Transparent background is not transparent

[SteveH59]

Hello

I have a normal colour JPG image and wish to place another image with a transparent background over it (or over part of it). My transparent image shows the chequered grey and white background when I open it up in Photoshop, but when I try to place it over the JPG image using the Move tool it shows it as having a white background which covers the JPG image underneath it.

The transparent image is a PNG file.When it is over the JPG image, I can use Transform | Scale it, but not able to remove the white background. What should I be doing, please?

[macpawel]

Please show screenshot of it

[SteveH59]

Here we go. Lake is a JPG and butterfly a PNG. Thanks for your reply.

[Silkrooster]

Could you show your entire screen with the layers panel expanded. As of right now it looks like the butterfly is a screen capture of your original image.

[Trevor.Dennis]

PNG files tend not to respond well to being dragged and dropped, but they behave like any other file once open in Photoshop, so I am thinking the the chequerboard is hardwired into the image, and not actually transparent.  It's easily checked.  Place another layer beneath it, and fill with colour.   If the chequerboard is still there, then it is not transparent.

Just a thought, but how did you source the PNG file?  Going back to what I said about them not working well when dragged, you have to right click and save PNG files to a local drive in order to retain transparency.  If you right click and copy, the background tends to become black.

[SteveH59]

IT fills with colour

[SteveH59]

Thanks to you all.

With layers showing

[Trevor.Dennis · Accepted solution]

Yep.  The butterfly background is not transparent.  You can see from the thumbnail that the rectangle covers the chequerboard.

[SteveH59]

So I need to ensure it is transparent properly before doing anything? Which is the best way to do that - any recommendations? I used the Magic Wand

[Trevor.Dennis]

A wee rule of thumb when searching for transparent PNG files.  If an image shows with a chequerboard on Google Images, then it is generally a JPG and does not have a transparent background.

You only need to right click and choose Save to find out

[SteveH59]

Yes, it is showing as a PSD file

[Trevor.Dennis]

Does it have to be that butterfly?   There must be thousands on butterfly images with genuine transparent backgrounds, but I could find that identical one.  The butterfly below came from right clicking and saving from this page

Hue/sat layer to change the wing tip colour

Curves to brighten the lower edge of the wings.  Not exactly the same, but I like to argue that more of you goes into a process like this.  You have made it your own,  and got some practice and experience with Photoshop on the way.

Note: Ignore the adjustment layers being clipped.  I originally had your butterfly in the same document to use as a pattern, so needed to prevent the adjustment layers affecting that layer as well. 

[SteveH59]

You are most kind, thanks.

I have saved your images and will take a look at the hue settings.

Best regards

Steve