Expert: Scott Valentine - 1/28/2008

Question
Hello,
I was hoping you could help me with step-by-step instructions on how to change/remove backgrounds in photos.  I will be working mainly with dog pictures, so tracing a dog's fur can be timely and difficult- what would you say is the best way to accomplish this?  Thanks!

Answer
Hi Nicole,

Unfortunately, space limitations do not permit me to give you step-by-step details, and I would need more information about your images and level of experience before being able to give you serious instruction.

What I can do is give you some general tips and point you to some online resources that will be able to give you some hands-on help.

First, the hardest part is to isolate the subject from the background. If you know you are going to do this when you take the picture, try to shoot against a solid, bright background so you can see the edges very well. Also consider shooting with a wide aperture to help make the subject stand out more clearly.

Second, for fur, don't bother trying to trace it... instead, go check out your color channels! If you can see the color difference between your subject and the background (or there is good contrast in brightness), you can copy one of the channels to an Alpha channel (check the help files in Photoshop if this is a new term for you). Once you have your alpha channel, you can use levels, curves, dodge and burn to make a nearly perfect mask.

You would then load the channel as a selection, and create a new layer mask, with very little effort.

For more detailed instruction on this method, check out the following forums:

http://retouchpro.com

http://photoshoptechniques.com/forum

and look for some tutorials on

http://photoshopsupport.com

If you have further questions, or would like more sites you can visit, please follow up. I'll be happy to help!

-Scott