Removing Image from its Background

Removing Image from its Background
done in Adobe Photoshop CS3

Note: All settings in this tutorial are applicable to the size and resolution used. If you want to try this tutorial in a different size and resolution, adjust also some settings.

........................................................................................................................................................................

In this tutorial, I will show you how I remove the background of my captured image for a purpose. There are so many ways on how you extract an object from its background. It depends on the image being extracted. Here, I will going to show you using the Pen tool .

1. The clothes pin in this image is the one i will going to extract from its background because I am going to use this pin in my Scrapbooking freebie. This is my own capture. I used here my 6-megapixel CANON PowerShot A540. I just cropped it making a size of 150 x 291pixels. Open image in Photoshop CS3. This is the Background Layer.

2. Duplicate this by pressing CTRL+J in your keyboard. You can hide now your background layer by clicking its visibility eye beside the thumbnail layer. Click the Pen tool from the tool palette and choose the Paths from the options toolbar.

3. Start selecting the clothes pin. Click around the object in changing form like curves and straight lines.

4. After you have reached the starting point, close the selection and this will form a path around the object. Then switch now the palette to Paths and click the Load Path as a Selection at the bottom of the Paths palette. This will make a selection. If the selection is not inverted, press CTRL+Shift+I in your keyboard.

5. Then press Delete and deselect by CTRL+D. This will now be the image.

6. This looks ok but I prefer to retouch it a little bit. Click the Add New Fill or Adjustment layer at the bottom of the layer palette and choose Levels.

..and do the following settings: Click OK when you are done.

7. Let us now see what we have here:

Before After