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Efficient Way To Remove White Background

by jamescanz
12 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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I have created my eBook cover, but I am looking to remove the white around it and make it transparent, also eliminating the shadows.

Is there a more efficient way besides erasing everything around it?

#background #efficient #remove #white
  • Profile picture of the author tpaging
    I wouldn't think so because the object is curved. I would think you have to erase the edges.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnpea
    If anyone has an answer to this I'd be very interested too. I seem to spend half my time erasing bit and pieces from images.
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    Watch me doing it properly at last....
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    • Profile picture of the author jamescanz
      Originally Posted by johnpea View Post

      If anyone has an answer to this I'd be very interested too. I seem to spend half my time erasing bit and pieces from images.
      I know how you feel

      Plus if you miss some white and put it against any other color background, it REALLY stands out
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  • Profile picture of the author vgvetter
    If you have graphic software that allows export of a PNG image (as opposed to JPEG) it is possible with most programs to select a color that will be transparent. Select white.
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    • Profile picture of the author jamescanz
      Originally Posted by vgvetter View Post

      If you have graphic software that allows export of a PNG image (as opposed to JPEG) it is possible with most programs to select a color that will be transparent. Select white.
      Do you know if this is available with Adobe Photoshop CS4?
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
      Originally Posted by vgvetter View Post

      If you have graphic software that allows export of a PNG image (as opposed to JPEG) it is possible with most programs to select a color that will be transparent. Select white.
      Yep. But doing that will make ALL of the white pixels transparent (which would include some of the words in your book's title)... which is not what you want.

      The only way around that is to "select" only part of the image for the transparency process. For example, you could draw a selection rectangle around the book title, and then choose "invert selection" (which would select everything outside of the book title), and then you can make all of the white pixels in the selection area transparent.

      Or, you can play around with the "magic wand" tool, as rajeevrla suggested. But in areas where the colors don't have much contrast (like the shadow area at the bottom part of the book) ... it can take a lot of work to get the magic wand settings just right.
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  • Profile picture of the author rajeevrla
    If you have photoshop or similat tools:

    1. select magic wand with very low tolerance and click on anywhere in the white area. Then press delete key from the keyword. All the white area will be deleted and you are left with book and shadow. Save the resulting image in PNG format

    2. Now you are left with shadow and the book. Try increasing the tolerance of the Magic Wand and click on the shadow. At one point you'll find that the entire shadow is selected while the book is not touched. Now press delete key to re,move the shadow and save the resulting image in PNG.

    I'm attaching the images for you, it won't take more than a minute for you to accomplish.
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    Have a great day!

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    • Profile picture of the author jamescanz
      Originally Posted by rajeevrla View Post

      If you have photoshop or similat tools:

      1. select magic wand with very low tolerance and click on anywhere in the white area. Then press delete key from the keyword. All the white area will be deleted and you are left with book and shadow. Save the resulting image in PNG format

      2. Now you are left with shadow and the book. Try increasing the tolerance of the Magic Wand and click on the shadow. At one point you'll find that the entire shadow is selected while the book is not touched. Now press delete key to re,move the shadow and save the resulting image in PNG.

      I'm attaching the images for you, it won't take more than a minute for you to accomplish.
      rajeevrla, you just saved me, and possibly many others hours of time.

      I greatly appreciate that
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  • Profile picture of the author rajeevrla
    you'll have to play with tolerance level a bit to get the perfect result. Usually this method works if you've colors which are not so close. In this case white background was easily distinguished from the book.
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    Have a great day!

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  • Profile picture of the author rajeevrla
    thanks, you are welcome.
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    Have a great day!

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    • Profile picture of the author ronc0011
      OK here's the trick to using transparency on web images any graphics software that supports alpha channel and image formats that support alpha channels can deal with this Example Photoshop, GIMP/.gif,.png..
      Now for the big "BUT". Because you have gradients at the edges of your image i.e. the shadow and the reflection the areas that fade to white you will always get a really crappy and dirty looking saw-toothed edge around your image . This is because the alpha channel can't get the pixels that are only partially colored. The only real solution is to match the background to the page background.
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