Have a great photo but don’t like the background? Change it! With a little patience and practice, a pair of images and an image editing program that offers layers you can.

This is a very basic tutorial, which works best when backgrounds are fairly simple and the edges of a subject are well-defined. Below is a brief summary of more advanced techniques.

Before

After

Changing the background of a digital image

1. Open your image and then click on an edge selection tool such as the Magnetic Lasso found in programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Elements.
2. Carefully outline the edges of the subject. You may have to use the add and subtract icon to get a more precise outline.
3. After the image is selected, inverse the selection. Select > Inverse.
4. Next, open the image you plan to use for the background — in this illustration, a plain beach scene. The image will open in a new window.
5. Select all, then Copy. Select menu > All
6. Edit menu > Copy. The sunset image will be placed on the clipboard.
7. Make the first window active by clicking on it; then use the paste into menu to place the clipboard image into the selected area. Edit > Paste into.
8. If desired, move the image around with the Move tool selected until the background image is place as you like it.
9. Save image layers as a JPEG file.

Other methods to extract an object from its background

Those who process their photos with editing programs such as Photoshop can use more advanced techniques and tools to remove a background. These techniques may require a lot of time and skill, so check your programs help menu for specifics.

The tools include:

Magic Eraser - erases pixels of a particular color by making them trasparent. A high Tolerance setting will erase a broad range of color values. Only similar color values to the pixel you click will be erased when the Tolerance setting is set low.

Extract Filter - a more sophisticated way to isolate a foreground object is to use the Extract filter, which allows you to extract an object from its background by drawing an outline around it that also overlaps the background. The Extract filter works best when you zoom in on an object.

Quick Mask Mode - in Quick Mask Mode use tools such as the paint brush and eraser to paint over every detail in the image that you don’t want. You can also use selection tools, then fill the selection. When you switch back to Standard Mode, every area that has been painted or filled will be removed.