Replacing black background with white background & adding border

BH
Posted By
Ben Holness
Aug 7, 2004
Views
666
Replies
3
Status
Closed
Hi all,

I have a cartoon type picture (v similar to
http://build.tripod.lycos.com/imagebrowser/clipart/People/Ja zz_and_Swing_Music/_image_G0461012.html)
which I want to replace the black background with a white background.

The problem is that the figures in the picture have black as part of their bodies, so if I use the magic wand and fill or cut then it ruins the people in the picture

What I need to do is somehow "intelligently" cut out the figures and add a black border to make it look right.

Is there a way of doing this automatically in photoshop, or do I need to trace around manually? If I need to trace around manually, are there any tools to help me get it even?

I am not very proficient with Photoshop and not that great an artist, so I am hoping that there is a tool or process to do this 🙂

Cheers,

Ben
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add background black border replace white

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JR
John Rampling
Aug 7, 2004
Ideal situation for an Alpha mask!

Copy the image and paste into an alpha channel. Turn all the coloured areas into white with the Image/Adjust/Threshold command using a very low value for the threshold. Paint out all the lines within the image with paintbrush set to white. Invert the alpha channel and you have an image that looks like a silhouette. Convert the Alpha channel into a selection by Alt/clicking it.

Back into Layers view and hit the delete key. The black background is converted into your current background colour. Unfortunately you have lost the black outline, but no problem – go back to the stage before you deleted and contract the selection by two pixels. Then retry the Delete.

I just tried it so I know it works! Hope this helps.

"Ben Holness" wrote in message
Hi all,

I have a cartoon type picture (v similar to
http://build.tripod.lycos.com/imagebrowser/clipart/People/Ja zz_and_Swing_Music/_image_G0461012.html)
which I want to replace the black background with a white background.
The problem is that the figures in the picture have black as part of their bodies, so if I use the magic wand and fill or cut then it ruins the people in the picture

What I need to do is somehow "intelligently" cut out the figures and add a black border to make it look right.
BH
Ben Holness
Aug 7, 2004
On Sat, 07 Aug 2004 09:34:43 +0000, John Rampling wrote:

Ideal situation for an Alpha mask!

[skip]

I just tried it so I know it works! Hope this helps.

Perfect! Thank you very much 🙂

Ben
T
tacitr
Aug 7, 2004
I have a cartoon type picture (v similar to
http://build.tripod.lycos.com/imagebrowser/clipart/People/Ja zz_and_Swing_
Music/_image_G0461012.html)
which I want to replace the black background with a white background.

This is the sort of image I’d create in Illustrator, not Photoshop; working with images like this in Photoshop is much more difficult and frustrating than working with the image in Illustrator.

Having said that, there are many ways to deal with isolating the image from its background.

I’d probably put a path around the image with the Pen tool; it’s often you the cleanest, most precise way to select objects with hard edges and smooth curves.

You can also select the black parts of the image with one of the automated selection tools like the magic wand or Select->Color Range, then work directly on the selection in QuickMask mode or by making the selection into a layer mask and working directly on the mask.

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