The Background Eraser makes it easy to isolate images from a complex background. The tool is designed to evaluate the edges of an object and erase any surrounding colors. This makes it a much more powerful tool than the Magic Eraser for removing an object from its background, but not as powerful or as accurate as the Extract filter.
To access the Background Eraser, click and hold the currently visible Eraser tool icon in the Tools palette and select Background Eraser Tool from the pop-up menu that appears. You can also toggle between the Eraser, Background Eraser, and Magic Eraser tools by pressing Shift+E. The Background Eraser has its own set of controls in the Options palette. Here’s a quick rundown of what each of them does:
Brush Click the brush preview icon (or the down arrow directly next to it) to reveal a pop-up palette containing various brush controls, including diameter, hardness, spacing, angle, and roundness. There are also size and tolerance settings located at the bottom of the palette for working with a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet.
Sampling: Continuous The Continuous setting (the default for the Background Eraser) tells Photoshop to keep sampling the color under the cursor’s crosshair as you move the mouse to erase. This is the setting to use when trying to erase a detailed background.
Sampling: Once The Once setting tells Photoshop to sample and erase only the color that is under the cursor’s crosshair when you click the mouse. It does not continue to sample colors as you drag. This is the setting to use when trying to erase a solid-color background.
Sampling: Background Swatch The Background Swatch setting tells Photoshop to erase only the areas that match the current Background Color. You can use this setting to remove any halos left over after erasing with the Continuous or Once settings. Hold down Option/Alt to sample the halo color; then press X to make it the current Background Color. Erase with this setting enabled in order to remove the halo.
Limits This option tells Photoshop what colors to erase within the chosen brush diameter. The default Contiguous setting erases any colors within the Tolerance range that are adjacent to the sampling point (indicated by the + located in the center of the Background Eraser cursor). The Discontiguous setting allows the Background Eraser to jump over colors, occasionally into the foreground object. Therefore, Contiguous is generally the better option. The Find Edges option works like the Contiguous setting but does a much better job of protecting edges of the foreground object from becoming partially erased and appearing semitransparent.
Tolerance The percentage entered here determines how close a color must be to the sampling point in order for it to be erased.
Protect Foreground Color Enabling this option tells Photoshop not to erase the chosen foreground color with the Background Eraser. Hold down Option/Alt to sample a color near the edge of the image that you don’t want to erase. The sampled color becomes the new Foreground color. Proceed to erase the background without affecting the foreground image. The best way to isolate an image when using the Background Eraser is to choose a smaller brush size, place the sampling point just outside the edge of the object, and trace around it. The outer edge of the brush cursor circle should overlap the edge of the object as you trace. For best results, paint slowly and use multiple brushstrokes.
Transparency Color Preferences
If the default gray-and-white transparency checkerboard makes it too hard to see the edge of your selection, you can change it in the Preferences dialog box. From the Photoshop menu (Mac) or the Edit menu (Windows), choose Preferences --> Transparency & Gamut. In the dialog box that appears, under Transparency Settings, click each color swatch to access the Color Picker. Proceed to change the default colors to something that offers better contrast with your image.
If the results are uneven, choose Window --> History to display the History palette, and revert to the last state before the first stroke was applied. Lower the Tolerance setting and trace again. Keep testing until you find the right Tolerance setting. Although working with the Background Eraser requires a lot of trial and error, it can be an accurate way of removing a detailed selection from its background. After the edge is defined, you can use the Eraser tool to remove the rest of the Background.
To access the Background Eraser, click and hold the currently visible Eraser tool icon in the Tools palette and select Background Eraser Tool from the pop-up menu that appears. You can also toggle between the Eraser, Background Eraser, and Magic Eraser tools by pressing Shift+E. The Background Eraser has its own set of controls in the Options palette. Here’s a quick rundown of what each of them does:
Brush Click the brush preview icon (or the down arrow directly next to it) to reveal a pop-up palette containing various brush controls, including diameter, hardness, spacing, angle, and roundness. There are also size and tolerance settings located at the bottom of the palette for working with a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet.
Sampling: Continuous The Continuous setting (the default for the Background Eraser) tells Photoshop to keep sampling the color under the cursor’s crosshair as you move the mouse to erase. This is the setting to use when trying to erase a detailed background.
Sampling: Once The Once setting tells Photoshop to sample and erase only the color that is under the cursor’s crosshair when you click the mouse. It does not continue to sample colors as you drag. This is the setting to use when trying to erase a solid-color background.
Sampling: Background Swatch The Background Swatch setting tells Photoshop to erase only the areas that match the current Background Color. You can use this setting to remove any halos left over after erasing with the Continuous or Once settings. Hold down Option/Alt to sample the halo color; then press X to make it the current Background Color. Erase with this setting enabled in order to remove the halo.
Limits This option tells Photoshop what colors to erase within the chosen brush diameter. The default Contiguous setting erases any colors within the Tolerance range that are adjacent to the sampling point (indicated by the + located in the center of the Background Eraser cursor). The Discontiguous setting allows the Background Eraser to jump over colors, occasionally into the foreground object. Therefore, Contiguous is generally the better option. The Find Edges option works like the Contiguous setting but does a much better job of protecting edges of the foreground object from becoming partially erased and appearing semitransparent.
Tolerance The percentage entered here determines how close a color must be to the sampling point in order for it to be erased.
Protect Foreground Color Enabling this option tells Photoshop not to erase the chosen foreground color with the Background Eraser. Hold down Option/Alt to sample a color near the edge of the image that you don’t want to erase. The sampled color becomes the new Foreground color. Proceed to erase the background without affecting the foreground image. The best way to isolate an image when using the Background Eraser is to choose a smaller brush size, place the sampling point just outside the edge of the object, and trace around it. The outer edge of the brush cursor circle should overlap the edge of the object as you trace. For best results, paint slowly and use multiple brushstrokes.
Transparency Color Preferences
If the default gray-and-white transparency checkerboard makes it too hard to see the edge of your selection, you can change it in the Preferences dialog box. From the Photoshop menu (Mac) or the Edit menu (Windows), choose Preferences --> Transparency & Gamut. In the dialog box that appears, under Transparency Settings, click each color swatch to access the Color Picker. Proceed to change the default colors to something that offers better contrast with your image.
If the results are uneven, choose Window --> History to display the History palette, and revert to the last state before the first stroke was applied. Lower the Tolerance setting and trace again. Keep testing until you find the right Tolerance setting. Although working with the Background Eraser requires a lot of trial and error, it can be an accurate way of removing a detailed selection from its background. After the edge is defined, you can use the Eraser tool to remove the rest of the Background.
The Background Eraser
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