How to change background color in an image with a single layer?

[foxm20753782]

I need to change the background color of a PNG image that has only one layer, using PhotoShop 2018. You can't select everything else and mask it because it's a very complex image, and the Spot Healing Brush tool doesn't seem help much because the color I'm trying to change is very subtle and only appears in certain areas.

There must be an easy way to just change the entire background color, but I have yet to find it.

Can anyone help?

[melissapiccone]

Are you trying to change the tan color? Go to the Select drop down menu - choose select color range and select the color you want to change. Use a hue saturation adjustment layer to make the change. This is just one option. It's not an easy task because there are shadows and gradients in there. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/selecting-color-range-image.html

[foxm20753782]

I'm trying to change the background color. It should be a pure white, but it's obviously not, and that's why I want to change it to that.

[melissapiccone]

I used color range to select the background, turned it into a mask and have a white layer below. The mask needs some clean up but this took one second.... 

[foxm20753782]

Maybe it took you a short time, but for somone who hardly uses Photoshop, it would take much longer. It's not a documented feature; there's no instructions for it with this context, and I haven't found anything online about it, either.

If you can document exactly how to do it and "clean up" the mask, please do.

[melissapiccone]

You can use the magic wand tool to select the color, or color range. Once you have a selection you can erase the background color - just hit backspace or delete (make sure your layer is a regular layer - no lock - just click the lock to make it a regular layer). Then you can erase the extra bits and have a plain white layer underneath. You have shadows and anti-aliasing hapening in there so it's not going to be simple or fast. You can look up tutorials for removing / replacing backgrounds, changing colors, etc. You will find lots of tutorials out there that you will have to adapt to your project. 

[foxm20753782]

If I were to try this, I would need to be able to have it select all the colors of the design, including the apparent shadows. Only then could I mask that and make the background completely white. But it has to be done in Photoshop 2018, and there aren't any tutorials I've found for how to do this, especially with a complex design like this. If I could find a professional who is skilled in this to do it for me, that would be great.

[jane-e]

If I could find a professional who is skilled in this to do it for me, that would be great.

By @foxm20753782

This forum is not a job site, but you might try Behance:

https://www.behance.net/hire

Jane

[foxm20753782]

I wasn't looking to hire someone here, I was simply stating a fact.

[jane-e]

If I could find a professional who is skilled in this to do it for me, that would be great.

By @foxm20753782

I wasn't looking to hire someone here, I was simply stating a fact.

By @foxm20753782

Can you please clarify what you are looking for so we can better assist? Two volunteers have tried to help and you have rejected both, so we need clarification. 

Jane

[foxm20753782]

I have not rejected anything; I've simply said the solutions they referenced are not possible for someone who almost never uses Photoshop, as well as not being possible because of the complexity of the image and the fact that it only has one layer.

If you looked at the image and/or actually tried to do what I'm trying to accomplish, I think you'd see that I'm right.

[Conrad C]

I'm trying to change the background color. It should be a pure white, but it's obviously not, and that's why I want to change it to that.

By @foxm20753782

I tried to remove the background using various advanced methods, and after a while I started to think about why they aren’t working when they usually do. And that led me to looking at the reasoning you posted. Looking at the image, it does not look like the background is supposed to be pure white.

One reason is the way the edge shading integrates into that background. The other reason is that if the background is truly supposed to be white, but it is showing up off white, then color balancing the background to neutral should make it white. And that works, it turns pure white like you want, but it also makes all of the other colors in the image look wrong.

So I concluded that the background is not supposed to be white, that the warm background color is probably an integral part of the artwork as intended by the artist.

If this is an image where the background is not really intended to be removed, then the usual and more intuitive software features for background removal are less likely to work easily. If you want to remove a background that’s not really a background, we can’t tell you not to, but because it looks like it’s actually part of the actual art, to remove it probably requires manually separating it from the details of the art by hand, using some combination of the manual techniques already shown.

[foxm20753782]

Actually, I'm the artist, and I did want the background to be White; I just didn't have any way to specify that in the algorithm I used.

[Conrad C]

Oh, interesting! So the subject colors are all correct, only the background is wrong. Looks like this is a type of problem we don’t usually run into, but it will probably become more common as more people use generative/algorithmic/AI methods to create images.

[foxm20753782]

Yes, it was just the background that I didn't want to be that color. The algorithm I used didn't have any variable setup to let me specify a background color, so it just gave me that. Even though it's not an offensive color, I just wanted White.

[Mariam Hovhannesyan]

Hello, here it's showing step by step how to change background of photo you can follow it step by step and at the end just add a white background photo or just add a white layer below your photo layer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Z9WU41BLc&ab_channel=Broxzez

[foxm20753782]

That's a much less complex image than what I posted, so it would be impractical for me to attempt, and probably anyone else, too.

[Sotoshop]

Images that are difficult to do instantly, for people who are not used to or familiar with selection using the color range or via the RGB channel, if you don't understand it, I suggest you learn to select using the color range or RGB channel, because images like that, can only be done with those 2 methods, the method is not too perfect, because a white edge will appear, or parts that are not perfectly selected.

for reference, you can see this tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CgUxvJM2RQ&ab_channel=PsGraphics

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

@foxm20753782 

Despite the simplistic appearance of the image, as you have found, it isn't a 1 click edit.

I would like to offer the following as another approach for you to explore.

I have set color sampler tool markers in the upper left and lower right and I am using the info panel to evaluate when white is achieved.

More work would be required, this is just a very fast start point which gets you 95% there in less than a minute.

Here is an animated screenshot GIF, it only uses two adjustment layers (selective color and levels):

[foxm20753782]

It looks very nice, but as I said before, I rarely use Photoshop for anything. If you had a step-by-step tutorial of how to do this (and eliminate the vignetting for all white background), that would be really helpful. Or, if there's one online that deals with this type of image, that might be helpful as well.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

I appreciate that you rarely use Photoshop.

The GIF animation is the step-by-step, there are only two steps and the values are highlighted in the adjustment layers properties panel. You can download and open up the GIF animation in Photoshop if it is looping too fast in each frame, or take a screenshot of each frame etc.

Search up how to add an adjustment layer if you don't know how.

As for the vignetting, you could simply add a new layer and paint white with a brush, or use the Dodge tool set to affect the highlights which may be better as it would help protect the signature on the lower right.

[foxm20753782]

Yeah, I'm not getting the information panels you show in the GIF. I see no way to add White as a color for an adjustment layer; it's not one of the color options it gives me. I get no 'Info' panel as you show in the GIF; no Properties panel, etc. It shows me what you have done, but not how to get to that point.

And FYI: that's not a signature in the lower right corner; just a random scribble.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Yeah, I'm not getting the information panels you show in the GIF. I see no way to add White as a color for an adjustment layer; 

OK, there are many adjustment layers, but the one that I have shown is Selective Color as indicated in the screenshot along with the values for adjusting the whites in that particular adjustment layer type.

The Info panel is accessed under Window > Info (F8)

The Properties panel is under Window > Properties

Hopefully this will get you there, good luck!

[foxm20753782]

Okay, I finally got something accomplished, but it's definitely not intuitive. But I still have the vegnetting problem in the upper Left, and lower Right corners, plus some very slight un-White portions on the top and bottom edges. Can you tell me how to get rid of those, please?

[melissapiccone]

The edges are the easiest parts, just paint over them with white. The Adobe Camera Raw Filter should be in the top half of the filter drop down menu and is an quick easy way to go but it will change all of the colors.