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Elements 2019 isolate subject so that text wrap in InDesign will follow irregular edges of subject.

New Here ,
Feb 04, 2021 Feb 04, 2021

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I have looked at many video tutorials over the past days but none have shown me how to isolate a primary subject in a photo, making all other parts of the image transparent (disappear). I'm on an iMac. All tutorials have shown how to make a transparent background to isolate a primary subject in a photo or graphic. But when I do that, the now-invisible extraneous/unwanted part of the original image still seems to appear as "paper" when placed into an InDesign document. When I place the doctored image into an InDesign 2020 document and do a text wrap, the text follows the straight invisible rectangular border around the image, not the irregular border of the subject I'm attempting to isolate. Using an older Elements, I used to quickly and easily accomplished this by:

1. Unlock layer.

2. Outline the desired image with the appropriate Magic Wand, getting the "marching ants" around the desired image. (Hit "Command-Shift" to antify other parts.)

3. Hit Delete key on my keyboard, getting the checkerboard pattern in the part of the image I want to expunge.

4. Simultaneously hit keyboard Command key and "D" key. The undesired part of the image is now gone. When I place it into an InDesign document, text wrap will follow the irregular edges of the graphic.

That simple process does not work for me with PS Elements 2019. Is there an equally simple way to accomplish what I want to do? If not, what are the steps for accomplishing the isolation of a subject within a photo or other graphic (e.g., a logo, etc.) so that when placed in an InDesign document, the text wrap will follow the irregular edge of the isolated image, not the sides of the invisible rectangle box the image is in? Given how simple the process used to be, there must be a similar simple procedure for PSE 2019, but I sure can't find it online. Thanks much! And my deep apologies if this simple problem has been well addressed many times before.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Feb 09, 2021 Feb 09, 2021

Using your screenshot as an example:

 

1. Unlock the layer

 

2. Use the Quick Selection Tool to select the Note

 

3. Select>Inverse

 

4. Edit>Cut

 

5. Cmd click on the Layer thumbnail to load a selection of the Note

 

6. Image>Crop

 

7. Select>Deselect

 

8. Save As a Photoshop (PSD) file

 

 

id1.pngid2.png

 

 

 

What application did you use to print the pdf?

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Community Expert ,
Feb 04, 2021 Feb 04, 2021

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What version of photoshop elements were you using before?

 

What file format did you save your object as?

Photoshop (psd) is usually the best.

 

In the Text Wrap panel in InDesign under Contour Options did you try Alpha Channel or Detect Edges?

 

idtw.png

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New Here ,
Feb 09, 2021 Feb 09, 2021

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Thanks, Jeff. Your instruction worked. (I don't know what previous version of PS Elements I had been using with the very easy-to-do background-deletion process.) But apparently, now using PS Elements 2019, I'm not correctly isolating/deleting/erasing the unwanted part of the original graphic in PS Elements before I place it into InDesign, despite viewing multiple YouTube tutorials and attaining partial success. Following the instructions presented by multiple online instructors, I can get the desired isolated graphic to show up okay in my InDesign document. And it also shows up okay as a PDF on my iMac monitor when I save the InDesign file as a PDF. But when I print the PDF, a black rectangular background shows up with the graphic, as shown in the attached example. What am I not doing in PS Elements to totally eliminate the "erased" background so that it does not appear as solid black (or anything else) in the final PDF I create from the InDesign document? I will be placing many such irregular-shaped, text-wrapped graphics into a 500-page book which will go to a commercial printer. Thanks again.

Briefing Note PDF printout.jpeg

 

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Community Expert ,
Feb 09, 2021 Feb 09, 2021

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Using your screenshot as an example:

 

1. Unlock the layer

 

2. Use the Quick Selection Tool to select the Note

 

3. Select>Inverse

 

4. Edit>Cut

 

5. Cmd click on the Layer thumbnail to load a selection of the Note

 

6. Image>Crop

 

7. Select>Deselect

 

8. Save As a Photoshop (PSD) file

 

 

id1.pngid2.png

 

 

 

What application did you use to print the pdf?

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New Here ,
Feb 12, 2021 Feb 12, 2021

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Hello, Jeff. I spent several hours today with your two replies to my question, trying to interpret what you said and applying different tweaks to those instructions. I'm happy to report that I finally came up with a plain-English, layperson step-by-step process for achieving my goal of isolating irregular-shaped images so that I can place them into InDesign documents and then wrap text around the graphics. It came out as a pretty simple process, as I had thought it should/would be, based on how quick-and-easy it used to be using my older version of PS. More steps now, but it's still a pretty fast process. Thanks for your help! It was so maddening to spend so much time over the past few weeks trying to get my simple question answered via YouTube tutorials and print materials, including my Adobe PS Elements instruction book. Your help is what finally did the trick! Below is my personalized set of instructions which resulted from your instructions.

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