How can I remove a background behind a persons photo?

**wpatters1229** · 04 April 2006, 07:07 PM

I have a photo that has a solid color behind a headshot. The color is dark and the hair in the photo is not smooth. I want to remove all the color behind the picture and make it transparent so placing it on a website with a background will allow the background to surrond the headshot. I guess you call this a Mask? I'm new to Xara

**jclements** · 04 April 2006, 09:54 PM

If the image is not too big to post but a fairly good resolution I can try using my version of KnockOut for you. It is usually pretty good with hair when the background not complex.

OR, you may be able to download a trial version from www.corel.com. It will work from within XaraXtreme.

**Albacore** · 04 April 2006, 10:38 PM

Alos do a search on this topic here in the forum as it has been covered so many times.

**wpatters1229** · 04 April 2006, 10:51 PM

You can go out to the website and pullit down. http://lisadonovan.com/assets/images...omepg_copy.jpg

I will also go see that application since I have several of the corel tools like paintshop pro x

**wpatters1229** · 04 April 2006, 11:01 PM

They don't have a trial version of Knockout and it's $99. Wonder if there is a cheaper tool somewhere. I do see that it will work with PaintShop pro as well as photoshop

**jclements** · 05 April 2006, 12:47 AM

I-ve seen it cheaper a few months ago. Maybe it was a promotion.

You might do look-see at www.unleashed.com

**Egg Bramhill** · 05 April 2006, 12:50 AM

The quickest and best way is just to draw around the head - Select All -Arrange / Combine Shapes / Intersect Shapes

Egg

**jclements** · 05 April 2006, 01:16 AM

Quick and Dirty so probably not the best that can be done.

This was only a 96dpi image and there was a lot of compression garbage such that the pixelization was larger than the hair strands. You'd have to "Cut out' the bad areas per Eggs method or bring the image into a photoediting programs and erase out some the transistion areas.

Hair2 is with KnockOut effect removed and saved as a bitmap.

**wpatters1229** · 05 April 2006, 02:23 AM

Wow you guys are the best....I did get a copy of the knockout tool and got it close but not as close as Hair 2 or Egg's. It takes some practice and it would have helped a great deal if the background had been white or anything but that dark color.

I need to go thru some of those tutorials and play with the toys. Always seems like I'm rushing to learn stuff for this project or that. I need a vacation to learn

**jclements** · 05 April 2006, 04:47 AM

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. Educating yourself and experimenting with new graphics software is the name of the game (... and reading newsgroups).