Perfectly removing a white background
This might help someone else. I am also writing this so I remember it. This procedure makes a flat photoshop document with all white removed as if the document were a layer with blend type "Multiply". You can then paint white behind it to make non-translucent sections for overlaying with other things (in other programs or web stuff), but the edges will be perfect with no loss of detail.
- Open the doc (RGB mode only)
- Make a new layer, fill it with full red. Invert it (Cmd-i).It'll go cyan.
- Make a layer, fill it with green. Invert it, so it goes magenta.
- Make another layer, fill with blue, invert to make yellow.
- Turn off the new layers so you can only see your original.
- Go to the channels palette.
- Create three new blank channels. They'll be black.
- Command-click the Red channel. This will make a selection. Change to your first new channel, and fill that selection with white.
- Do the same thing for the green channel, into your second new custom channel.
- Do the same for the blue channel, into the third custom one.
- Control click your first custom channel (with the selection from the red layer). Invert the selection (command-shift-i). Go to your new red layer (which is now cyan), and apply the selection as a mask (by clicking the mask button).
- Do again using custom channel 2, onto the new Green (changed to Magenta) layer.
- And again, from channel 3, into the Blue (now Yellow) layer.
- Set all 3 of your layers to blend type "Multiply"
- Turn off any other layers.
Done. If you need to, make a new layer under, and paint white to make any sections you want opaque.
