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Making a white background in Photoshop is a simple process, but it can be tricky to get the results you want if you’re not familiar with the tools and techniques. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to make a background white in Photoshop using layers and adjustment layers.
How to Make a Background White in Photoshop
White background photography sells well on stock photo websites.
Designers love it because an all white background can be integrated into any layout.
You can also switch a white background for another color or background image.
How to Choose the Right Photo for a White Background Image
Choosing or creating your photo is the first thing you need to do, even before you open Photoshop. Some photos are far easier than others to change to a pure white background.
Having your subject against a clean, uncluttered background will help. Good contrast between your subject and the background (figure to ground) also helps.
This will make it easier to extract the subject from the background.
The background might be too varied or cluttered. The selection tool you will use in Photoshop will not work as well. And you will have to spend more time to correct it.
Having your subject a good distance from anything in the background is helpful. This way you will be able to use a narrow enough aperture setting. Your subject will be in sharp focus and the background out of focus.
In the photo below the background is not suitable. Masking will not work well and you’ll need to do more work to correct it.
Open your photo in Photoshop in the highest resolution you have.
Using a low resolution photo will make it more difficult to get a good clean edge separation.
From the Select menu choose the Select and Mask tool. Then select a View Mode from the Properties panel on the right, at the top.
I prefer to use the Overlay mode as it allows me to see the selection area clearly.
Choose the Quick Selection tool. This is on the left of your screen.
Use this to draw around on the inside of your subject.
It may take Photoshop some time to show the selection. This depends on the size of your photo and the speed of your computer.
Be patient. Draw a little and wait until you can see the result.
Step 4. Move the Image Back to the Main Photoshop Screen
When you are satisfied with the way your image looks, it’s time to output it and return to the main Photoshop screen.
From the Output To selection box near the bottom right of your screen, choose New Layer with Layer Mask. Click OK.
You have now created a new layer with the background masked out. This will be set above your original layer.
Step 5. Add a New Solid Layer
Click on your original image (which is now hidden.)
From the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of you Layers Panel, select Solid Color.
Set the color to pure white and click OK. This creates a white layer in between the two layers you already have.
The selection tool is not perfect, especially if you have some fuzzy edges.
If your subject has very clean and defined edges, you can skip this step.
With the photo I have chosen it is necessary to look at the edges and clean them up.
Now you have a pure white background you can crop in close to your subject.
If you are using the photo on a web page or will be clear cutting it, you will not need any superfluous background.
If you have taken a photo against an all white background, it may not be pure white. To check this, click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel.
Choose Threshold.
Under the histogram in the Properties tab that appears, drag the slider towards the right. Watch to see if the background remains solid white. If it turns black, you do not have a pure white background.
Looking to see if there is a spike in the histogram at the right edge will give you some indication. If the spike is not hard against the right edge your white is not pure.
However you choose to achieve a white background, paying careful attention to the edges of your subject is vital.
If there is unnatural looking contrast around the edges it will look sloppy and ineffective. It’s important to pay attention to the edges of your frame also.
If the white is not pure it will not look so good when placed on white web page or other white background.
Using Photoshop makes pure white background photograph possible with any photo.
The quality you are able to achieve will often depend on how much time you have to give the task.
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