Magic Tricks To Learn

How do you remove a background out of a pic using the magic wand in PSE7?

I have Photoshop elements 7 and I am getting tired of using the magic eraser because it is too hard so can anyone tell me how to make the BG transparent in a pic using the magic wand? thanks.

Public Comments

1. I've given two ways to select: The Selection Brush and the Magic Wand Tool. A much easier way to get rid of an unwanted background is to use the Selection Brush set on Mask Mode to select what you want to keep. (Mode's up in the Options Bar above the workspace.) Zoom in and use the Add and Subtract icons over on the left side of the Selection Brush Options Bar (above the workspace) to refine the mask. When you're done, press Delete on your keyboard and everything except what you've masked will disappear. Be sure to duplicate your photo first, close the original and work only on the copy. If you work on the Background Layer, you'll end up with a white background instead of a transparent one. And if you don't close the original, you won't see the transparent background on the copy because the layer underneath will show through. (I've done this a few times and wondered why delete didn't work;-) The Magic Wand selects by color. It works best to remove backgrounds if there are only a few colors and if the colors in the background aren't also in the object you want to keep. There are a couple of things in the Magic Wand Options Bar (at the top of the workspace) to pay attention to: 1. Tolerance. This determines how wide a net you're going to cast when you catch colors. A low number means that only colors closest in saturation, etc. to the color you click on will be selected: If you click on a certain color of red, only every pixel that looks almost exactly like the red you clicked on will be selected. A high number casts the net further: If you click on black, all the blacks and some of the grays will be selected. 2. Contiguous. If you check it, only pixels immediately next to the one you click on will be selected. If it's unchecked, all pixels in the photo that are the same color that you click on, will be selected. If the object you want to save and the background share colors, check Contiguous. Anti-alias - check it to prevent jaggedy lines All layers - if the background is composed of 2 or more layers on top of each other. You probably don't need to check this. Refine Edge - let's you expand and contract the area that's selected. This comes in handy sometimes. Try it out. The icons over on the left side: New Selection, Add To Selection, Subtract From Selection. I usually just leave it on Add To Selection. If I click and the selection is too big or selects colors I don't want selected, I just undo, lower the Tolerance value and try it again. There are two other commands in the Select Menu that go with the Magic Wand Tool. After you've made a selection, Grow expands it to include a bunch of neighbor colors that are similar. If you click on Grow and the selected area grows 'way too much, lower the number up in the Tolerance. Similar selects colors photo-wide that are similar. Try these, too.