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Technical Library: Removing the Background from a Photo
Anyone who has engraved photographs
has had the experience of someone bringing in a photograph
with a dark background that has no contrast with the
person that is in the picture. While you can fix a
lot of the problems with software like Photograv,
to really make the photo stand out and look good
engraved on a product, such as a music box or jewelry
box, you
need to remove that dark background. Believe it or
not, it isn’t as time consuming as you might
think! Using an inexpensive program like Photoshop
Elements, which is available for under $100, you
can make quick work of fixing a photo and prevent you
from having to turn away a potential customer.
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1) |
After you have scanned the
photo in as a 600 dpi grayscale, open it
in Photoshop Elements. Zoom in to a small
area of the photo to work on. The closer
you zoom in, the better your selection
will be. Select the magnetic lasso tool , and
click in the image to set the first fastening
point. Fastening points anchor the area
you want to select. Continue to follow the outline
of the area of the background we want to
delete. We are trying to delete the background
by coming as close as possible to the portion
of the photo we want to engrave. As you
move the mouse, dots will appear where the program
is selecting the area we want to get rid
of.
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Image 1
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2)
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As you move the pointer, the active segment snaps to
the strongest edge in the image. Sometimes, the
magnetic lasso tool adds fastening points to
areas that
you do not want to select. If this happens, move the mouse back close to the
last correct selection point and click delete until all of the incorrect points
are removed. In areas where the background is very close to the color of the
photo you will have this happen. Move forward a little bit and click the mouse
to create a manual selection point.
When you have selected the area you want
to delete, click on the first selection point and the
area will be selected (Image 2). |
Image 2 |
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3)
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Click delete to remove that area (Image
3).
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Image
3 |
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4)
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Clean up the edges of the photo where there
is still background by creating a box selecting
what is left on the page. Delete these portions
of the background. Move on the screen to
the next section of the photo and clean up
that section until you have worked all of
the way around the photo. (Image 4)
Don’t
worry if the edges of the photo are not completely
smooth. This inconsistency will
look more natural than you expect when engraved. Try
engraving the photo on a piece of scrap material. If
you see a small selection that stands out and needs to
be smoothed, you can select the eraser tool to get rid
of that area. For more information on Photoshop Elements,
go to www.adobe.com. |
Image 4 |
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