Removing background from images

[Alex Ross]

Hi,

I am designing a catalog however the photos have a background, for
example the pictures are of shoes but i can see the table the shoe is
sitting on and the background behind the shoe, is there a way to cut
the shoes out in Photoshop so the background is removed?

Thanks

[handrawn]

Hi welcome - google is a good place to start
heres one [actually 4 ]:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pho...emovebackg.htm

[RTW1]

Good stuff in the link suplied by Handrawn.
Off those examples the pen tool is the one to spend most time on.
Here is a link to the Quick mask tool that tool I think is the most usefull way to remove backgrounds
http://www.grafx-design.com/12photo.html

[jnerf]

Hi Alex, a plug-in for removing backgrounds that is worth checking out
is from ononesoftware.com, they make a fantastic plug-in called Mask pro 4.1
download the demo, you will not be sorry, although a bit pricey
it allows you to mask things as fine strands of hair, and can remove the background entirely
from the forground, by using the drop colors, and keep colors.

Truly amazing product, a must have
no I don't work for them or get a kick back
for endorsing them, I just try to help out people as much as I can.

[stafism]

your best bet is to use the pen tool an trace round the image you want to keep, then once you're done go to paths on the layers palette and select the path and then make it a clipping path then save. now when you drop the image into say quark xPress or some other layout programme all the background will not appear just the image you clipped, its time consuming when tracing round stuff but that gets quicker over time but it works perfectly, i used this for years when doin publishing stuff!