Expert: Huma Riaz - 8/23/2005

Question
Greetings:

I am very new to Photoshop and have never used it before.  A friend gave me a computer with Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE already loaded on it but no manual.  

I needed to know how to make the background of the picture(s) transparent.  I am a cap designer, and took pictures of my hats in my home.  I now want to put them in a catalog but I need the background (wall and shelf) removed so it will go on a white page.

I tried using the eraser method that you can simply use in paint but it looks extremely tacky.  I know there has to be a more professional way to go about this.

Also, if you can recommend any books that I can buy that will teach me how to better use Photoshop 5.0 LE it would be greatly appreciated.

I thank you for your help and your time,

Dwayne Kay
Virginia Beach, VA
dwayne_kay@hotmail.com

Answer
Dear Dwayne,

Erasing background in Photoshop can be really easy and difficult too. All depends on you how much you know about using a tool.

As you are a beginner, you can do this with the easiest way

. Select Magic Wand tool to make a rough selection
. Use SHIFT key from keyboard to add selection from the existing one
. Inverse the selection (Ctrl+Alt+I).
. Press delete from keyboard

if you still feel you want to do better then this. Feel free to ask any other options..


Huma Riaz
Location :Karachi-Pakistan
Email: humariaz@gamil.com