How to Make Transparent Background in Photoshop?

Do you wish to transform your solid color or opaque background photographs into a transparent one without losing quality in Adobe Photoshop? Keep reading to discover how you can use the software to accomplish this task.

Transforming a solid color or opaque background image into a transparent one can be challenging even with the best photo editing software, Photoshop, when you don’t have the basic knowledge of how to use the toolkit. However, here in this article, you will learn how to make transparent Background in Photoshop freely and quickly. Without wasting your time, let’s begin.

Stepwise Guide to Make Transparent Background in Photoshop

Well, I believe you have installed a compatible version of Adobe Photoshop on your PC. And if you haven’t, you can click on the link to get yours. Follow the stepwise guide below to make transparent backgrounds in Photoshop:

Open your preferred image

Firstly, you have to add an image with a solid color or opaque background to Photoshop. To do this, click on the File option at the top left corner of your screen to access a drop-down menu. Scroll down the menu and then tap on Open to navigate your way to your PC file manage where your images are saved. Select a file and then click on Open. Alternatively, you can use the short key Ctrl + O  Read full tutorial – How to open a file in photoshop.

Open an Image

Create a New Layer

Next, locate and tap on the Layer icon a drop-down menu will pop up, select New from the list of options that shows underneath. Another drop-down will appear, tap on the Layer option. Alternatively, you could use the hotkeys Shift + Ctrl + N. A visual representation of this is given below.

Then a new layer box will pop up. Leave this as the default name, Layer 1, and then hit on the OK button.

After that, you can see a transparent background layer ( Layer 1) on the Layer panel top of the background layer. But if you don’t see the layer panel then you can appear it by clicking on Window > Layers from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window OR press F7 from your keyboard.

Note: Layer 1 will have to use for white background or any other color background. So ignore it, if you need only a transparent image on the final background.

On completing the instructions above, go to the Layers panel located in the lower right corner of your Photoshop interface. Double click on the Background layer and a new layer requesting you to rename the layer will pop up. Leave this as the default name, Layer 0, and then click on the OK button.

Now you have unlocked a background layer ( layer 0), so Delete anything from it and it becomes transparent.

Trace the Object or Subject of the Image

After creating a background layer 0, the next thing to do is to trace the object or subject of the picture. To do this, you need to select the Magic Wand tool from the tool palette on the left-hand side of the program.

Now that you have the Magic Wand tool, use it to trace an item on the image. Mind you, before tracing, you could seek the assistance of Photoshop AI to help you out on this task by clicking on the Select Subject icon from the options bar at the top of the software window. Immediately, the software will start selecting the object or subject of the photograph leaving the background.

Note: Select the Background Layer 0 before press the Select Subject button.

Delete Background

Once the object or subject is traced out, use the hotkeys Shift + Ctrl + I (Windows) or Shift + Command + I (Mac OS) to invert your selection so the background becomes the traced part. Another way you could do this is by tapping on the Select icon at the top of Photoshop windows, and then choose Inverse from the drop-down menu that appears.

Now that you’ve inverted the selection, press on the Delete or Backspace button on your keyboard to eliminate the current background so it becomes transparent, a gray and black checkerboard pattern.

Background Remover

Export the image in the proper web-ready format

Now that you’ve successfully created a transparent background, you have to export the file to your PC hard drive in the correct format. This is to ensure that the image permanently displays a transparent background.

There are multitudes of formats that you can select to save your pictures, but PNG 24 is the perfect one. This is because of the multiple layers of transparency that the format creates on images. To save an image in PNG 24 format in Adobe Photoshop, use these hotkeys:

Shift + Alt + Ctrl + W (Windows)

Shift + Option + Command + W (Mac OS)

In the popup box that shows, under File Settings on the right side of the box, set the file format to PNG, and make sure to check the Transparency box. Please Don’t check Smaller File (8-bit) — this converts the file to a PNG-8 low resolution.

Once you have set all everything then click the EXPORT button then select a location to save your file. You can save your file to use another way, please check the below section.

Save the Image

Better yet, you could tap on the File tab at the top of the program, select Export, then choose to Save for Web ( Shortcut key: Alt+Shift+Ctrl+S). A preset dropdown menu bar will appear on the right-hand side of the dialog box, select PNG from the list. Click on the SAVE at the lower right corner of the window.

A save dialog box will pop up on your screen, select a destination folder to keep the edited image, name the file, ensure that the file is in .png format, then hit the Save button to validate your request. All done! Successfully created a transparent background file in Photoshop.

Watch the Video Tutorial

How to Make White background in Photoshop?

If you want to display your file with a pure white background or any other color background then you can do it easily. Remember, we have created layer 1 on the layer panel. Now, you can add any color background to your image using Layer 1.

1. Drag Layer 1 and move it under Layer 0.

2. Set Foreground color white or any other color you want.

3. Select Layer 1 then press Alt+Backspace, now you will see the background color white underneath your product image.

4. Save the file in a jpeg format. File — Save as — Select format Jpeg –> Ok.

How to make a transparent background for a logo in Photoshop?

The logo is very important to identify a website or business. So you should use a transparent background logo on your website or everywhere cause transparent background is suitable for all kinds of background. So if you have a jpeg logo file then you have to remove the background in photoshop and re-save it as a PNG 24, same as the above process.

1. Open your logo in Photoshop,  click File > Open and navigate until you can see your logo image. Click Open.

2. Duplicate the background layer to press Ctrl+J. Then it will unlock the background layer and duplicated a layer called Layer 1. Now uncheck the eye icon from the main background layer.

3. Now select the magic wand tool then select the object. Make sure, before selecting the object, you should select layer 1 from the layer panel.

4. After selecting the object, press DELETE or Backspace then it will remove the background from your logo image and make it transparent.

5. Now save your file as a PNG 24 format. Follow the above file saving process, which we did early for the product photo.

Conclusion

And that’s all on how to make a transparent background on Photoshop. How do you find the guide?

Simple right?

Well, all thanks to the simplicity of Adobe Photoshop software user interface and the speed of operation. Follow the stepwise guide given in this article to transform your solid color background image to make transparent image in photoshop. If you don’t have sufficient time then you can hire us to feel free, we will make your image transparent without losing quality.

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