How To Make A Solid White Background In Photoshop

Convert Background And Photoshop Layers

Whenyou create a new image with a white background or a colored background, thebottommost image in the Layers panel is called Background.An image can have only one background layer. You cannot change thestacking order of a background layer, its blending mode,or its opacity. However, you can convert a background into a regularlayer, and then change any of these attributes.

When you create a new image with transparent content, the imagedoes not have a background layer. The bottommost layer is not constrainedlike the background layer you can move it anywhere in the Layerspanel and change its opacity and blending mode.

Convert a background into a Photoshop layer

Convert a Photoshop layer into a background

Open The Actions Panel

To record our action, we need to use Photoshop’s Actions panel. Unlike the Layers panel, the Actions panel is not one of the panels that Photoshop opens for us by default, so we’ll need to open it ourselves.

Go up to the Window menu in the Menu Bar along the top of the screen. Here, you’ll find a list of every panel that’s available to us in Photoshop. Select the Actions panel from the list. If you see a checkmark next to the panel’s name, it means the panel is already open somewhere on your screen. If you don’t see the checkmark, go ahead and select it:

This opens the Actions panel. Photoshop includes a collection of default actions which are found in the cleverly-named Default Actions set. You can twirl the Default Actions set open to view the actions inside of it by clicking the triangle icon to the left of the little folder icon. Clicking the triangle again will close the set:

Change The Background Of A Photo

Find a new background

Replacing a background is something youll do often in Photoshop. You might change the background to a different color or style than the original, or place your subject in a different scene by swapping background images. Changing the background of an image can be completely transformative, giving it a whole new meaning.

Choose the best selection tool for the job

Replacing a background usually starts with a selection. Photoshop has lots of selection tools to choose from. There are tools for making geometric selections, tools for drawing freeform selections, and tools for making a selection automatically. Theres even a Remove Background quick action button in the Properties panel that does the work for you!

As you work with Photoshop, youll start to see which selection tools are best for which situations. Here are a few tips to get you started:

• If your photo features one subject, try using Select Subject to automatically select that subject.
• If there are multiple subjects, use the Object Selection tool to zero in on the one you want to select.

Select the background or the subject

Fine-tune the selection

Your initial selection probably wont be perfect. Photoshop has a dedicated Select and Mask workspace for fine-tuning selections. In that workspace, you can make your selection fit the image more precisely and smooth out any rough selection edges.

Add a new background

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How To Make A Pure White Or Pure Black Background In Photoshop

How many times have you photographed something on a white or black backdrop only to find the intended background has somehow ended up in the grey zone? When posted on a website or pure background, the supposed pure white now appears greyish blue, tinted, murky. The black now an ugly brownish grey. If youre tired of this, there is an easy way to make sure your final images are coming out on a pure white or black background that will blend perfectly with most websites. And, you can do it without losing a ton of detail in the image:

The Threshold Test

The fastest and easiest way to test your image backgrounds pureness is with the Threshold Adjustment Layer. If you want to check if your background has any pure white, then move the Threshold slider all the way to the right. If the image is then completely black, that means you dont have any pure white in your image. If, however, you see some white, that is pure white. Same goes for blackjust move the slider all the way to the left.

Threshold Test

Making the Background White

The easiest way to make your background pure white is with the brush tool. Adjusting curves will cause your image to lose too much detail. Heres how to do it:

Making a White Background

Eliminating the Border

Change the border options to None.

Apply A Gradient To A New Layer Using The Gradient Tool

Start by creating a new layer above your solid color fill.

With the new layer selected, access your Gradient Tool and select a foreground to transparent gradient from the Gradient Editor.

Next, set your foreground color to the color you want your gradient to be. In my case, Ill select a light grey color to go along with the background.

Lastly, choose your gradient type from the upper settings bar. Since I want my gradient to be circular behind my subject, Ill select the radial gradient option. You can learn more about the different gradient types in this post.

Painting onto the new transparent layer, Ill click in the center of the canvas and drag outwards to apply the gradient. To add more intensity to your gradient, try doing this multiple times.

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Redraw The Gradient To Adjust The Fade Effect

Now if you didn’t draw the gradient in exactly the right spot, that’s okay because you can just draw another one. In fact, you can redraw the gradient as many times as you need. Each new gradient you draw will replace the previous one.

I’ll click to set my starting point somewhere around the woman’s eye:

Then with my mouse button still down, I’ll hold the Shift key on my keyboard and I’ll drag over to the left:

But notice when I release my mouse button that I went too far, and we can see the left edge of the image:

So I’ll try one more time, starting in the same spot:

But this time dragging a shorter distance:

I’ll release my mouse button, then the Shift key. And this looks better:

Use Selection Tools To Make A Background White In Photoshop

The above approach is simple enough, but sometimes you need a more precise edit to make your white background look believable. Theres a ton of room for error when working with Layer Masks and hand-painting out your images background. Instead, lets look at another approach using Photoshops built-in selection tools.

1. Mask the Background

Once youve imported your image to Photoshop, choose Select from the upper menu, then pick the Select and Mask option.

Next, in the upper right-hand corner of the sidebar menu that opens, choose the drop-down to select a Viewing Mode.

Photoshops Viewing Modes will help us to see our edits against our original image as we make them. For this tutorial, Ive chosen to use the Overlay Viewing Mode. Youll notice that the Overlay mode creates a red color cast over the entire image.

2. Select the Image Subject

Next, we need to tell Photoshop who or what our image subject is. To do that, well use the Quick Selection Tool to paint our subject in the photo. Simply click on the Quick Selection Tool icon in the upper left of the Viewing Modes screen, then click and drag your cursor to select your subject.

The Quick Selection Tool helps in this process by automatically selecting similar pixels across an area. Because this tool uses AI to detect similar pixels, youll want to use this approach on images where the subject stands out from the background, rather than ones where the subject blends in.

3. Add a White Background

4. Touch Up Your Work

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Changing Text Box Background Color In Photoshop

Are you trying to add labels to maps, charts, drawings, or other images in Photoshop? Are you finding it impossible to change the background color of your text box?

If so, thats because it is impossible! Photoshop does not have this functionality. There is a workaround, however, if youd like to continue working with your image in Photoshop:

First, create your text box by selecting the T tool from your Photoshop Toolbox.

You can change the size, style, and color of your font from the top menu.

Next, find your Rectangle Tool. It may be hidden behind a tool that looks like a forward slash . To switch tools, mouse over the / icon and hit control, then select the Rectangle Tool.

Using the Rectangle Tool, draw a box around your text. You can adjust the color and opacity from the top menu. If you dont see an option for opacity at top, you can change the opacity from the layer adjustment tools at right.

You can then send the box you made behind the text by going to Layer > Arrange > Send Backward.

By default, each time you create a new object or text box you will create a new layer. You may want to flatten the image periodically, if you know that you wont be making further adjustments to some boxes/text. You can also learn more about managing your layers in CS6 by viewing this tutorial.

Select The Background Eraser Tool

You can find it in the eraser tab of the toolbar. The Background Eraser cursor looks like a circle with crosshairs in the center, these crosshairs are what controls the tool. It samples the color directly beneath it, in this case, the white area.

Since we are erasing the white background behind a colorful graphic, we have to choose the following preferences for the background eraser tool:

Size: 300-800 pt.Sampling: Once or Background SwatchLimits: Find EdgesTolerance: 20%Protect Foreground Color

Also, make sure the color black is in the foreground at the bottom of the toolbar.

Select the background eraser tool and the preferences

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Creating A New Background Layer Action In Photoshop

Learn how to create a new Background layer for a Photoshop document from scratch, and how to save your steps as a time-saving action! For Photoshop CS6, CC and earlier versions of Photoshop.

Previously, we learned all about Photoshop’s Background layer and why it’s different from normal layers. Since the Background layer serves as the background for our document, there are certain things that Photoshop won’t allow us to do with it. The most important of those things are that we can’t move the contents of the Background layer, we can’t move other layers below the Background layer, and since the Background layer does not support transparency, we can’t delete any pixels from the Background layer.

If you’re doing image retouching work , the Background layer’s limitations probably won’t be an issue. But if you’re creating photo effects, compositing multiple images together, or doing anything where you need more control over the initial photo you opened in your document, then the Background layer can quickly become a problem.

This is lesson 5 in my .

Let’s get started!

Let’s look at a simple example to show you what I mean. Here’s an image I’ve opened in Photoshop. I downloaded this one from Adobe Stock but you can easily follow along with any image of your own:

Whenever we open an image, Photoshop automatically places it on the Background layer, as we see here in my Layers panel:

How To Change Color Of Background In Photoshop Using Content

Sometimes its not a solid color that you need to use in with a new layer, but rather unwanted elements or objects. Content-Aware Fill is a handy way to do so. Content-Aware Fill seamlessly fills those sections with content that comes from other parts of the image.

Step 1

Select the part of the image you want to fill.

Step 2

Once you have your selection, click Edit and then Fill. If you want to access the dialog box from the Background layer quickly, click Delete or Backspace.

Step 3

Step 4

Make a selection that goes slightly into the area that you want to duplicate. If you leave the Color Adaptation box checked while you make this selection , Photoshop will use an algorithm to blend with the other background colors automatically. You can also select a pattern, either your own or one of Photoshops.

Step 5

Click OK to finish this second background method. Your selection should now have been seamlessly replaced with Content-aware fill. If you dont like the results, hit Ctrl + Z to undo them.

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Select Outside The Logo Image

After selecting the lasso tool, now we will select the outside of the logo image. To select the edges, just drag the cursor around the subject while enabling the lasso tool. After you complete dragging around the subjects edges, you will notice that a path is created. Which means your subject is selected.

Select The Magic Wand Tool

To access the Magic Wand Tool, simply press W on your keyboard or find it in your toolbar.

If you do not see it, it may be hidden under other tools such as the quick selection or object selection tools. By clicking and holding on the tool icon, your other tool options will appear. Select the Magic Wand Tool.

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How To Create A Solid Background In Photoshop

Have you ever had a session where the backdrop didnt end up looking the way you intended? This video teaches how to use the select and mask workspace to create a perfect background in Photoshop.

Several issues may arise that produce flaws in the backdrop of your image. Even if you are using clean paper, there is always the chance of creases, dim lighting, or shadows altering the look of your photo. In this video, Jesus Ramirez of the gives a complete guide for perfecting an image while creating a clean background.

There are several tutorials available for cutting out a subject correctly, and Ramirez does an excellent job of covering this in his video. The section that made this video great was his teaching on applying finishing touches to an altered image. He took a few additional steps to correct the lighting and the shadows to match the new background, an action that most people forget to do. I learned something new when he explained how to use an uncommon tool to produce a shadow on the backdrop and artificially create the lighting that should be reflecting on the subject. If you are wondering why an image has looked off when you’ve replaced a background in the past, this is likely why.

When watching someone edit, there is always a handful of tips that you pick up that were unknown to you before. This video provides several of those pointers and is excellent to watch for anyone who needs to swap out their backdrop in Photoshop.

Why Do You Need A Pure White Background

The purposes of a pure white background for photos are many. The most important and mandatory one is for eCommerce websites. See all the websites that contain products for marketing. Each and every product photo is on white background. And, this is one of the prime conditions of online marketing. You cannot upload your product images if you do not follow this term.

A pure white background comes with the operation of image subject isolation. So, you can use any background as you need to use replacing the original one. Also, at this point, you can have the freedom of choosing any color you need.

Shadow addition or modification is amazing with a white background. We generally add this shadow on the isolated subject. But, if there is a subject that is already attached with the white background, it is convenient to isolate. Then the shadow addition is alright any way you like.

Product or photo subject over a pure white background has some more advantages according to your choice. The merging of several subjects in one frame is also convenient with the procedure. So, you can use the background for multiple purposes as you need.

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Tune Your Tool Settings

On the tool options bar at the top of the screen select a round, hard brush. The most appropriate brush size will vary depending on the image youre working on. Use the square bracket key for quickly scaling your brush size.

Next, on the tool options bar, set the Sampling to Continuous, the Limits to Find Edges and a Tolerance of somewhere between 20-25% is a good starting place.

Note: A low tolerance limits your eraser to areas that are very similar to your sampled color. A higher tolerance expands the range of colors your eraser will select.

Turn Your Selection Into A Layer

Save what youve selected so far on a new layer, even if its not quite perfect yet just make sure you havent left out anything that should be selected. With those marching ants still indicating your selection, copy and paste the selection. The pasted selection will automatically show up as its own layer. Alternatively, you can also go to Layer > New > Layer Via Copy.

In the layers panel, click the eye icon next to the original background layer. That will allow you to see your transparent background, but dont delete the background just yet.

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