How to Add Background Color to a Photograph Using Photoshop

Today I am going to teach you how to add background color to a photograph using Photoshop. If you are a beginner at Photoshop do not worry, I'll walk you through step-by-step. I will warn everyone before we get started - adding color for a background to a photo can sometimes be a little time consuming depending on how many items you need to get the background around; you will see what I mean once you have started.

Step one - First you need to insert a photo into Photoshop. Do this by going to the top of the screen, locating "File" and selecting, then scroll down to "Open" and once again select. Locate the photo you would like to use during this changing process. Insert the photo by single clicking the photo (which will highlight it) and selecting "Open" or "OK" at the bottom of the window.

Step two - Now let's look to the toolbox. There are two tools you can use for this next job; the "Freehand Tool" and the "Selections Tool". I would advice you to use the "Freehand Tool". Use the "Freehand Tool" to outline the area you want to color (this would be your background). Make sure to go around items that you do not want to be colored (only outline what you would like to change colors).

Step three - Go back to the Photoshop toolbox and look for the color palette box (it should be toward the bottom of the toolbox). You are going to now choose the color for your background (pick whatever color you would like). To pick your color simply right click the color palette once and a new window will open for you to mix up colors. Once you have the color you like click "OK" to move on.

Step four - Once you have your color, look to the toolbox again. Locate the "Paint Bucket Tool" (it looks just like a paint bucket). You can choose your fill pattern using the option menu for the paint bucket tool. Everyone has a different why they want their background to look so I'm not going to tell you how to set your options. Go ahead and mess around with them and you can always undo what you just did by going to the top of the screen and selecting "Edit" and then scroll down to "Undo" and select.

Step five - Now scroll your cursor over to the picture and place it within the area that you outlined in the beginning of the project withe the "Freehand Tool". Single right click the mouse to fill in the area with the new background color. Remember that you can always undo something by going to the top of the screen and selecting "Edit" then "Undo".

And that's how you add a background color to a photo using Photoshop!