Author Topic: Photoshop Help: Making a Transparent Background (Read 5435 times)

Molinari · « **on:** October 08, 2015, 05:01:36 pm »

Is there an easy way on Photoshop to remove the background from the photo of a coin and replace it with nothing, so that I can paste the image and the background will be the color of the page I'm pasting it onto?

I need the attached coin to be pasted onto a blue MS Word page without the white background. I tried making the background blue but it never matches the other blue.

I'm sure there is an easy way.

Thanks for any help.

Nick

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 08, 2015, 05:26:12 pm »

Yes using the eraser tool. I will tackle it for you but it will be a psd file. PM me your email address and I'll send it to you.

Molinari · « **Reply #2 on:** October 08, 2015, 05:31:09 pm »

The one tool I didn't think to try!

That would be great if you could produce it. The file type shouldn't matter.

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 08, 2015, 05:32:08 pm »

Done

Can't attach it here though!

When using the eraser tool the background needs to be grey and white squares, that means there is no background.

maridvnvm · « **Reply #4 on:** October 08, 2015, 05:34:49 pm »

Like this?

Molinari · « **Reply #5 on:** October 08, 2015, 06:48:21 pm »

Yes, that is exactly what I meant, although the edges on that are somewhat rough. Is that using the erase tool?

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 08, 2015, 07:09:42 pm »

A psd file will be nice and clean but the original is very small. The bigger the better!

Molinari · « **Reply #7 on:** October 09, 2015, 04:49:50 pm »

I must be doing something wrong. When I open the image (PSD) that Jay sent me, in photoshop, it has that checkered background that indicates it is transparent. However, when I "Select All" and then paste into a word document, the white background returns! How do I get around this?

I've tried using the magic wand and "select inverse" but same thing- coin with white background.

Nick

Akropolis · « **Reply #8 on:** October 09, 2015, 05:02:45 pm »

Word documents have a white background by default.
Your image has a transparent background, so the result will be a white background....if I understand you correctly.
PeteB

Edit: if you want the checkered background to appear for instructional purposes, hit the "Print Screen" key, paste it into photoshop, crop the image to include only the coin and checkered background, save it as such or just hit "Select all," then "Copy" then paste it into Word. You may have to go first to "Layer," click on "flatten image," then proceed from there....I think. :-)
PeteB

Molinari · « **Reply #9 on:** October 09, 2015, 05:30:00 pm »

The word document has been switched to blue rather than white, so the white background on the photo is definitely still there even though I copied the PSD with "checkered" background. I want it blue like the word document.

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 09, 2015, 05:40:49 pm »

-why can't you do this in photoshop?

Akropolis · « **Reply #11 on:** October 09, 2015, 05:53:10 pm »

Does this help:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/place-transparent-images-word-46431.html
PeteB

Molinari · « **Reply #12 on:** October 09, 2015, 05:53:23 pm »

When I make the word document into a PDF to open in Photoshop, the letters on the document are not perfectly clear (a little blurry), and I can't seem to adjust where I put the coin photo, it just always appears right in the center of the "word" page.

Molinari · « **Reply #13 on:** October 09, 2015, 05:55:32 pm »

Quote from: Akropolis on October 09, 2015, 05:53:10 pm

Does this help:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/place-transparent-images-word-46431.html
PeteB

Unfortunately, no, because the PSD image does not show up as an image option using this method.

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 09, 2015, 05:56:56 pm »

Just not clear why you are going from photoshop to pdf to word? Why can't you make the image all in photoshop? Sample the blue color with the picker tool and set it as your background color then pull the coin image onto the background. Save it as a jpeg.

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #15 on:** October 09, 2015, 06:01:08 pm »

If you email me the color I can do it for you.

Molinari · « **Reply #16 on:** October 09, 2015, 06:03:56 pm »

I don't know how, ultimately. I really only use photoshop for adjusting the light and cropping coin pics.

I sent you an email.

EDIT: It is for the book cover, so there is text, which I suppose I could add in Photoshop, along with the specific dimensions of the photo. Maybe I should learn to do that so I can also do the binding.

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #17 on:** October 09, 2015, 06:23:25 pm »

Okay, took me a while to figure out the background color but it has these values:

Red 0
Green 112
Blue 192

You can use those values in photoshop to make a background and then drag the bull onto it. Or you could make a new image to the size of the page and add text and the photo.

There are some excellent simple tutorials on youtube. That's how I learned. I don't mind helping but I'm heading out to the Chris Cornell concert now!

Molinari · « **Reply #18 on:** October 09, 2015, 06:32:08 pm »

I just opened it, copied the new pic and pasted into the word doc and it looks perfect!!!

I'll be sure to thank you in the preface! You saved me a lot of time and aggravation.

EDIT: Awesome, I love Chris Cornell. I didn't know he still toured!

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #19 on:** October 09, 2015, 06:32:46 pm »

No prob! Enjoy!

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 09, 2015, 06:39:10 pm »

Quote from: Molinari on October 09, 2015, 06:32:08 pm

EDIT: Awesome, I love Chris Cornell. I didn't know he still toured!

New album! Saw him last year as a solo acoustic show, just him and a guitar and I saw him in 1992 when he was with Soundgarden at Lollapalooza! Time flies! Google Chris Cornell Billie Jean!

Akropolis · « **Reply #21 on:** October 09, 2015, 06:51:24 pm »

I tried instructions in Reply 11 as far as "Insert Picture" and this is what i got. But note that I saved the original image as .gif.
PeteB

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #22 on:** October 09, 2015, 06:58:17 pm »

Quote from: Akropolis on October 09, 2015, 06:51:24 pm

I tried instructions in Reply 11 as far as "Insert Picture" and this is what i got. But note that I saved the original image as .gif.
PeteB

Nice! I knew it could be done but I don't use word too often. I'm not sure but I think a gif file has less info. I think you get better results in photoshop because it is designed for photo manipulation rather than word manipulation.

Akropolis · « **Reply #23 on:** October 09, 2015, 08:37:06 pm »

I think you are correct.
I used an OLD .gif file on my computer to try the above.
Why .gif?
I went through the Word drill many, many years ago for some forgotten reason and as I recollect in my old mind, Word was a bit unfriendly to Photoshop products. I somehow "learned" that .gif files worked best. But that was many years ago and Word has evovled considerably since then.
PeteB
P.S. As you can see, I did not do a good job of smoothing the coin edges back then either. :-)

Akropolis · « **Reply #24 on:** October 09, 2015, 08:59:05 pm »

Here's one on which I did a much better job on the edges. It was, coincidentally, to be used in/on a book cover for someone.
PeteB

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #25 on:** October 09, 2015, 11:49:56 pm »

Molinari · « **Reply #26 on:** October 10, 2015, 11:45:59 am »

Jay GT4 · « **Reply #27 on:** October 10, 2015, 01:23:59 pm »

Andrew McCabe · « **Reply #28 on:** October 10, 2015, 01:56:59 pm »

Molinari · « **Reply #29 on:** October 10, 2015, 02:01:32 pm »

Andrew McCabe · « **Reply #30 on:** October 10, 2015, 02:28:21 pm »

Molinari · « **Reply #31 on:** October 10, 2015, 03:37:23 pm »

Andrew McCabe · « **Reply #32 on:** October 10, 2015, 03:53:07 pm »

Molinari · « **Reply #33 on:** October 10, 2015, 03:58:48 pm »

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Author Topic: Photoshop Help: Making a Transparent Background (Read 5435 times)