Five Great Background Change Techniques in Photoshop
The methods include:
- Using Photoshop's Magic Eraser tool.
- Using Photoshop's Background Eraser tool.
- Using the Extract command.
- Using Quick Mask mode to make a selection and layer mask.
- Using the Pen Tool to make a selection and layer mask.

Technique 1: The Magic Eraser Technique

The Magic Eraser tool (hold down the Eraser icon in the toolbar to access it) allows you to erase pixels that are all the same color (or are a similar color). If you used the Magic Eraser tool at its strictest setting, and clicked on a part of the picture that was orange, every other pixel in the picture of that exact shade of orange would be erased. We'll use the Magic Eraser tool to erase the whites and greys in this photo.

Magic Eraser Techniques:
- First pass using Magic Eraser Tool: 72 tolerance, contiguous, anti-aliased.
- Second pass using Magic Eraser Tool: 32 tolerance, other settings same.
- Used Eraser tool (brush mode) to clean up edges, stray pixels, and shadow area.

This technique makes it easy to isolate objects that are on solid-colored backgrounds, although you may need to spend some time with touch-up. Beware of stray pixels and forget about using this technique if you have a multi-colored background!

Great for erasing backgrounds that are mostly all the same color that contrast with the object (set a high tolerance and use one click!), but may involve a bit of touch-up work at the end. No good for objects that are on multi-colored backgrounds.

Technique 2: The Background Eraser Technique

The Background Eraser Tool (again, hold down the Eraser tool to access this option) is meant to be used along the edges of an object. The center of the brush determines which similar colors to erase. The Background Eraser Tool will also change the edges of an object slightly so that you don't get a "color halo." We'll use the Background Eraser Tool to isolate and define the edges of the object, then erase the other pixels on the "outside."

Background Eraser Technique:
- Set source for the History Brush in the History Palette.
- Used Background Eraser Tool to outline the edge (2 minutes).
- Used the History Brush Tool to touch up parts of the object that had been erased (1:30 minutes).
- Used the Eraser Tool to clean up the stray background pixels (2:23 minutes).

This is my least favorite of the techniques because I had to zoom in a lot and use the History Brush Tool and Eraser Tool extensively. This technique would have worked better with an object that had solid edges (as opposed to the fuzziness of a plush animal), as well as a more-solid background color. A situation in which this technique might work well would be one in which you had a photo object that was already "isolated" on a white background, and you wanted to use it as a floating object in a layered composition.

This technique would be great on a photo object that is already "isolated" but has a solid, contrasting background color. Even still, I might pass up this technique for the next method, as they're essentially the same and I think the Extract method goes a little faster.

Technique 3: The Extract Technique

As with the Background Eraser technique, it's a smart idea to set the source for the History Brush early in the procedure, in case you need to do some touch-up later on.

Extract Filter Technique:
- Set source for the History Brush in the History Palette.
- Use Filter > Extract command to outline, fill, and Extract object (1:45 minutes).
- Use the History Brush to restore parts of object (1:45 minutes).
- Use the Eraser Tool to clean up the edges (1:30 minutes).

This method, while a little faster, didn't seem much different from the Background Eraser technique. However, I have found that the Extract Filter works quite nicely when you have objects with a lot of fine details (like hair blowing in the wind, tree branches, etc.) that would be a pain to try to isolate. The Extract Filter works best with objects on solid-colored backgrounds.

Works best for erasing mostly solid-colored, contrasting backgrounds. Photoshop also does a nice job of getting rid of the color halo problem - but you may have to do some additional touch-up work at the end.

Technique 4: The Quick Mask Technique

If you've never used Quick Mask mode in Photoshop, you're missing out on a huge time-saver! Quick Mask mode lets you use brush, pencil, paint bucket, etc. tools to paint an "inverse selection" using shades of grey and black. (Black identifies parts that won't be selected; grey identifies parts that, when selected, will have some level of transparency.) When you switch back to Normal mode, the "clear" parts of your Quick Mask are selected so that you can apply changes. We'll use Quick Mask mode to paint the background of the image, then apply a Layer Mask to hide the background.

Quick Mask Technique:
- Switch to Quick Mask mode and paint everything you want to get rid of.
- Switch back to normal mode and use the resultant selection to make a Layer Mask.

A great method, because it gives you precision-control over what gets selected. This method works well for any picture -- solid background color or not. The only unfortunate aspect of this method is that, for some objects, you may see a "color halo" where the edges have picked up on some of the background color. (One way to get around this is to take a little more time and paint around the edges with a grey airbrush to make the edges a little transparent.)

Almost the ideal solution: relatively quick, pixel-perfect control over edges, and works with any kind of background. Plus, by using a layer mask, you don't actually delete any part of the background. The only complaint I have with this method is that you may get a color halo.

Technique 5: Pen Tool Technique

Pen Tool Technique:
- Use the Pen Tool (set to "Paths," not "Shape Layer") to create an outline of the object.
- Ctrl-click (Command-click for Mac) the path layer to make a selection.
- Use the selection to create a layer mask.

This method works for any object, regardless of the background, and is also quite precise. It's reasonably fast if you're comfortable with using the Pen Tool; otherwise, this method might take a long time! This method is probably better for objects that have crisp, hard edges, and, similar to Quick Mask mode, you may have a slight color halo if the object has picked up some of the background colors.

Fantastic technique for objects with hard edges, and it works with any kind of background. You can be as detailed as you want to get a perfect outline, and you can always go back and modify the path if you need to. Plus, you get lots of practice using the Pen Tool.

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