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BY LONNIE NIVER

Clipping out the background of an image is a tedious job but the results are awesome. I clip out about 60 backgrounds a week and boy does it get boring. I use Photoshop to clip out backgrounds, taking the polygonal lasso tool and selecting the edges of the object to keep, and then inverting the selection. The results have very rough edges… you can still see the background in some areas of the image.

To fix this problem I created a technique that leaves the image with a soft blended edge. This technique takes a lot of patience, but you will be pleased with the results (using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and above).

1. First, open your original image in Photoshop.
    
2. Next, make the background a layer and name it image, then make two separate layers and place them behind the image layer. Fill one of the layers with black and the other with white. It doesn’t matter which one is black or white because these layers are used to see the darker and lighter areas of the object’s edge.
    
3. Now, select the Lasso tool from the tool bar and trace the object you are going to keep. NOTE: Do not select the actual edge of the object. Go out about 8px to 10px from the edge. When you are done, invert your selection and hit delete. You will now notice your background is either black or white. Depending on the darkness of the edge you will have to determine which background layer to use. I usually start with the black and switch back and forth with the white.
    
4. Okay, you are now ready to erase the rest of the background. Select a size 45 soft edge Eraser tool and make the brush size 10px. Start erasing the access background, at about the same area you traced with the Lasso tool in step 3. You can use your shortcut keys [ or ] to resize the Eraser tool up or down. Resize the eraser tool to 5px and again run the tool along the edge of the object until you see the background erasing before your eyes.
    
5. When you have completed step 4, take the blur tool and run it along the edges using a 3px size tool. Stay along the outside of the edge and watch the edge blend in with the white or black background. When you are done, discard the white and black backgrounds and save your clipped image as a .TIF with a transparent background.

You now have a clipped image with a transparent background, saved and ready to use in your documents.

Lonnie Niver writes for Paragon Grafix.