Make Image Backgrounds Transparent Using Photoshop

A common task that many designers need to perform in Photoshop is the removing of a background from an image.

This is often the case with company or website logos that have a colored background – this makes it difficult to place the logo on different colored backgrounds as it generally looks poor and creates an unprofessional look.

For example, if a logo with a red background is placed on a background of yellow, then it will likely look very poor.

One solution to this is to remove the background using Photoshop transparency – this is normally a very easy task to complete and enables you to use your logo (or other image) on any type of background you like.

Follow these simple steps to remove a background from an image:

1. Open Photoshop and Load Your Image

Simply start up Photoshop and open your image via the “File > Open” menu.

2. Create A New Transparent Layer

Once your image has loaded, you need to place a transparent layer under the layer that has your image on it.

To do this, simply select the “Create a new layer” icon at the bottom of the “Layers” box in the bottom right of your screen.

This will then create a new layer that has a transparent background – you can tell that background is transparent if it is “checkered” like a chess board

Once you’ve created this layer, you must ensure that is placed under the layer with the image on.

3. Select Area of Background To Remove

You now need to use the magic wand tool to select the area of the background that needs removing.

To do this, simply click and drag the magic wand over the area of the background that you want to remove.

The selected area should have a dotted line around it so that you can easily see which area has been selected.

4. Delete Background

Once your happy with your selection, all you have to do is simply press the “delete” button on your keyboard.

This should remove the image background and in its place should be the checkered (i.e. transparent) background.

5. Save Image

You can now save the image in a number of formats, although saving in JPEG format will result in the transparency being lost.

Saving in most other formats should be absolutely fine and the transparency should be retained.