When you wish to do something as simple as remove background on your photographs, Paint Shop Pro has a tutorial for that. You can add or subtract any type of object in your photographs, depending on your skill level with Paint Shop Pro. Below are the necessary steps you will need to take to successfully remove the background in your photograph.
Step 1: Channels
You'll need to go through the 'channels' to find one that will help preserve the most color on the main subject in your photograph. In order to do this, you will need to split the image into 'RGB channels' (RGB means red, green and blue).
To find this option, go to the 'colors' drop down box, and select 'channel splitting.' From there, you will select 'split to RGB'. After you have done this, go through the three channel options to find one that will bring out your subject the most. Once you have chosen the right channel, you will edit the image so that you can produce a mask for your main subject.
Step 2: Adjust Background
It is a good idea to paint around the areas that you do not wish to isolate. Getting the entire background one solid color will help to make this go a lot smoother for you. Be sure to choose a brush size that will cover the desired area quickly.
Make sure that you are careful with any areas that are close to the object (or objects that you wish to isolate). To get the background all the same color, you can use the eyedropper tool located in the toolbar on the left hand side of the screen. For example, if you want a pure black background, then the RGB value should be at '0-0-0'.
A quick way to get all of the gray areas to go to pure black is to adjust the brightness and contrast. In order to do this, simply to go the 'colors' drop down box, select 'adjust' and go to 'brightness/contrast'. Play around with this feature until you have the desired colors for the background.
Before you move on, it is a good idea to once again check out the background with the eye dropper tool.
Step 3: Layers
Double click on your original image and name it whatever the main subject is in the photo. Choose the image that you will like to use for the new background. Once you have done this, simply 'select all' and 'copy'. After you have done this, you will go back to your original image and go to the 'edit' drop down box (and choose 'paste as new layer'). Then, you will drag the new layer (below the desired isolated subject in your photo) into the layer palette.
To select the original image layer, go to the 'masks' drop down box and choose 'new' and 'from image'. You will want to pick the image that was altered with the RGB scale, be sure that the 'source luminance' has been selected (once it has then click 'ok').
From here, you will see that the original background will completely disappear and the new layer with the desired background will now show.
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