Photoshop Tutorial : Background Eraser
If you want to remove a background from an image you’re working on, there are of course many ways to do this using Photoshop. You could select the object you’re interested in, copy and paste it to a new layer. Another way to do it is to use the Background Eraser tool. This tool samples the colour at the centre of the brush and will delete pixels of a similar colour.
Start by opening an image that you want to remove the background from.
Select the Background Eraser tool from the toolbox. It may be hidden beneath the Eraser tool.
On the tool options bar at the top of the screen choose a large round, hard brush. I’m working with quite a large image so I’ve picked a brush size of 100 pixels.
Again, on the tool options bar, set the Sampling to Continuous, the limits to Find Edges and the Tolerance to a low number such as 25 or 20%. A low tolerance limits erasure to areas that are very similar to the sampled colour. A high tolerance erases a broader range of colours.
Bring the pointer near to the edge of the person or object that you want to remove the background from. You will see a circle with small crosshairs in the centre. The crosshairs show the “hotspot” and deletes that colour wherever it appears inside the brush. It also performs colour extraction at the edges of any foreground objects, so that colour halos are not visible if the foreground object is later pasted into another image.
Click and drag to start erasing. There is no problem if you bring the circle over the edges between the background and the object (that’s why it’s so cool) but it’s very important that you don’t drag the cross hairs over the edges.
As you click and drag you’ll see the checkerboard pattern appear in the areas you have erased.
Continue erasing around the object. In some places you will need to reduce the size of the brush to ensure that you don’t accidentally erase part of the object. (For example around the phone in this image).
Once you have erased an area the whole way around the object, then switch to the Eraser tool.
Choose a very large brush size and you can now easily get rid of the rest of the background.
Related Posts
- Photoshop Tutorial: Extracting an image from it’s background
- Photoshop Tutorial : Using the Sponge Tool to Adjust Saturation
- Photoshop : Tutorial - Using The Art History Brush
- Photoshop Tutorial : Create a Postage Stamp With Your Artwork
Comments
6 Responses to “Photoshop Tutorial : Background Eraser”
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Hi, my name is Jennifer Farley and I am a designer and design instructor based in Ireland. Read more about Laughing Lion Design .
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Connecting
It seems to me that there is a rather significant halo, especially on the orange side. If you increase the tolerance will that go away??
Hi Sean,
Yes, you’re absolutely right there is quite a big halo around her head, now that I look at it again. I used a very low tolerance number in this case, but I could have increased it probably up to 45% or so. Anything above that and the eraser started eating into her hair!
Jennifer
Hi
I’m doing this project on Photoshop and I have been using some of your tutorials.
I have made a picture on my website. So can you please see it and tell me what I need to work on?
By the way your tutorials are easy and good so thank you!
Hi Sonal
Thanks for your comments on the blog. I know that you sent me an email about your work on deviant art and that there is a link in your comment here, but neither of them bring me to your work.
Hi Jen.
I like your tutorials, I find them very interesting and easy to understand for people who wants to learn Photoshop techniques the easiest way. Well done!
Stefano
Hi Stefano
Glad you find the tutorials useful. Thanks for visiting.