just do without thinking to be able to make a list <bg>

Selecting with the magic wand and deleting will leave white fringes around the dark areas.

If this causes a problem, try one of the following two techniques:

1) Add the artwork (your B&W monochrome image) as a layer in darken mode.

2) Use the art as a mask by inverting it and pasting it as a layer mask for a pure black layer. Use levels if necessary to adjust the final weight of the artwork. If the art is the Background layer, alt double-click on it to turn it into a regular layer. Save the final image in a format that supports transparency – tiff or png.
—
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

Dan wrote:

As a very non-expert user of PSE 4 how do I make the white areas of a picture transparent, so that when overlaid on another picture the content of the underlayer shows thru in the transparent areas of the top picture (layer) ?

Can you install a plug-in? Here’s a link (to a link) that should give you a (free) filter to turn white to transparent. It should work with Elements. Handy to have.

http://www.freephotoshop.com/html/etsuro_endo.html

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

Selecting with the magic wand and deleting will leave white fringes around the dark areas.

If this causes a problem, try one of the following two techniques:
1) Add the artwork (your B&W monochrome image) as a layer in darken mode.
2) Use the art as a mask by inverting it and pasting it as a layer mask for
a pure black layer. Use levels if necessary to adjust the final weight of the artwork. If the art is the Background layer, alt double-click on it to
turn it into a regular layer. Save the final image in a format that supports transparency – tiff or png.
—
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

the wand has no tolerance settings in Elements??

select >modify >>contract?

On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:17:59 -0400, KatWoman wrote:
[re white fringes w/ magic wand tool]

the wand has no tolerance settings in Elements??

select >modify >>contract?

Those are both practical ways to fix the problem by trimming off the white fringes. Sometimes this makes the edges of the "line art" more harsh, and you have to make a compromise between jaggies and fringes. This is the chronic problem with the magic wand.

Using a channel based operation, such as a layer in darken mode, or using the image itself as a mask, no compromise is needed. You can get rid of the fringes, and at the same time keep things smoother.
—
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

Swatch wrote:

Dan wrote:
how do I make the white areas of a

picture transparent, so that when overlaid on another picture the content of the underlayer shows thru in the transparent areas of the top picture (layer) ?

Can you install a plug-in? Here’s a link (to a link) that should give you a (free) filter to turn white to transparent.

Thanks to all who have helped – the above looks simple enough for my modest needs, so I will try this and some of the other suggestions.

Thanks to all who have helped – the above looks simple enough for my modest needs, so I will try this and some of the other suggestions.

Alas Eliminate White gives me this error message —

"Plug-ins that failed to load:

Eliminate White NO VERSION – OS 9 Plug-In Not Supported – from the file “/Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements
4.0/Plug-Ins/Filters/Eliminate White”

Any ideas what this means, apart from it not working.

Dan wrote:

Thanks to all who have helped – the above looks simple enough for my modest needs, so I will try this and some of the other suggestions.

Alas Eliminate White gives me this error message —

"Plug-ins that failed to load:

Eliminate White NO VERSION – OS 9 Plug-In Not Supported – from the file “/Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements
4.0/Plug-Ins/Filters/Eliminate White”

Any ideas what this means, apart from it not working.

Hey Dan,
When I see OS9 the first thing I think is you downloaded the Mac version of the plug-in. http://www.edesign.com/filters/elimwhit.zip is the windows version. Unless you have a Mac? If so then I can’t help , I’m on Windows with Photoshop.

Hey Dan,
When I see OS9 the first thing I think is you downloaded the Mac version of the plug-in. http://www.edesign.com/filters/elimwhit.zip is the windows version. Unless you have a Mac? If so then I can’t help , I’m on Windows with Photoshop.

Yes indeed it is a Mac Mini with OS X 10.5.4 It looks like the original Mac plug-in has never been updated for the Intel Macs – which is unfortunate as it seemed as of it was exactly what I wanted.

Dan wrote:

Hey Dan,
When I see OS9 the first thing I think is you downloaded the Mac version of the plug-in. http://www.edesign.com/filters/elimwhit.zip is the windows version. Unless you have a Mac? If so then I can’t help , I’m on Windows with Photoshop.

Yes indeed it is a Mac Mini with OS X 10.5.4 It looks like the original Mac plug-in has never been updated for the Intel Macs – which is unfortunate as it seemed as of it was exactly what I wanted.

Found one in Denmark!
Says it works with Macs and Elements.
Not free… $32 but has more options.
http://www.powerretouche.com/Transparency_plugin_tutorial.ht m

-Swatch

Swatch wrote:

Dan wrote:

Hey Dan,
When I see OS9 the first thing I think is you downloaded the Mac version of the plug-in. http://www.edesign.com/filters/elimwhit.zip is the windows version. Unless you have a Mac? If so then I can’t help , I’m on Windows with Photoshop.

Yes indeed it is a Mac Mini with OS X 10.5.4 It looks like the original Mac plug-in has never been updated for the Intel Macs – which is unfortunate as it seemed as of it was exactly what I wanted.

Found one in Denmark!
Says it works with Macs and Elements.
Not free… $32 but has more options.
http://www.powerretouche.com/Transparency_plugin_tutorial.ht m
-Swatch

Sorry but I might have jumped the gun, it’s not the same as the other filter I recommended. Try the demo.