Photoshop help

tankskun · 28 Dec 2009 at 09:08

I have this small image that needs the background colour removed from white to transparent. I can do this with magicwand then delete but it still leaves white jaggy edges. Any advice please?

Also is it possible to make the round ball a proper circle? Thank you.

Broadie · 28 Dec 2009 at 15:13

Try Select>Color Range and use the eyedropper to sample the white background (you can use the fuzziness slider to adjust the crispness of the selection), then go to Select>Inverse to select the dragon and then Ctrl+J to place it (with transparent background) onto its own layer

Then use the eyedropper to sample the required shade of gold, go to shape tool and select the ellipse, draw a circle over the existing ball shape (holding down shift will keep it a true circle), and it should fill with the gold

edit: a quick experiment suggests a fuzziness of 85 and above gives a better "cut", try by adding a colour layer between the background and the selected dragon to see the results a bit better

tankskun · 28 Dec 2009 at 15:32

Thanks Broadie.

asim18 · 28 Dec 2009 at 15:54

tankskun · 28 Dec 2009 at 17:22

Brodie your guide was excellent! I managed to get a similar result to asim18. Nice colour change there too, liking the more realistic gold colour.

One last thing. The round ball (what I meant was) If you look closely at the ball it isnt a proper round circle, its a little bent. How can I make it properly round?. Like maybe use the elliptical tool to cut around it somehow?

Thanks in advance Ive always wanted to know in detail how to cut out the white background correctly and now I do, thanks for the advice.

Broadie · 28 Dec 2009 at 19:35

No probs dude, happy to help

With the ball shape you could do a couple of things:
-cover it with a new shape on a separate layer (I usually have many layers going at the same time...mainly because you aren't affecting the original image on the background layer)

-erase it and create a new shape, I'll have a hunt down for some tutorials which would get a similar effect of the highlight on the right hand side of the ball. The only thing here is that it may be difficult to match with the rest of the image, it will look a little "too" clean.

-use the lasso tool to select the ball, Ctrl-J to put it on its own layer (some may recommend the pen tool, but this can be quite a fiddle) and either use Edit>Free Transform to adjust the proportions or have a go with Filter>Liquify using the Bloat and Pucker alterations (they should be on the left hand side, 4 or 5 down, and using the brush/tool adjustments on the right hand panel). This last option can be fun/creative if you are re-touching an image (its used quite a lot with the celeb manipulations)