How to Separate an Image From Its Background in Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most creative and powerful image manipulation applications in use today. It's commonly used to separate a portion of an image from its background. Use the following suggestions to begin altering your photos.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Open the image in Adobe Photoshop. Select the Freeform Pen tool from the drop down menu bar. This tool looks like a small pen nib with a small series of dotted lines following the nib. Outline the portion of the image you want to keep, cut the image out (ctrl-C) and then paste (ctrl-V) onto any background.

2. Choose the Masking tool from the tool menu and outline the subject with the Spray Paint tool. Once the outline is established, fill in the remaining area of the subject with color. Select the Masking icon to remove everything but the masked selection.

3. Remove the subject image from its background by using the Photoshop Extract option. With the image open, select Filters at the top of the screen and choose Extract. Here the subject is outlined and color filled and separated from any background.

4. Pick the Magic Wand tool from the main Photoshop toolbar. Select the portions of the background by clicking on the appropriate areas. This will highlight an area to delete. Press the delete key to remove that portion of the background. Continue this until all areas of the background are gone.

Tips & Warnings

• Adjust the Refine Edges tool where possible. This will bring in the selected area closer to the subject for a cleaner image.
• Feather the edges once the image is removed from the background. The Smudge tool is a great option for blurring the edges of the extracted image from its new background.
• Save the image as a JPEG file if all work is completed on the image. Let Photoshop save the image as a PSD file if additional work has to be done at a later time.