There are actually a few techniques out there to remove the background from an image. I believe this is the easiest one I’ve used. WIth that in mind, I hope to make your life a little bit easier and your designs a little bit lovelier.
Start by opening your image in Photoshop.
1.
From the top menu, go to select, then choose ‘select and mask’ from the dropdown menu.
2.
Choose your preferred view mode in the properties panel (I chose overlay, but you can decide your preference).
3.
Select the Quick Selection Tool from the left side menu. Ensure the selection is set to “+” (Add to Selection).
4.
Click- drag the area that you want for the final selection. These areas will start to come into view. Some areas of the image that you do not want in the final product will likely be selected at this point. Don’t Worry! We will fix this in the next step.
5.
Now let’s remove the areas we don’ want. Select the “-” to subtract from the selection.
6.
Click-drag any large areas that were accidentally selected.
7.
Zoom in to areas that need refinement, such as hair on the head. Select the “Refine Edge Brush.”
8.
Click and drag over these areas. Brushing over theses soft areas will add fine details to the selection. You should begin to see the hair separated from the overlay.
9.
Once the selection is as desired, you‘re ready to output to a new layer mask. Under “Output to,” select “New Layer with Mask,” and hit “OK.”
10.
You should see the extracted image. If you hit the eye on the background layer, you can see the image before the extraction. Hit the eye again to isolate the new, extracted image.
11.
Add a new layer with a solid white background to enable us to see any additional refinements needed. You will notice the checkered, transparent background is replaced with the white background.
12.
Next, we want to remove halos and fringe. Select layer mask and right click to apply the layer mask command.
13.
Go to Layer, and hover over “Matting”. Select “Remove White Matte.” This helps to perfect edges and replace hair strand details.
14.
Now, add another solid color layer, and select white. Make sure the new solid color layer is on top.
15.
Add a new layer with a solid white background to enable us to see any additional refinements needed. You will notice the checkered, transparent background is replaced with the white background.
16.
Finally, with the solid layer still selected, lower the opacity until you achieve the desired look.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully completed your project.