How to Remove the Background from a Picture or other Graphic

Removing the Background from a Photo:
It may seem insignificant, but knowing how to remove the background on a picture can come in handy...


Why should I delete the background?:
It can be very annoying when making a Power Point or brochure and the graphic you wish to use has a background. By removing the background you can give your work a more professional look.  

Take a look at the two posters below: 

In the first poster (left) my graphics have white backgrounds. In my final poster (right), I have removed the white backgrounds. After removing the white background, I added the graphics back to my poster. By removing the background from the pictures in the poster, the poster is transformed into something that looks professional. 

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I like to use Pixlr Editor. It is much like Photoshop, but it is free and accessible on ALL devices. NO download is needed. Click here to be taken directly to Pixlr Editor. 

This is an advanced photo editing tool. It may look daunting, but it can be easily mastered.  

STEPS:

(1) Upload photo to Pixlr Editor 
       Click "OPEN IMAGE FROM COMPUTER".

Click on the photo to be edited and then press "Open"

(2) Select the magic wand tool from the toolbar.
The tool bar is in the left hand side of the screen. The magic wand, as pictured below should be the 3rd option down. Simply click the icon to select to tool.  

(3) Background Selection
Now that the wand has been chosen, click on an area you want to select. The magic wand will outline the area selected with flashing dotted lines.

(4) Select More Background
Hold down the shift key and click on other areas of the background until the entire background has been selected.

*If you have a picture where the background has many shades or tones, you can go into settings and adjust the tolerance so that more or less of the background is selected at a time.* 
          


Just click the arrow by the numbers, as displayed above, and you will be given a bar from           which you can adjust your tolerance. Just remember a little goes a long way. You should only change your tolerance 5 degrees at a time. 

This is how your image should look once all the background has been selected.  Notice the dotted line that now outlines the column indicating the entire background has been selected.

(5) Unlock the background
Click the lock symbol on the right hand side of the screen to unlock the background layer.

(6) Delete the Background 
Press the delete key or choose "Cut" from the "Edit" menu to delete selected areas. 

Now your background is gone!

You can now either continue to edit the photo or export it by clicking file at the top of the page and then clicking save. 

Note: When you save the photo, make sure you save as PNG rather than JPG. Doing so will leave the background transparent, rather than giving it a white background.  

Expert Tip: If unwanted pixels remain that are too small to remove with the magic wand, you can zoom in and use the eraser tool. 
      -Simply click the erase tool in the tool bar on the right hand side and then use your mouse to         erase the pixels you do not want.  

In the far left example below, notice the extraneous pixels along the black edge.  Using the eraser, the extra pixels can be removed.

              

>>>Thanks for reading. Check out my future posts for more helpful insights and cool tips!<<<