Not all artwork is print ready when you receive it. A common fix that you will have to perform on artwork is removing background colors or images. Artwork will not always have a transparent background, so oftentimes you will have to remove the background for the artwork to be printed onto a t-shirt or cut with a vinyl printer/cutter. There are many tools that you can use to remove a background in Photoshop. We go into detail about each below. In order to work on an image, the layer must be unlocked and rasterized. In order to rasterize an image, you must right-click on the layer and click “Convert to Smart Object.” Then right-click on the layer again and select “Rasterize Layer.”
Eraser- The Eraser Tool is exactly what you would imagine. If you click on the black arrow in the lower right-hand corner of the eraser button, you will be able to edit your eraser’s size and angle. Once you’ve determined what size and angle you need, simply right click on the area you desire to remove and drag the cursor about until the entire aspect has been erased. There are also two other Eraser tools available under the main eraser tool. You can select them by clicking the black arrow in the lower right-hand corner of the Eraser Button.
Background Eraser Tool- With the Background Eraser Tool selected, your cursor will become a circle with a crosshair at the center. First, in the menu bar at the top of the page, select “Once.” Then, move the crosshair is over the desired color to erase, simply click and drag the cursor. The circle will act as the eraser, with only what passes under the circle being removed. If you had not previously clicked “Once,” any time the crosshair moved over a new color, that color would be erased.
Make sure that the “Contiguous” checkbox in the top menu bar is unchecked, otherwise the Background Eraser Tool will only select those pixels of the same color that are touching. So, for instance, if you were attempting to remove the color of the sky from an image with a tree, any bits of sky showing through the tree would remain after using the Background Eraser Tool if the “Contiguous” box was checked. You can increase or decrease the tolerance of the Background Eraser Tool to capture a wider or smaller range of color.
Magic Eraser- The Magic Eraser Tool will delete all the pixels of a certain color that you click on within an image. Make sure that the “Contiguous” checkbox in the top menu bar is unchecked, otherwise the Magic Eraser Tool will only select those pixels of the same color that are touching. So, for instance, if you were attempting to remove the color of the sky from an image with a tree, any bits of sky showing through the tree would remain after using the Magic Eraser Tool if the “Contiguous” box was checked. You can increase or decrease the tolerance of the Magic Eraser Tool to capture a wider or smaller range of color.
Magic Wand- The Magic Wand Tool is a selection tool that grabs objects in Illustrator by color, stroke width, stroke weight, or opacity. You can adjust the tolerance of each of these options to control how wide of a range the tool will select within each option. For instance, if you were to select a royal blue object with a high tolerance, you might also select a sky blue object. Once you have selected an image aspect through the magic wand, you can simply hit “Delete” on your keyboard and the aspect will disappear.
Lasso Tool- The Lasso Tool is a freehand selection tool that allows you to draw around artwork aspects that you wish to select. Make sure to complete your loop, otherwise the tool will not select anything. After you have traced the desired aspect of your artwork, simply hit the “Delete” key on your keyboard and the aspect will disappear.
Magnetic Lasso Tool- The Magnetic Lasso Tool is available by clicking the black arrow in the lower right hand corner of the Lasso Tool. The magnetic Lasso Tool selects objects by mapping their edges. Once you have selected the Magnetic Lasso Tool, click “Caps Lock” on your keyboard to convert your cursor to a more useful circle with a small crosshair at its center. Then move the crosshair directly to the edge of the desired object. Now you may trace the edge of the object, always keeping the edge within the boundaries of the circle. The trace will periodically leave anchor points along the object’s edge. In the top menu bar, you can change the width of the circle and the contrast of the image.
For images with good contrast between the selection and the background, choose a higher contrast and vice versa. Should you make a mistake, simply hit “Delete” on your keyboard to erase the last anchor point (or hit “Delete” multiple times to remove multiple anchor points in reverse order of placement). Should there be an area that you need to remove from within the selection, hold down the “Option” or “Alt” key, click a starting point on the edge (at which point you can release the “Option” or “Alt” key), and trace as you did on the outside of the selection. Once you have your selection perfect, simply hit the “Delete” key to remove or “Control+M” to move the selected object.
Marquee Tool- The Marquee Tool is a similar selection tool to the lasso tool. However, rather than drawing around the desired aspect, the user will click on a specific point and drag the cursor to create a box (or other shape) around the desired aspect. After you have selected the desired aspect of your artwork, simply hit the “Delete” key on your keyboard and the aspect will disappear.
Select Color Range- Selecting a Color Range is a simple method of removing all of a color or variety of colors from an image. To select a Color Range, click on “Select” in the top menu bar and then “Color Range” in the drop-down menu. The Color Range box will appear and you can manually select the color from the palette, or use your cursor (which has changed into an Eyedropper) to click on the color in the image itself. You can adjust the range of colors selected by moving the slider on the Fuzziness scale or by entering a value. A higher number means that the tool will select a wider range of colors, and a lower number will select a smaller range. Once the color range has been selected, simply hit delete and the entirety of the color(s) will be removed from the image.
