Newbie needs help with transparent backgrounds

Sorry forgot to mention I am using Photoshop V5.

when you save them, if your saving them as jog then that is why your struggling. JPG doesnt do transparency

gif or png indeed is the way to save it if you need it with a transparency, assuming the psd is no good for you.in which case you are maybe not creating a new layer underneath it so you can see the transparancy

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:01:33 +0100, Anti-Spam wrote:

I’ve struggled with trying to learn this before and failed, will give it another bash if some kind soul will help me.

Basically I need to take existing photo’s of products, cut out the items image, so that the background is transparent, so that when I paste these into a leaflet, only the item shows and not the background colour of the image. I hope I have explained that well enough.
Do I need to convert the images first to GIF?

If so, is there a batch convertor for doing this?

Thanking you in anticipation.
Mark in Spain.

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:52:40 +0000, paul helpful
wrote:

when you save them, if your saving them as jog then that is why your struggling. JPG doesnt do transparency

gif or png indeed is the way to save it if you need it with a transparency, assuming the psd is no good for you.in which case you are maybe not creating a new layer underneath it so you can see the transparancy

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:01:33 +0100, Anti-Spam wrote:

I’ve struggled with trying to learn this before and failed, will give it another bash if some kind soul will help me.

Basically I need to take existing photo’s of products, cut out the items image, so that the background is transparent, so that when I paste these into a leaflet, only the item shows and not the background colour of the image. I hope I have explained that well enough.
Do I need to convert the images first to GIF?

If so, is there a batch convertor for doing this?

Thanking you in anticipation.
Mark in Spain.

OK I don’t mind working with PSD images, so once converted, is there a simple way to make the background transparent, like a flood fill tool or do I have to manually go in a cut out the image with I guess the lasso tool, am I on the right lines?

Anti-Spam wrote:

OK I don’t mind working with PSD images, so once converted, is there a
simple way to make the background transparent, like a flood fill tool
or do I have to manually go in a cut out the image with I guess the lasso tool, am I on the right lines?

Clipping path or layer mask are more accurate. It depends on the subject, how much time and the quality that you wish to reproduce regards
Denis

Your task will be simpler if you do the photography just right – with a background that is easily distinguished from the foreground object (the product). Edge contrast of the subject helps a great deal.

To answer your question, yes, you need to remove the image from the background. There are several ways to do this, with some third party plug ins to help with difficult things like hair.

And you need to save to .tiff, png or .psd to "see" the transparency.

Your best bet is a google search for "transparent backgrounds photoshop" or something like that that will provide you with a guided walkthrough. It’s pretty easy once you see the steps.

—
Bob LaBlawgh
“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:35:00 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
scribbled:

To answer your question, yes, you need to remove the image from the background. There are several ways to do this, with some third party plug ins to help with difficult things like hair.

And you need to save to .tiff, png or .psd to "see" the transparency.

Psst… you left out one of the most common formats for using transparancy…

Your best bet is a google search for "transparent backgrounds photoshop"

You might try reading a few of them too. Then, next time, you can give accurate advice.

or something like that that will provide you with a guided walkthrough. It’s pretty easy once you see the steps.

Voivod wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:35:00 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
scribbled:

To answer your question, yes, you need to remove the image from the background. There are several ways to do this, with some third party plug ins to help with difficult things like hair.

And you need to save to .tiff, png or .psd to "see" the transparency.

Psst… you left out one of the most common formats for using transparancy…

Your best bet is a google search for "transparent backgrounds photoshop"

You might try reading a few of them too. Then, next time, you can give accurate advice.

or something like that that will provide you with a guided walkthrough. It’s pretty easy once you see the steps.

…and Happy New Year to you too, buddy. Your post was among the most helpful I’ve seen.

—
Bob LaBlawgh
“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:05:10 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
scribbled:

Voivod wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:35:00 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
scribbled:

To answer your question, yes, you need to remove the image from the background. There are several ways to do this, with some third party plug ins to help with difficult things like hair.

And you need to save to .tiff, png or .psd to "see" the transparency.

Psst… you left out one of the most common formats for using transparancy…

Your best bet is a google search for "transparent backgrounds photoshop"

You might try reading a few of them too. Then, next time, you can give accurate advice.

or something like that that will provide you with a guided walkthrough. It’s pretty easy once you see the steps.

…and Happy New Year to you too, buddy. Your post was among the most helpful I’ve seen.

At least I wasn’t passing out wrong or misleading information.

Hi Bob
Your posting is very good advice. I have found Google searches to be helpful in the vast majority of cases.

FYI – below are some recent examples of Voivod’s helpful replies to postings:
Obviously an attention seeker.
My suggestion is to set-up a message rule that removes Voivod postings automatically.
I’ve now done that so I don’t have to read his/her reply to this posting.

EXAMPLES FOLLOW:

EXAMPLE 1:

On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:34:08 -0500, scribbled:

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:18:50 -0500, "Old and Grunpy" wrote:

I personally do not know but I do know that "Vista" is ten time worst it creates new documents new files I think that people making software needs little more education.

They need to grow up is what they need to do. And get rid of the slogan "Where do YOU want to go today?", when what they really mean is, "You’re going to go where WE want you to go, whether YOU damn well like it or not!"

They haven’t used that slogan in ages. Are all you people retarded or just living in the past?

EXAMPLE 2:

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:58:25 -0500, "KatWoman" scribbled:

To the nice and helpful people I met here
and the friends I made

you know who you are

All two of you.

Merry Christmas

you want to say hi you know my flickr page
contact me there

Watch the coward cut and run.

I have unsubscribed to this NG

No great loss there. Maybe now people will get correct answers and less sniveling, whining bitch.

and joined what seems a more civilized bunch at adobe forums windows

Incoherent to the last.

to the ungrateful the rude the asswipes
LUMP OF COAL and go I love yourselves

Would that be considered ungrateful, rude, asswipe’ish or all three?

Hypocrites are my favorites!

Bet ya dollars to donuts she doesn’t leave. Maybe she’ll even do a really bad nym shift and pretend to be someone else.

"Voivod" wrote in message

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:05:10 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
scribbled:

Voivod wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:35:00 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
scribbled:

To answer your question, yes, you need to remove the image from the background. There are several ways to do this, with some third party plug ins to help with difficult things like hair.

And you need to save to .tiff, png or .psd to "see" the transparency.

Psst… you left out one of the most common formats for using transparancy…

Your best bet is a google search for "transparent backgrounds photoshop"

You might try reading a few of them too. Then, next time, you can give accurate advice.

or something like that that will provide you with a guided walkthrough. It’s pretty easy once you see the steps.

…and Happy New Year to you too, buddy. Your post was among the most helpful I’ve seen.

At least I wasn’t passing out wrong or misleading information.

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:12:21 GMT, "Benny" <no spam > scribbled:

Hi Bob
Your posting is very good advice. I have found Google searches to be helpful in the vast majority of cases.

FYI – below are some recent examples of Voivod’s helpful replies to postings:

Cool, a stalker!

Obviously an attention seeker.

And you by making this post aren’t seeking attention, hypocrite?

My suggestion is to set-up a message rule that removes Voivod postings automatically.
I’ve now done that so I don’t have to read his/her reply to this posting.

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

EXAMPLES FOLLOW:

EXAMPLE 1:

On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:34:08 -0500, scribbled:

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:18:50 -0500, "Old and Grunpy" wrote:

I personally do not know but I do know that "Vista" is ten time worst it creates new documents new files I think that people making software needs little more education.

They need to grow up is what they need to do. And get rid of the slogan "Where do YOU want to go today?", when what they really mean is, "You’re going to go where WE want you to go, whether YOU damn well like it or not!"

They haven’t used that slogan in ages. Are all you people retarded or just living in the past?

Completely accurate response. Microsoft hasn’t used that slogan in years yet the moron uses it as an example of their current problems.

EXAMPLE 2:

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:58:25 -0500, "KatWoman" scribbled:

To the nice and helpful people I met here
and the friends I made

you know who you are

All two of you.

Merry Christmas

you want to say hi you know my flickr page
contact me there

Watch the coward cut and run.

I have unsubscribed to this NG

No great loss there. Maybe now people will get correct answers and less sniveling, whining bitch.

and joined what seems a more civilized bunch at adobe forums windows

Incoherent to the last.

to the ungrateful the rude the asswipes
LUMP OF COAL and go I love yourselves

Would that be considered ungrateful, rude, asswipe’ish or all three?
Hypocrites are my favorites!

Bet ya dollars to donuts she doesn’t leave. Maybe she’ll even do a really bad nym shift and pretend to be someone else.

So, which one of you new loser/cowards is Kattypoo?

"Voivod" wrote in message

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:05:10 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
scribbled:

Voivod wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:35:00 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
scribbled:

To answer your question, yes, you need to remove the image from the background. There are several ways to do this, with some third party plug ins to help with difficult things like hair.

And you need to save to .tiff, png or .psd to "see" the transparency.

Psst… you left out one of the most common formats for using transparancy…

Your best bet is a google search for "transparent backgrounds photoshop"

You might try reading a few of them too. Then, next time, you can give accurate advice.

or something like that that will provide you with a guided walkthrough. It’s pretty easy once you see the steps.

…and Happy New Year to you too, buddy. Your post was among the most helpful I’ve seen.

At least I wasn’t passing out wrong or misleading information.

And he was…

Have a nice day, coward.

Put V0iv0d in your killfile and be happy

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:42:34 -0500, V0iv0d <()d.c0n> wrote:

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

So says the catamite troll who cries on his mommy’s shoulder every night because he constantly FAILS in his attempts to be the first "man" in history to pull off a DVDA with three pit bulls and a cordless drilldo. Maybe if you smeared Ken-L-Ration on your shrivled genitalia first you might have a chance.

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:28:13 -0600, Carstairs the Mighty scribbled:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:42:34 -0500, V0iv0d <()d.c0n> wrote:

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

So says the catamite troll who cries on his mommy’s shoulder every night because he constantly FAILS in his attempts to be the first "man" in history to pull off a DVDA with three pit bulls and a cordless drilldo. Maybe if you smeared Ken-L-Ration on your shrivled genitalia first you might have a chance.

This really isn’t the place to discuss your homoerotic fantasies.

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:31:59 -0600, John J
scribbled:

Put V0iv0d in your killfile and be happy

Run, coward, run!

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:55:54 -0500, Voivod wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:28:13 -0600, Carstairs the Mighty scribbled:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:42:34 -0500, V0iv0d <()d.c0n> wrote:

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

So says the catamite troll who cries on his mommy’s shoulder every night because he constantly FAILS in his attempts to be the first "man" in history to pull off a DVDA with three pit bulls and a cordless drilldo. Maybe if you smeared Ken-L-Ration on your shrivled genitalia first you might have a chance.

This really isn’t the place to discuss your homoerotic fantasies.

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Anti-Spam wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:55:54 -0500, Voivod wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:28:13 -0600, Carstairs the Mighty scribbled:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:42:34 -0500, V0iv0d <()d.c0n> wrote:

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

So says the catamite troll who cries on his mommy’s shoulder every night because he constantly FAILS in his attempts to be the first "man" in history to pull off a DVDA with three pit bulls and a cordless drilldo. Maybe if you smeared Ken-L-Ration on your shrivled genitalia first you might have a chance.

This really isn’t the place to discuss your homoerotic fantasies.

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Then try the Magic Wand on a section of the white BG. You can Expand Selection by a pixel or two to eliminate the "glow" around the object. There are plenty of tuts showing you different ways to get the result you want.

—
Bob LaBlawgh
“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”

"Anti-Spam" wrote in message

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Are the subjects colored? Do any contain brilliant green? (I’m thinking of using the green screen technique to remove the background easily.)

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:40:46 -0600, "John J"
wrote:

"Anti-Spam" wrote in message

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Are the subjects colored? Do any contain brilliant green? (I’m thinking of using the green screen technique to remove the background easily.)

They are commercial products for inclusion in a budget "bargain of the month" type mailshot leaflet. Not absolutly sure what you mean, but yes they are colour photo’s of coloured items, green will be of course in there somewhere, perhaps if you give me an idea of what you mean, I can try a few and see what I get.

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:52:39 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
wrote:

Anti-Spam wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:55:54 -0500, Voivod wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:28:13 -0600, Carstairs the Mighty scribbled:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:42:34 -0500, V0iv0d <()d.c0n> wrote:

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

So says the catamite troll who cries on his mommy’s shoulder every night because he constantly FAILS in his attempts to be the first "man" in history to pull off a DVDA with three pit bulls and a cordless drilldo. Maybe if you smeared Ken-L-Ration on your shrivled genitalia first you might have a chance.

This really isn’t the place to discuss your homoerotic fantasies.

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Then try the Magic Wand on a section of the white BG. You can Expand Selection by a pixel or two to eliminate the "glow" around the object. There are plenty of tuts showing you different ways to get the result you want.

Sorry to be thick, but what are TUT’s?

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:15:03 +0100, Anti-Spam wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:40:46 -0600, "John J"
wrote:

"Anti-Spam" wrote in message

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Are the subjects colored? Do any contain brilliant green? (I’m thinking of using the green screen technique to remove the background easily.)

They are commercial products for inclusion in a budget "bargain of the month" type mailshot leaflet. Not absolutly sure what you mean, but yes they are colour photo’s of coloured items, green will be of course in there somewhere, perhaps if you give me an idea of what you mean, I can try a few and see what I get.

The underlying question is if you are photographing the products or using photographs of the products that others have taken. If you are doing the photographing, a background that is sharply defined in color from the object will make making the selection easier because you can use the Magic Wand tool.

If you are using photographs taken by others, or catalog illustrations, you will have to learn selection techniques like masking, Quick Mask, pen tool, etc.

Basically, what you will be doing is making a selection that is the product only and then deleting the background. The result will not have a transparent background, but you can copy/paste the selection only into the other artwork.

—
Tony Cooper – Orlando, Florida

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:15:51 +0100, Anti-Spam wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:52:39 -0700, Bob LaBlawgh
wrote:

Anti-Spam wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:55:54 -0500, Voivod wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:28:13 -0600, Carstairs the Mighty scribbled:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:42:34 -0500, V0iv0d <()d.c0n> wrote:

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

So says the catamite troll who cries on his mommy’s shoulder every night because he constantly FAILS in his attempts to be the first "man" in history to pull off a DVDA with three pit bulls and a cordless drilldo. Maybe if you smeared Ken-L-Ration on your shrivled genitalia first you might have a chance.

This really isn’t the place to discuss your homoerotic fantasies.

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Then try the Magic Wand on a section of the white BG. You can Expand Selection by a pixel or two to eliminate the "glow" around the object. There are plenty of tuts showing you different ways to get the result you want.

Sorry to be thick, but what are TUT’s?

Tutorials. You can Google for "Photoshop Tutorial Magic Wand" and find tutorials on using this tool.

—
Tony Cooper – Orlando, Florida

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:19:56 -0500, tony cooper
wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:15:03 +0100, Anti-Spam wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:40:46 -0600, "John J"
wrote:

"Anti-Spam" wrote in message

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Are the subjects colored? Do any contain brilliant green? (I’m thinking of using the green screen technique to remove the background easily.)

They are commercial products for inclusion in a budget "bargain of the month" type mailshot leaflet. Not absolutly sure what you mean, but yes they are colour photo’s of coloured items, green will be of course in there somewhere, perhaps if you give me an idea of what you mean, I can try a few and see what I get.

The underlying question is if you are photographing the products or using photographs of the products that others have taken. If you are doing the photographing, a background that is sharply defined in color from the object will make making the selection easier because you can use the Magic Wand tool.

If you are using photographs taken by others, or catalog illustrations, you will have to learn selection techniques like masking, Quick Mask, pen tool, etc.

Basically, what you will be doing is making a selection that is the product only and then deleting the background. The result will not have a transparent background, but you can copy/paste the selection only into the other artwork.

Thanks Chaps, got a new years eve party to organise now, when I surface again will learn the magic wand thingy. The photographs are taken by somebody else, but they are aware of the need to have a clean plain white background (most of the time).

Mark in Spain.

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:28:13 -0600, Carstairs the Mighty wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:42:34 -0500, V0iv0d <()d.c0n> wrote:

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

So says the catamite troll who cries on his mommy’s shoulder every night because he constantly FAILS in his attempts to be the first "man" in history to pull off a DVDA with three pit bulls and a cordless drilldo. Maybe if you smeared Ken-L-Ration on your shrivled genitalia first you might have a chance.

Man, if that isn’t a perfect description of V0iv0d, although he’d probably prefer a Milk Bone or three up his ass to help the doggies chew him a new asshole.

On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:56:46 -0600, Shem scribbled:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:28:13 -0600, Carstairs the Mighty wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:42:34 -0500, V0iv0d <()d.c0n> wrote:

I’m so amused by cowards who toss out insults and then run and hide behind their filters like bed wetting cry babies.

So says the catamite troll who cries on his mommy’s shoulder every night because he constantly FAILS in his attempts to be the first "man" in history to pull off a DVDA with three pit bulls and a cordless drilldo. Maybe if you smeared Ken-L-Ration on your shrivled genitalia first you might have a chance.

Man, if that isn’t a perfect description of V0iv0d, although he’d

Right, because you know me so well… gods, you and Carstairs need to take your homoerotic fantasies to an appropriate group.

probably prefer a Milk Bone or three up his ass to help the doggies chew him a new asshole.

At least he had some class to his writing skills, you’re just an ass-licking wanna be, brown nose.

Anti-Spam wrote:

I’ve struggled with trying to learn this before and failed, will give it another bash if some kind soul will help me.

Basically I need to take existing photo’s of products, cut out the items image, so that the background is transparent, so that when I paste these into a leaflet, only the item shows and not the background colour of the image. I hope I have explained that well enough.
Do I need to convert the images first to GIF?

YES and NO depending on exactly what you need to use the transparent.

YES – if you want to use on WEB page then the answer is YES

NO – If you just want a transparent background within Photoshop then the answer is NO

If so, is there a batch convertor for doing this?

There is no magical so the answer is NO. Or there is no software is smarter more skill than human to be able to read human’s mind to know which part is the background and which is the foreground.

*If* you just want the whole canvas transparent then the answer is YES and no converter is needed. Just set the background default as Transparent and you have it.

Thanking you in anticipation.
Mark in Spain.

Joel in America

Anti-Spam wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:52:40 +0000, paul helpful
wrote:

when you save them, if your saving them as jog then that is why your struggling. JPG doesnt do transparency

gif or png indeed is the way to save it if you need it with a transparency, assuming the psd is no good for you.in which case you are maybe not creating a new layer underneath it so you can see the transparancy

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:01:33 +0100, Anti-Spam wrote:

I’ve struggled with trying to learn this before and failed, will give it another bash if some kind soul will help me.

Basically I need to take existing photo’s of products, cut out the items image, so that the background is transparent, so that when I paste these into a leaflet, only the item shows and not the background colour of the image. I hope I have explained that well enough.
Do I need to convert the images first to GIF?

If so, is there a batch convertor for doing this?

Thanking you in anticipation.
Mark in Spain.

OK I don’t mind working with PSD images, so once converted, is there a simple way to make the background transparent, like a flood fill tool or do I have to manually go in a cut out the image with I guess the lasso tool, am I on the right lines?

It depends on how much detail you need.

1. For WEB then no PSD is needed or PSD is useless in web world. And in general you just need the Magic Wand (newer version of Photoshop has better feature than v5) and some fine-tuning.

2. To make the background transpatent. Pick your choice

a. Go to Photoshop setting and set transparent background as DEFAULT then you will have transparent background as default.

b. On the original photo, you just select whatever part of the photo you want to be transparent, then DEL(ete) the marked area and you should have transparent background

3. SAVE as transparent, you have to save as transparent GIF, PSD, or PNG (I don’t think Photoshop v5 know what PNG is).

4. YES and NO on the "do I have to vut out" depending on what you work on. YES, you can "cut out" the part you want to be transparent, NO if you "paste" the selection from other image to transparent background then no " cut out".

Anti-Spam wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:40:46 -0600, "John J"
wrote:

"Anti-Spam" wrote in message

Thank you to all the positive responses so far. The pictures I am trying to cut the image from, all have a plain white background. Only a tiny percentage have any small detail (like hair) protruding from the main subject body.

Are the subjects colored? Do any contain brilliant green? (I’m thinking of using the green screen technique to remove the background easily.)

They are commercial products for inclusion in a budget "bargain of the month" type mailshot leaflet. Not absolutly sure what you mean, but yes they are colour photo’s of coloured items, green will be of course in there somewhere, perhaps if you give me an idea of what you mean, I can try a few and see what I get.

After following the thread, it sounds like you want to raplace the background with something else, or *not* transparent GIF for the web.

Yes, I have read you mentioned the background is mostly WHITE and some hair sticking out etc..

In general, it will require quite a bit of Photoshop skill to be able to remove or replace the background. Here is few things you may need to look at.

1. FORGET about the transparent as it doesn’t seem to be the real question you need to be answered.

2. What you really need is MASKING skill, and there are several different methods of Masking. Most people use Channel, combiation with Blending which I don’t use.

a. Masking may take months or years of practicing to master the technique

b. If you have mastered the Masking technique, then I can say that within around 1-2 minutes you should be able to replace the background for "displaying", and similar for small print (like 4×6" print).

For larger print like 8×10" and larger then it may take 5-10 or 15+ minutes depending on the print size and difficulty. And this may require years of experience

3. You should be able to find plenty of videio tutorial about Masking, but most of them is often for showing off, almost useless for real use. But some will give you some general information about Masking, then you will need lot of practice to develope your own skill.

I don’t use the technique (many years ago, I started with similar then got stuck at some point and I had to find other way), not because they are not good enough but because I have developed my very own technique which I have been using for so many years to be able to switch. So, if you want to learn more about masking then I would suggest to get a hold of a Lynda Video Tutorial called Channels & Mask which is pretty good.

Why only pretty good? because even it gives lot more detail and different methods for different problem, but it still only teaching the very basic technique which is good for displaying and probably small print. Yes, it should be able to impress most people, and can be useful for anyone who wants to learn Masking. But it will require more work, more fine-tuning technique for large print.

-My advice

Point your browser to some forum like www.dpreview.com (the Retouch forum) there you can READ (there may be some good forum but many won’t allow unregistered to read or doing anything), and if you register you can POST your question, or post your photo asking other member to share their workflow.

I use to monitor the www.dpreview.com for many years, but I haven’t visted for 3-4 years to know what has been going on lately.

Joel wrote:

Anti-Spam wrote:

I’ve struggled with trying to learn this before and failed, will give it another bash if some kind soul will help me.

Basically I need to take existing photo’s of products, cut out the items image, so that the background is transparent, so that when I paste these into a leaflet, only the item shows and not the background colour of the image. I hope I have explained that well enough.
Do I need to convert the images first to GIF?

YES and NO depending on exactly what you need to use the transparent.
YES – if you want to use on WEB page then the answer is YES

Actually png-8 (8 bit png) also works with transparency for web display.

John J wrote:

Joel wrote:

Anti-Spam wrote:

I’ve struggled with trying to learn this before and failed, will give it another bash if some kind soul will help me.

Basically I need to take existing photo’s of products, cut out the items image, so that the background is transparent, so that when I paste these into a leaflet, only the item shows and not the background colour of the image. I hope I have explained that well enough.
Do I need to convert the images first to GIF?

YES and NO depending on exactly what you need to use the transparent.
YES – if you want to use on WEB page then the answer is YES

Actually png-8 (8 bit png) also works with transparency for web display.

As I have mentioned some where in one of the messages that PNG is one of the formats can be used with Web (I never use myself as I have stopped develope web little over a decade ago), so I mentioned that PNG work but Photoshop v5 may not support PNG (I am not sure as I never try PNG).

Joel wrote:
]

As I have mentioned some where in one of the messages that PNG is one of the formats can be used with Web (I never use myself as I have stopped develope web little over a decade ago), so I mentioned that PNG work but Photoshop v5 may not support PNG (I am not sure as I never try PNG).

Photoshop supports PNG.

John J wrote:

Joel wrote:
]

As I have mentioned some where in one of the messages that PNG is one of the formats can be used with Web (I never use myself as I have stopped develope web little over a decade ago), so I mentioned that PNG work but Photoshop v5 may not support PNG (I am not sure as I never try PNG).

Photoshop supports PNG.

Have I ever said Photoshop not supporting PNG?

See, we are wasting one of useful message because you say what I never said.

"Joel" wrote in message

John J wrote:

Joel wrote:
]

As I have mentioned some where in one of the messages that PNG is one of
the formats can be used with Web (I never use myself as I have stopped develope web little over a decade ago), so I mentioned that PNG work but
Photoshop v5 may not support PNG (I am not sure as I never try PNG).

Photoshop supports PNG.

Have I ever said Photoshop not supporting PNG?

See, we are wasting one of useful message because you say what I never said.

Photoshop v5.5 (and likely v5) does save PNG, however the colors are incorrect. Images saved as PNG are far darker than they should be. Some compensation can be acheived by setting your Gamma a bit lighter prior to saving as PNG. It is a workaround, but may be suitable for small web images. I understand this was corrected in later versions.

I have had better quality exporting as GIF98a. Use the same procedure as many of the previous responses, "cut-out", "select" or "mask" the visible
section. Created an Alpha channel and color that "cut-out", "selection" or "mask" white in the Alpha channel. Export/GIF89a Export.

GIF89a Export can also use a specified color in the image’s palette as transparent, but it has to be in Indexed Color mode.

Scott in Dunedin FL

"Anon" wrote:

"Joel" wrote in message

John J wrote:

Joel wrote:
]

As I have mentioned some where in one of the messages that PNG is one of
the formats can be used with Web (I never use myself as I have stopped develope web little over a decade ago), so I mentioned that PNG work but
Photoshop v5 may not support PNG (I am not sure as I never try PNG).

Photoshop supports PNG.

Have I ever said Photoshop not supporting PNG?

See, we are wasting one of useful message because you say what I never said.

Photoshop v5.5 (and likely v5) does save PNG, however the colors are incorrect. Images saved as PNG are far darker than they should be. Some compensation can be acheived by setting your Gamma a bit lighter prior to saving as PNG. It is a workaround, but may be suitable for small web images. I understand this was corrected in later versions.

I have run into few PNG files but I have never worked on PNG to know much about it. But if PNG acts similar to JPG and other formats, then you may want to look at the COLOR SPACE which web is designed for sRGB

I have had better quality exporting as GIF98a. Use the same procedure as many of the previous responses, "cut-out", "select" or "mask" the visible
section. Created an Alpha channel and color that "cut-out", "selection" or "mask" white in the Alpha channel. Export/GIF89a Export.

Over a decade ago (when WEB was very new to most internet users, or it was only few years old) I used to be web developer for 3-4 years, and since I was good with graphic so I handled lot of animated GIF.

Hmmm I think I used Color Select or something like that, and I remember some GIF I have to manually connected some broken line. It was too long for me to remember all small detail, but I sure did enjoy making the animated GIF

GIF89a Export can also use a specified color in the image’s palette as transparent, but it has to be in Indexed Color mode.

About the COLOR, since GIF has only 256 colors max, and if you use all 256 colors then the size can be huge. So I always try to reduce the number of color of minimum or just before it starts showing digital blocks

Scott in Dunedin FL

VoivoB wrote:

John J scribbled:

Put V0iv0d in your killfile and be happy

Run, coward, run!

Aarghh! A filthy EMAKer! Get the rope!

Damn, I’m out of "!"s !!!

—
dvus