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D
devlab
Participant
November 12, 2011
Question

Make the background of an image transparent

  • November 12, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 58561 views

Hello,

I am building a wedding website and working on the Gift Registry page. I am posting the logos of the stores where the couple is registered. I have the logos but would like to make each background transparent. For example, the logos below have white backgrounds. How do I use Photoshop Elements to make these transparent??

Best,

Christopher

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

A
Anonymous
November 12, 2011

First change your background to a layer by double-clicking it in the Layers Palette.

You can use the Magic Wand to select the white areas using a high tolerance (>35%) and "Non-contiguous", then hit your "Delete" key to remove the white background.

Use "Save for Web" and choose the "PNG-24" format.

The KillWhite filter works with PSE9 and PSE10:

http://yaelmaritz.com/extras.php

(Mac's RemoveWhite filter caused problems with PSE9.)

Ken

    M
    Mark_Sand
    Inspiring
    November 12, 2011

    Christopher,

    photodrawken wrote:

    First change your background to a layer by double-clicking it in the Layers Palette.

    Just to explain ...When you delete a selection on the Background layer the deleted portion is replaced not by transparency but by the current color defined in the background color chip at the bottom of the toolbar. That is why you need to rename the Background layer to make it a "regular" layer. When you double-click the Background layer it is sufficient to accept the default name "Layer 0". This also applies when using the KillWhite filter, which works well by the way.

    hopeful_Forest16B8
    hopeful_Forest16B8
    Participant
    November 12, 2011

    Hi, Christopher - there's a free plugin called "Eliminate White" which, well, eliminated white in a layer and turns it transparent.  I don't have the link in fromt of me right now, but search "Eliminate white 8bf" and it should come up.

    Remember that only .gif and 8-bit .png support transparency, though - so be sure to save for web using one of those two formats with the Transparency option toggled on.

    Hope that helps!

    Graffi

    tedwaters1
    tedwaters1
    Participant
    December 5, 2015

    In Elements 9 I:

    • used the Quick Selection Tool to outline the image background
    • right clicked on the background and used Select inverse so that the image I wanted was selected
    • copied the selected image
    • opened a new blank file (File/New/Blank File or Ctrl+N) which gives a new file with a transparent background
    • pasted the (copied) image in to the new blank file
    • saved the new file as jpg which now has a transparent background
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