Photos

[Novicebuild]

Hi
I would like to improve the photos on my site by removing the backgrounds, does anyone know any software that can do this?

[chris ashdown]

I use adobe Photoshop Elements which is under £50 and does most things you will need like the ability to remove the background and the best feature i have found is to reduce the image for the web where you can reduce say a 5 meg picture to say 5-10K at the press of a couple of buttons and the image still retains its aparent quality on the web but loads in one or two seconds

Other packages are Paint Shop Pro price varies but more powerfull but lots of items you probably will not use unless you are a serious amature photographer or graphics designer

Hope this helps

[jont]

You could always use Paint which comes as part of the Windows install and paint the backgound to match the same colour as the web page.

The beauty of Photoshop et al is you can create transparent backgrounds so if you decide to change the page colour at a later stage the background colour will show through.

[Novicebuild]

I use adobe Photoshop Elements which is under £50 and does most things you will need like the ability to remove the background and the best feature i have found is to reduce the image for the web where you can reduce say a 5 meg picture to say 5-10K at the press of a couple of buttons and the image still retains its aparent quality on the web but loads in one or two seconds

Other packages are Paint Shop Pro price varies but more powerfull but lots of items you probably will not use unless you are a serious amature photographer or graphics designer

Hope this helps

Thanks Chris,
How easy is it to remove the background? Do I have to draw around each outline?

[chris ashdown]

Depending on the background its quite easy, You select a magic wand and trace points around the background and then delete it

You have choices to control the wand as to how fine you need to go or what colour to follow etc.

You can download free demo's of most packages and i guess after a couple of hours you will have got the hank of most of the functions

There are also a couple of good digital photograh magazines whitch take you through step by step

I would recommend Photoshop Elements as quite cheap and able do do 80-90% of what the big programs will do but with a simple interface and good help instructions

You can download a trial version here

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...atform=Windows

Have fun

[Novicebuild]

Hi Chris
Thank you for such a comprehensive reply, it is much appreciated. I will look for a copy.

[SusanF]

Hi Rachel,

Photoshop Elements 4.0 has just been released and one of the new features is the 'Magical Selection' tool. From the reviews I've read, it looks like it will accurately help you to make complex selections easily. If you decide to use Elements it might be well worth making sure you get this latest version.

[pinbrook]

anyone got a good price for elements4?

all I can find is amazon at £62

[SusanF]

Hi Jo,

If you have any old versions of Elements or Photoshop Album, you could download the upgrade from adobe.co.uk for £47.19. It is a bit of a killer download though at 573MB !