How to Remove a Horrible Background in Photoshop

I like digital photography. It's so much easier than traditional photography, and the prints can be run off in minutes via a computer and a photo-compatible colour printer.

There's no longer any guessing if your pictures have come out right. There's no longer any need to take the roll of 35mm film into town. There's no longer any disappointment when you get your prints back and they've come out terrible.

I've been trying to find out the answer to the conundrum of removing backgrounds using Photoshop for what seems like a lifetime. You know the sort of thing; you've taken a digital photo of someone you really care for, but you now want to remove or change the background.

Sooner or later, you're going to want to perform this manoeuvre on one of your digital photos for whatever reason. So, here's the easiest way I've found how to do that.

Virtually every Google search I made on the subject told me to use the Pen tool. Ha! Have you ever tried that? To a novice, that can take absolutely ages, most times even longer than that. It involves forming a new layer over the existing picture (no problem) and then 'tracing' around the subject, forming little 'dots' with the Pen tool as you go. That's just painstakingly laborious, and the end result usually isn't very much to write home about either (please excuse the pun, it was intended)!

So that got me thinking; surely a programme (or is it an application?) such as Photoshop would have a better alternative means to removing a background than just the awkward-to-use Pen tool?

Well, guess what? Yes, I found it.

It's called the Magnetic Lasso Tool and it's absolutely brilliant! Okay, so you've still got to have a steady hand as you do when you use the Pen tool, but the operation is so much easier.

If you understand how to use Photoshop then hopefully you'll understand the instruction I'm about to give. If you are not Photoshop savvy then I apologise. But, you're not alone, because I am learning marvellous things about it all the time.

Not surprisingly, you've got to open up Photoshop. To get your photo to display, go to 'File / Open' and locate your photo on your hard drive, DVD drive, memory stick, etc., wherever you've got the photo stored.

With your photo on the screen in front of you, select the Lasso tool on the tool bar to the left of the screen. Click the little arrow on that box until a small drop down appears. You need to select the Magnetic Lasso.

Carefully trace around your subject and join the line up where you started. With the line showing around your subject, right-click and choose 'Layer via Cut' from the dropdown menu.

Under the 'Layers' section on the right of the screen, turn off the eye labelled 'Background' (just locate the eye icon and click once. You should now have the copied layer left on the screen with a transparent background (it looks like grey and white squares). Around the edge of your subject you'll probably still find some residue of the background that you're trying to get rid of.

Time now to go back over to the tool bar to the left and select the Eraser tool. The cursor will change to a small circle. The size of the little circle can be changed in the top left of the screen. Using your left mouse button, depress your finger and use the Eraser tool to trace very carefully around the edge of your subject. As you'll see, the background is disappearing. Tidy the rest of the background up with the Eraser and there you have it. You may find it an advantage to zoom in a little bit on your photo. Then it's one subject successfully removed from the background.

The final 'trick' is to save your picture under a new name, so that you'll still have the original picture intact.

You've just learnt in a couple of minutes what it took me ages to find out for myself. I hope it makes you feel good. ;-)