Gimp transparent background turns black professional#
Gimp transparent background turns black series#

Don’t worry about it being precise, this is just meant to be a very rudimentary tracing. To get started, grab the Foreground Select tool and manually draw a rough outline around your subject.

This method would also be a good choice if your subject has a lot of fine details, like strands of hair. The final method that I’ll be going over is the Foreground Select tool. There has to be some degree of contrast between your subject and the background. However, it’s the most complicated method of the 4 I’ve over, so it’s much easier for me to explain it via video…īear in mind that this method won’t work for all images. This method is ideal for cropping out subjects with fine details like fur or strands of hair.

Once that’s done, we’ll use layer masks to define the transparent areas. The idea behind this method is to strip down your image to black and white, then adjust the color curves to create some separation between the foreground and the background.

Gimp transparent background turns black series#

The final method I’ll be outlining isn’t necessarily a tool, but rather a series of functions. Skip to the 3:59 point in the video for the segment about using the Paths tool to delete backgrounds to transparent using GIMP. The video has voice narration and step-by-step instructions that even a first-time used can follow along with. Since this method is far too nuanced and complicated to try explaining via written text, I’d suggest watching the following video tutorial I created a while back. Grab the Paths tool by clicking the icon indicated above or by using the keyboard shortcut, which is B. This is the ideal method to use if there is simply not enough contrast between your image’s subject and background for the previous methods to work. The Paths tool allows you to create a selection by manually placing smooth lines and curves via node placement. This is the method that was used to crop the bird image in the header of this post - the Paths tool.

Gimp transparent background turns black professional#

This is the method that requires the most skill and takes the most time, but it’s also the best method of using GIMP to delete background to transparent in my opinion because it produces the cleanest, most professional result. If it’s easier for you to create a selection from your foreground/subject instead, go ahead and do so, then just go to Select > Clear before deleting the selection. Once you’d created a selection from your background, press Delete on your keyboard, or go to Edit > Clear if you’re using Mac. You can also select additional shades of the same color by holding Shift and clicking on them as well. You can increase the size of the selection by clicking and dragging to the right, or decrease it by clicking and dragging to the left. Grab the Select By Color tool by clicking on the icon highlighted above, or by simply pressing Shift + O on your keyboard.Īs previously mentioned, simply click on a segment of the image that contains the color you’d like to delete. This tool works great if you have an image where your background consists of just a single color and maybe a few different shades of it. Once you click on a specific pixel with this tool, it will create a selection around it and every other pixel with the same color. Method 2: Select By Color ToolĪn even simpler method - similar to the Fuzzy Select Tool - is the Select By Color tool. Nothing will change visibly on the screen when you do this, but what happened is you inverted the selection so that you now have the background selected and not the foreground. Once you’ve done that, simply press Delete. Since you want to delete the background and not the subject, simply go to Select > Invert. If you created the selection by clicking on your subject, you’ll only have your subject selected. If you created the selection by clicking on the background, simply press Delete on your keyboard (or go to Edit > Clear if using Mac) and you will have successfully used GIMP to delete your image’s background to transparent. This will create a dotted outline around your subject known as a selection. You can add to your selection by holding Shift and clicking on another area, and you can remove unwanted selections by holding Control and clicking on them. Drag the cursor to the right to increase the size of the selection and to the left to decrease it. With the tool selected, click and drag on your subject to create a selection. Grab the Fuzzy Select Tool by clicking on the icon highlighted in the above image, or simply press U on your keyboard.