Creative photography

[Bob]

Is there a way to take a digital photo of an object and have a transparent background so that the object can then be transposed onto a different background ?

I remember once visiting a movie studio where they explained how this was done on film.  I beleive it had something to do with the color of the background being blue.  I am wondering if there is a similiar trick for digital still pics.

I have tried removing the backround (changing it to transparent) using Adobe Photoshop 6, but I am not that computer saavy and it took me forever and the results were not great.

I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks

Bob

[Deb]

Hi Bob and welcome!

I must say that's a great question!!  

There is "chroma keying" software on the market for the home videographer that is used for that effect. One is called "Ultra" (http://www.seriousmagic.com/ukoverview.cfm). You paint the background with either pure green or pure blue (or you can use purchased backdrops $$$) then you use the software's interface to achieve the effect you want.

Whether this can be used with digital photography, I'm not sure. You can use stills for the background, but what about foreground (initial image). Hmmmmm ... anyone out there know the answer?

Other than that, the only way I know of for digital photography is to use a photo editing software's masking tool and replace the background that way.

[ShutterbugGail]

I have tried removing the backround (changing it to transparent) using Adobe Photoshop 6, but I am not that computer saavy and it took me forever and the results were not great.

Here are some tips about removing backgrounds using Photoshop 5.5 or above.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/blremovebackg.htm

You can also try to take photos of subjects against a dark or light background, though make sure you expose on the subject so the camera's meter is not influcenced by the background. You'll want to try to avoid shadows around a subject, especially when using a flash, so it is easier to select the subject.

In Photoshop, select the subject with, say, the Magic Lasso, next inverse the selection, then use the Paste Into command to paste in the background into the selected area. You'll be able to reposition the background by using the Move Tool.