How do I make background transparent in Photoshop?

Have a distracting background in the picture due to which you are not getting your perfect-picture look? If so, the next question that will strike your mind is certainly, “How do I make background transparent in Photoshop?”

Well, the good news is you don’t have to be a graphics genius to edit your picture. Instead, with Photoshop background removal, you can ideally make your background pictures go transparent within seconds like a pro.

Just need to know the exact steps to do it. And, you will be all set to go and edit like a pro!

Before jumping directly on the steps, lets at first know why people feel the urge to change their background:

Why do people want to make their background transparent in Photoshop?

There are a series of reasons owing to which people feel the need to change the background of their pictures. 

Here are some of the common grounds due to which most people want to make it transparent in the first place:

• Removing the distracting or unwanted elements like other people or any objects you don’t want to keep. 
• Give the picture a more artistic appearance.
• To put your subject into a totally different background.
• Remove the boring background scenarios to replace them with some futuristic backdrops. 
• Makes the multiple layers of editing of a picture simpler and more efficient.
• Helps to freely move an object with its transparency.

How do I make background transparent in Photoshop?

To many people, replacing the original background of a picture with a transparent one is often considered the work of a web or a graphics designer. Of course, without any doubt, they are the experts in that field.

However, with a little bit of knowledge and skills in Photoshop, everyone can quite easily change their background. Just need to know the steps properly. 

Therefore, follow the steps below-mentioned as instructed. It will only take some minutes to convert your not-so-perfect picture into a flawless one.

1. At first, import the picture whose background you want to change. 
2. Once the picture is imported into Photoshop, click on the Ctrl + J buttons for duplicating the layers.

Note: In case you miss this step, you will not find the selection options as we move on to step 4; hence, make sure to do it properly.

3. Here, you must select Window > Properties, as shown in the below picture.

4. At the properties, you will find the Remove Background option. Click on it. 

5. To view the transparent background on your screen, click the Eye icon from the left portion of the Background layer.

That’s all! Now, with this single transparent layer, you are completely free to drop it into another background or create other effects as you like to make it a flawless one. 

How to place a solid color adjustment layer?

Now that you know how to change the background into a transparent one let’s also learn how to place a solid color adjustment layer below your transparent layer to add a different effect.

Both the topics are relatively connected, and having a bit more knowledge isn’t going to hurt you. Instead, it will be beneficial from all angles.

Here’s to how:

1. Toggle the X button till the foreground color turns into black color. 

2. Here, you have to go to the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon, placed at the rightmost bottom corner of the display. And then, sequencly have to select Solid Color and then click on the Ok button as shown.

3. Based on your queries, a Color Fill Layer is supposed to appear on the topmost corner of your layer stack. In case it doesn’t appear, it’s ok as you can also click on the Color Fill layer and drag it underneath the transparent layer. 

See, that much easy the steps are! 

Upon following the steps properly, you can easily make use of this newly-created transparent layer. And thus put them into a new one for making the picture a total stand out.

How to use the subject select tool to make a transparent background?

The subject select tool is needed when you have multiple subjects to work with while making the background transparent. It is somehow an alternative to using the above method with some additional steps included.

This tool works better with complicated backgrounds. So, this particular section is for those people who have a complex background with multiple objects.

These are the steps to follow:

1. Once the image is imported into Photoshop, simply go to Select > Subject as shown.

2. Here, we select both women’s images, as depicted by the “marching ants” selection lines surrounding them.

Pick the Lasso tool in the leftmost column in case it doesn’t appear on the screen by default. Keep pressing the Alt key continuously, trace the circle that will appear on the image of the right woman, and then finally release the Alt button.

3. Left-click on anywhere inside the selected woman picture on the left side. From the menu bar, pick Select Inverse.

4. After then, Go to Select > Select and Mask to move on to the next step.

5. By default, it will become red once selected. For selecting more things to be made transparent, choose the Brush tool.

6. Select the Plus (+) icon and then begin painting red into your desired portions to make it transparent. 
7. Lastly, go to Output To and choose New Layer with Layer Mask from the dropdown menubar. Once done, click on the OK.

Conclusion 

Once you know the steps to make a background transparent, the whole work seems like a piece of cake to you with just some practice. Just follow the above steps as instructed to become a pro in editing the image’s background.