Changing a background in PhotoShop Elements 4

Changing a background in PhotoShop Elements 4

http://www.riponphotographic.co.uk/

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Sometimes it’s great to re-evaluate a photograph and see if you can create a better more appealing version. In this tutorial we take a look at how to change the background in a photographic portrait

1. Open your photograph: FILE > OPEN and look in “My Pictures” to find your picture

2. Create a duplicate copy of your picture LAYER > DUPLICATE LAYER > OK. When you do this you keep a copy of your original picture in the working environment just in case you make a mistake an have to go back and start again

3. You now have an additional LAYER called “Background copy”

4. If you can’t see the layers palette WINDOWS > LAYERS and you will see the layers palette appear with your two “stacked” pictures

5. At the next stage we need to remove the background from the main image and in Photoshop there are a few different methods you can try

Freehand lasso tool – This is a tool where you draw around an object to make a selection.

Magnetic lasso tool – This tool is like the above tool but is can “stick” to a defined edge where there is a good amount of contrast

Magic wand tool – It’s worth having a go with this to select a background. Experiment with the tolerance to get the best selection. You can add to the selection by clicking again but press the SHIFT key at the same time

In Photoshop Elements 4 and 5 there is a new tool called the Magic Selection Brush Tool, which can also create an accurate selection in some photographs

6. Once you have selected the background we need to soften the edge SELECT > FEATHER and enter a value of 1 to 3

7. Press DELETE on the keyboard – If you look at the layers pallet you will see you have erased the background from the layer called “background copy”

8. In the next stage you need to choose an appropriate background from your picture files: FILE > OPEN and look in “My Pictures” to find your picture

9. You could fake your own studio background by using a photograph of a sky and then creating some blur: FILTER > BLUR > GAUSSIAN BLUR and adjust the RADIUS value to suit your taste

10. Next we need to combine our newly created background with the original picture. Make sure that you can see both pictures in the working space: WINDOWS > IMAGES > CASCADE

11. Now use the MOVE TOOL, click on the new background picture you want to use, press SHIFT on the keyboard at the same time and drag onto the original picture. You will now see your new background obscuring the original image and “marching ants” showing your selection which was deleted. SELECT > DESELECT (or CTRL D) removes the “marching ants” selection which we don’t require again

12. Next go to the layers palette and click on LAYER 1 and drag it down to a point between BACKGROUND COPY and BACKGROUND and you have then sandwiched the new background between the two original photographs.

13. LAYER > FLATTEN IMAGE to create a single layer final image

14. FILE > SAVE AS to save the new photograph

© Andrew Linscott 2007

http://www.andrewlinscott.co.uk