Creating a white background in PhotoShop

If you have ever tried creating a solid white background in your pictures using Adobe PhotoShop, you would realise that it can be a pretty difficult task to make the object stand out, especially if is one of light colour. 

This simple tutorial would help you achieve just that- implementing a solid white background behind a light coloured object. Simply follow the steps mentioned here:

1.Use a near white background like a pastel sheet or white paper sheet behind your object and click pictures.  Now open this image in the Adobe PhotoShop program.

2.Click on Windows  Layers. This would open your Layers window. 

3.Make a duplicate copy of your Layer by dragging the photo layer to the New button. This is really necessary as a safety precaution used by beginners, since they have an option to go back to the original picture if they mess things up. 

4.Selecting the Top Layer; Click on Image  Adjustments  Levels. 

5.Make image’s background white by adjusting the sliders. Instead of going for the solid 255 white background in the start, choose a lower number to include faint shadows. Pull both the white and grey sliders to the left to lighten the midtones in your picture.

6.Duplicate the original Layer again and drag it to the top of the Layer stack. Select the Layer you made bright and click on the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layer palette. 

7.Now switching to the Brush Tool (Press B) select the ‘Hard Round’ brush style and set its Opacity to 100%. 

8.Going back to the Layers window, click on the Layer Mask icon, i.e. click inside the White square. And change your brush colour to Black. 

9.Now carefully airbrush the background around your object using the paint brush tool. This would take some time and precision on your part. You can check your progress in the Layer Mask icon. This way, you can keep the original product from your first copy or Layer of the photo and the rest of the background remains transparent. 

10.Swap between white and black colours to make changes according to your requirements. 

This technique is majorly used by professionals providing photo manipulation service in the form of white background service to their commercial clients.  It is majorly used in ecommerce and fashion industry along with the hair masking services. For more information or to share your creations with fellow readers use the comments thread below.