You are probably familiar with image background removal, one of the most popular terms in photo editing.
Background removal is required when you need to make an image look professional. For instance, we need to remove the background of ecommerce product photos when editing, as it helps to achieve the best look of the product to entice online customers.
Background removal can be done for several reasons. Whether you want to change the background color of an image or keep it transparent so that the object fits any background, you need to consider background removal.
However, there are two different ways to make transparent background in Photoshop, which are:
- Automatic
- Manual
In this article, we will go through both automatic and manual ways to see how easily you can make transparent backgrounds in Photoshop.
Let’s see how to do that:
How to Automatically Transparent Image Background in Photoshop?
Contents
Photoshop has significantly evolved and increased features and functionalities to make photo editing more seamless for users. In addition, it recently included AI automation for removing, enhancing, upscaling, filtering, and many other functions.
With photoshop AI, you can easily transparent any image background in a few clicks. You can also use this as a background removal automation to quickly remove background from bulk product photos with a snap.
This is a new addition to Photoshop, and it provides excellent results for images with simple edges. So, it is not recommended for images that include complex shapes and edges.
Without further ado, let’s see how you can use this automation step by step below:
Step – 1: Open Your Image
First, open the image which you want to remove the background from.
To do this, you need to go to File > Open > Navigate to the file where the image is located and then select it to open.
Step – 2: Duplicate the Layer
To avoid further complications, you need to duplicate the layer and then hide the background layer so that all the work is saved in the duplicate layer.
You can duplicate the layer from the layer panel, or use shortcut to copy and paste the entire image to duplicate the layer. In the layer panel, you can see the option ‘duplicate layer’ located below the layer panel. Click the option, and you can see a new layer has been created in the layer panel.
If you want to use shortcut, just select the entire image by clicking ‘Ctrl+A’ > ‘Ctrl+C’ > ‘Ctrl+V’. You can see the new layer created by default, which is named layer 1.
Make sure that you have hidden the background layer by clicking the eye option in the layer panel.
Step – 3: Remove the Background
To find the automated background-removing option, head to the properties panel and scroll down to ‘Quick Action’ section.
Here you can see two options ‘Remove background’ ‘Select subject’. Choose the option ‘Remove background,’ and the Ai will start processing in the background. It will take a few seconds to remove the background from image, and you can see the image background becomes transparent.
Step – 4: Export and Save
When you have done removing the background, you need to export and save the image in required format. Click File > Export > Save as and choose the PNG format.
Don’t forget to check out the ‘Transparency’ option from the settings panel to ensure that you are saving the image with transparent background.
How to Manually Transparent Image Background in Photoshop?
Since you can’t remove all image background using the automatic Ai in photoshop, there are complex images that require precise selection when removing the background.
In such a case, you will need to go through the manual process to remove the background as well as make the image background transparent.
However, in photoshop, you can take several ways to manually remove the background from images.
Photoshop has multiple tools to execute background removing operations such as:
- Object Selection Tool
- Quick Selection Tool
- Magic Wand Tool
- Lasso Tool
- Pen Tool
Among them, pen tool provides the most advanced way to remove objects from background, changing or making background transparent. Therefore, professionals use this tool to fix image backgrounds and for other purposes.
If you don’t know how to use pen tool in Photoshop, you can choose other simple ways, such as quick selection, magic wand tool, and lasso tool instead.
For your convenience, we are showing the easiest way to manually transparent image background in Photoshop, which is using the Magic wand tool. However, if your image includes complex shapes and edges, you should use pen tool to ensure the best result.
Here are the steps to manually transparent image background using the magic wand tool.
Step – 1: Open the Image and Duplicate the Layer
This step is similar to what we have seen in the above method. You need to open the image in Photoshop and then duplicate the layer by clicking on ‘Duplicate layer’ option in the layer panel.
Step – 2: Select the Tool and Apply
Now from the left toolbar, select the magic wand tool, which you can find in the fourth position on the toolbar.
With the magic wand tool selected, you need to click the background that you want to remove and make it transparent. Photoshop AI will automatically select the background to remove. If the automatic selection doesnt look good, you can manually adjust it to make it perfect for your need.
For this, you will need to use the tolerance, which is located at the top of the window. Tolerance decides the sensitivity of the magic wand selection, which is by default set as 32. But you can increase or decrease it as per needs.
Furthermore, if you see any portion of the background is unselected, you can select it manually. To do this, go to the magic wand tool menu at the top and click ‘Add to selection’ and then click the areas that you want to include in the selection.
Step – 3: Delete the Background to Make it Transparent
When the selection is done, you are just one step away from making the image background transparent. With the entire object selected, you need to inverse the selection to erase it from the image entirely.
To inverse the selection, click ‘Shift + Ctrl + I’ or go to the ‘select’ option above and choose ‘Inverse’ from the dropdown panel. Hit the ‘Backspace’ from your keyboard, and boom! Your background has been erased successfully.
Step – 4: Save and Export
When you are done, it’s time to export and save the image with the transparent background. To protect the transparent background, you must save it in PNG format. The best option to save transparent background in Photoshop is PNG 24.
To save this format, go to the top menu bar File > Export > Export As, and you can see all the settings options in a new window. Decide the height and width of the image based on where you want to use it, and then click on Export.
This is how you can make image’s background transparent and save it with the transparent background.
Why do You Need to Make an Image Transparent?
Image with transparent background is one of the most popular ways to make an image more attractive and functional. It helps to make an image more eye-catching, especially for product images.
When using product images on ecommerce website or amazon, it is important to provide the best look of the product. So, the visitors and consumers can see all the product details and make purchase decisions. Product image with transparent or white background helps best to achieve the goal.
Besides, making an image transparent can be useful for a variety of reasons, such as:
- To blend the image seamlessly with other elements on a webpage or document
- Transparent background works best with watermarks or logos that can be placed over other image without blocking the underlying content
- When you need to create a layered effect or highlight specific content, you will need transparent background
- To remove unwanted portions of an image while keeping the desired parts visible
Overall, making an image transparent can help improve the visual appeal and usability of an image in various contexts.
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions to provide more information related to the topic:
What is Transparent Background?
Transparent background refers to background which doesn’t have any pixels in it. Therefore, it is called transparent background. An image with a transparent background includes nothing but the object only. Therefore, it is highly adjustable to any other background without affecting its appearance.
How do I Make a White Background Transparent in Photoshop?
There are multiple ways to make a white background transparent in Photoshop. Photoshop offers different tools such as object selection, quick selection, magic wand tool, pen tool, and lasso tool through you can make a white background transparent in photoshop.
Also, there is AI automation which can automatically generate transparent backgrounds for any image. If you are looking to make a white background transparent in photoshop, you can use any of the tools or the automation to accomplish your need.
What is the Easiest Way to Make a Transparent Image Background in Photoshop?
Among the many options to make a transparent image background in Photoshop, you can choose either quick selection, magic wand or lasso tool to make a transparent image background in Photoshop quickly and easily. These tools offer the easiest way to make a transparent image background in Photoshop.
What does a Transparent Background Look Like?
A transparent background visually looks like a checkerboard as it contains white and grey patterned grid background.
Can I Use Pen Tool to Create a Transparent Background?
Yes, you can use pen tool to select specific object and separate it from the background. Pen tool is an advanced tool in photoshop, so it requires knowledge to use pen tool. When you select any object of an image with pen tool, it needs to delete the background with your keyboard backspace. And you can see the image background turn into a transparent background.
