Editing photos, graphic images is one of the tasks performed by special programs installed on a computer device, the specific purpose of which is to work with drawings and photographs, providing the ability to remove image errors. To perform professional tasks for this purpose, utilities such as Photoshop are used, or similar in functionality.
In the absence of such software or the inability to use it, for amateur purposes, you can use, for working with images, Paint, which, despite a certain skepticism of some consumers, has a decent set of features. The utility authorizes the ability to work with pictures and photographs, allows you to remove unnecessary image components, combine several elements of pictures into one, by first changing the background to a transparent one, and the result, with correct and careful performance of tasks, is not inferior in quality to the work done in more powerful graphic editors.
In this article we will look at some of the nuances of working with the program, tell you how to remove the background in Paint, replacing it with a need for “transparent”, which will allow you to use an element of a photo or image for further exposure.
Changing the background image through the paint editor Paint
To work with images, pictures, photographs, experts recommend using, as a result of the operation, a quality illustrative product, not software included in Windows applications, but paint.net, a free utility presented in free access on the Internet. By installing a free application on a computer device, the user will be able to work with images, and perform complex tasks with a simple and understandable tool.
Making a transparent background pictures
Paint allows, thanks to, although it is categorized as primitive, multi-functionality, work with images, change the background of pictures, eliminate defects. Often, users set for themselves the consumer task, which consists in changing the background image. For example, such tasks allow you to place a specific logo on a colorful basis, or your photo, the image of a pet or a flower composition not against the background of a table or a window, but so that an interesting and spectacular landscape serves as a background.
This task can be accomplished quite easily by uploading two photos into the application: the main one, with a colorless background, and a minor one, which will serve as the basis for a new picture. To combine the photos, you will need to initially go into the parameters of each of them, making them similar, which is the basic condition for the possibility of their connection: it is important to set identical canvas sizes by putting down the same values in the sections "Height" and "Width" of the image.
Further creation of a complex image is carried out according to the following regulations:
- Open the required background change on a transparent background, transfer it to a new basis by successively performing such manipulations: by simultaneously pressing Ctrl and A select, copy, holding the Ctrl and C keys, paste, after switching to the background image, using the Ctrl + V command.
- After that, in a situation if the image with the picture is not displayed in the background, you will need to activate it by moving it to the fore.
- Save new photo: in the “File” item, select the “Save As” directive, assign the name of the created illustration with the choice of the preferred format.
At this work can be considered completed, however, the stumbling block in the procedure is the moment how to create a photo with a transparent background using the Paint application, which will be discussed later in the article.
Work with photos: a transparent background through the program Paint
To accomplish the task, the ultimate goal of which is to obtain an image from a photo without a background, namely, to remove the background of the image, at least three methods of working with a photo can be used, and the choice of the task execution variant depends on the type of the original drawing.
"Magic wand" as a tool for photo editing
When searching for the answer to the question of how to make a transparent background in Paint, if the user has to work with a picture or photo, with the need to get a drawing component as a result, the background of which is presented in a uniform color, experts recommend using a program tool called “Magic Wand”.
Working with the Magic Wand tool
An important condition for the possibility of using this tool is a small variety of background colors, and best of all is the monotony of the background, which is to be removed. Such a prescription is caused by the fact that the resource “Magic Wand” has its own threshold of sensitivity to diverse shades, and, when applied to a picture with a colorful background, it will take a long time to determine the boundaries of the areas whose removal is necessary for the user.
To make a picture without a background, the user will need to perform the following manipulations in turn:
- Open the Paint editor, then go to the program menu, in the "File" section, select the "Open" command: using the "Browse" option, upload a photo, which is supposed to be edited.
- Before removing the background, making it transparent, you will need to find the “Wand” on the toolbar and adjust its sensitivity. For an uncomplicated background, it is enough to set a perception threshold of about fifty percent, but if the photo has a complex color range, it is better to reduce the parameter to about thirty percent.
- Further, the “Wand” will need to note the background that needs to be removed: after selecting, it acquires a light blue tint.
- Select the "Clear Selection" command in the "Edit" section. If the actions are performed correctly, after the manipulations are performed, the background will be visually displayed in a checkerboard pattern on a white background, which indicates its transparency after saving.
In order for the resulting image to have a transparent background as a result of the work performed, the image will need to be saved in a PNG format that supports a transparent display. Alternatively, you can use the GIF format, which also supports the ability to display a transparent background. Other formats for saving are not profitable to use, since the user will receive a picture on the white area, instead of the required transparent background.
Trimming on selected borders
If you need to put a colorless background of a photo with a single-colored base, everything is quite unambiguous, then the question of how to make the background of a picture transparent in Paint, when the image has a texture that is diversified in the color gamut, involves finding a different way to perform the task. The proposed option with “Magic Wand” will not give the desired result, or you will have to follow the rules for discoloration of the background several times, which is not very convenient and long if there are a lot of multi-colored elements to remove.
The function of the program "Crop by selection" is an excellent helper in the question of how to set a transparent background in Paint, when processing photos, in a situation if the main element of the image has the correct shape. To draw the borders of the object photo, which you want to leave as the main one, experts advise to use such a tool as “Line or curve”, or “Magic wand”, as in the previous version.
To accomplish the task, you will need to put a starting point and circle around the contour of the working element of the photo: this must be done in such a way that the contour is closed, and setting the boundaries for trimming should coincide with the outlines of the drawing to the maximum. Next you need to adjust the selection border by moving the set frame: use the cursor to pull the lines so that they coincide with the outer contour of the picture. It remains only to select the menu item “Trimming by selection”, followed by saving the photo element on a colorless background in one of the previously determined formats.
"Pattern" fragment of the photo through the tool "Lasso"
The most difficult is the process of background discoloration, when the required processing pattern has a complex texture, large-scale color gamut, as well as objects inside the image that need discoloration.
In this situation, in addition to the already known tools, it is worthwhile to add the functionality of the “Lasso” option. This tool is designed to highlight the boundaries of complex shape objects.
Using the Lasso Tool in Paint
To use the ability to make the background transparent, you will need to click on the Lasso icon, use the cursor to place the starting point on the edge of the object to be selected, and, by clamping the left manipulator button, trace the outline exactly and as accurately as possible. The irregularities can later be “corrected” with the help of the Magic Wand, and the elements of the drawing that the user needs, however, which are not included in the selected area, can be added by selecting the “Combine” option. To exclude the object of the picture, the “Subtract” function is used.
The user should not be afraid to make a mistake when making a selection, because the Paint program allows you to go back a few steps by pressing the “Cancel action” command, followed by correcting errors. It should be understood that the success of the task and the performance is often acquired through trial and error.
You can delete an image that is beyond the selection border using the Crop by Selection option, as in the previous case, which allows you to turn the background white. After that, it remains to highlight the white background of the Magic Wand, and discolor it, following the instructions described in the regulations for working with the conditioned tool.
If necessary, if the picture has a very complex configuration, additional “correction” of the object's contours may be required, which allows the eraser or the already known “wand” to be carried out with high accuracy. To improve the accuracy of the work, experts recommend using the option of “scaling” the problem object, which will allow you to see the flaws and effectively eliminate them.
Do not forget that at the end of the work it is necessary to save the resulting picture, choosing the preferred PNG format, which allows you to fix the discoloration, when performing the procedure.
Summarizing
Graphic editor Paint is one of the free software that allows you to perform amateur photo editing tasks, without first studying the program comprehensively, with the possibility of obtaining, with a correct and responsible approach to the implementation of the process, worthy of the result.
The described methods of background bleaching will allow you to complement your photos and interesting pictures with new meaning through simple manipulations, giving them a new life. It is noteworthy that even children can work with a conditional application, and the final product, with a creative and principled approach to performing tasks, can absolutely not give in, compete in efficiency with photos processed by powerful graphic editors.