Easy Way to Separate Background from a Photo Using Photoshop

I would like to share my experience.. A few time ago, my friend asked me how to separate background from a photo using Photoshop. The photo is a bit like this below:

The lab rabbit.. hehehe....

Ok, let’s get it started…

First, make a duplicate from the photo. We need to brighten the dark section of the photo. Use level (Ctrl + L). Slide the gray arrow to left (make it brighter). Slide it untill you can see the border of the picture you want to crop.

Set the level

After setting the level, the photo will be like this:

The result after we set the level

My friend asked me: Gu, it’s too bright! Bad isn’t it? I want my photo back!
Dagu answered: Take it easy bro… this bright layer is only for reference to see the border of the body which will be cropped…

Next…

After that, open Extract window. Click menu Filter + Extract. Choose tool Edge Highlighter Tool (B), then drag your mouse to mark the border of the picture which will be cropped.

Mark the picture using Edge Highlighter Tool (B)

My friend asked me: Gu, how if I make a mistake?
Dagu answered: Use the eraser (Eraser Tool), there’s an icon in the lefe of window Extract.

Ok, next…

Use Fill Tool (G) to fill the area inside the green line (click inside the green line we have made). This tool is use to mark the area which will be maintained after we crop the picture. The result is shown below:

Use Fill Tool (G) to make the blue area

Click preview. You can see the result below:

Hasil extract apa adanya

My friend asked me: Arrrgghhh Gu, it’s become poor in quality? I need the good one. How does it come? Repair it!!!*&%#$%#@!!!
Dagu answered: Shut up please!!!… It’s not finished yet.. just wait and see…

If there any part which we don’t want it, use Cleanup Tool (C) then click and drag in that part. That part will be erased. If there any cropped part and we need to make it appear, we can use that tool too, but you need to press [Alt] at the same time. You will see the cropped area…

My friend said: O mak jang, it’s so sophisticated!!!
Dagu: Ahh, take it easy bro…
My friend asked me: Btw Gu, where’s [Alt]? I forget it, I never used photoshop since four years ago…
Dagu: [silent....................................................................]
Temenku: Ooooooooooo ic ic .. sorry… I will search for it in Google later… :)

Next…

If you feel it’s the good one, click OK.

Tips:

• The first attempt to extract the picture might be not so good. Try it more and more.. till you find the best one.. :D
• You need to afford the green line as close as the border of the area you need to crop.

This is the result:

The extract result

Select the picture which have been extracted. Press [Ctrl] while clicking the layer which has extracted picture. Click on the original layer, then copy and paste. After that, create a new layer below the copied layer, fill with your color (example: #b06be2). The result:

The result

My friend: It’s not neat!
Dagu: Yeah.. you need to make it neat manually… clear it using Eraser Tool (E). Not a big deal.

The final result….:

The final result

My friend: Ah, actually I knew it before. But I have forgotten.
Dagu: Shut up!!!!

Related posts:

1. Extract zip, tar.gz, tar.bz2

Tags: Photoshop