How to put a black background on a picture Photoshop

How many times have you photographed something on a white or black backdrop only to find the intended background has somehow ended up in the grey zone? When posted on a website or pure background, the supposed pure white now appears greyish blue, tinted, murky. The black now an ugly brownish grey. If you’re tired of this, there is an easy way to make sure your final images are coming out on a pure white or black background that will blend perfectly with most websites. And, you can do it without losing a ton of detail in the image:

The Threshold Test

The fastest and easiest way to test your image background’s pureness is with the Threshold Adjustment Layer. If you want to check if your background has any pure white, then move the Threshold slider all the way to the right. If the image is then completely black, that means you don’t have any pure white in your image. If, however, you see some white, that is pure white. Same goes for black—just move the slider all the way to the left.

Threshold Test

Making the Background White

The easiest way to make your background pure white is with the brush tool. Adjusting curves will cause your image to lose too much detail. Here’s how to do it:

• First, take your saturation all the way down to zero.
• To bring the color back where you want it, paint black over the Layer Mask where you want the original color to appear.
• Paint the areas of your image that you want to be pure white.
• Remember, the edges are the most important part, because they will be directly against the background you’re posting on. They need to blend in seamlessly—take extra care and time with the edges.
• After you paint over the areas you want to be lighter, use Blend-If to allow the layer to only be visible where the underlying layer is lighter, maintaining shadow detail—to do this, double click on the layer and adjust the underlying layer.
• Repeat these steps as needed.

Making a White Background

Eliminating the Border

If you want to check your final image to make sure it will look perfect on pure white, like a white web page, you can view your image on a pure white backdrop in Photoshop. Right click on the Photoshop background, click on “Select Custom Color” and select white. Of course, if you’re testing for pure black, you can choose black in the list.

You’ll be able to see if your white matches the background now, and where you might need adjustments. If you see a border around your image, you should remove that. Find Preferences in the menu (either by clicking on Photoshop in the top left corner or under Edit) and select Interface. In the Appearance box at the top, change all the border options to “None.”

Change the border options to None.

By following these simple steps, you can make sure your images get the purest background possible. Your white background will look like it extends all the way out and that’s how your images will impress!

For further training: Essential Guide to Fundamental Photo Editing

How to Change Background Color in Photoshop

In this tutorial, I will show you one of my favorite ways to change the background color in Photoshop, with a couple of additional tweaks that will MAKE YOUR SUBJECT REALLY STAND OUT and the background look more natural.

This process is straightforward and fun, so let's get started:

Step 1: Select the Background with the Magic Wand Tool

Open your image in Photoshop, and then select the Magic Wand tool:

I typically like to start at the top-left of my image and drag around the top of my subject, and then downwards, towards the bottom-right of the image:

Once you have the bulk of your background selected, hold down the Shift key and click the smaller areas of the background that your initial wave of the Magic Wand (sorry, I couldn't resist) did not catch:

Step 2: Use the Refine Edge Tool to Retain Detail

We need to change our selection from the background to the subject, and we can do that by right-clicking and going to Select Inverse:

You will see the selection change from the background to the subject.  Now go to Select>Refine Edge:

The Refine Edge window allows us to fine-tune the selection we just made.  With the Magic Wand tool, you will usually have a good bit of the background remaining near the edges of your subject.

As you can see in the image below, there are some orange traces remaining on the model:

Use the drop-down menu to create a mask to view the selection.  I find it easiest to use a mask that contrasts with the background color, so in this case, I chose to view my selection on black because I can more easily see the remaining bright orange near her hat, hair, and clothing.

For example, if your background was dark blue, you could choose to view your selection on white or transparent.

Now it's time to use the brush to paint over the edges where we still have the remaining orange background in our selection.

Click within your subject, and then draw along the edge where you would like to erase the background.  Do this everywhere you see any background remaining in your selection.  When you are finished, press OK.

Here is a quick video demonstrating my use of the Refine Edge Tools:

Step 3: Add a New Background Color

Next, add a Layer Mask to your selection by clicking the Layer Mask icon:

Go to Select Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color:

Use the Color Picker to select a color.  You can also use the Dropper tool to select a color from your image by hovering over and clicking on where that color is located in your photo.

For example, if I wanted to use a blue that matches her jacket, I could hover my Dropper tool over the blue sections of her jacket to find a color I liked. 

However, for this image, I selected a fun, rosy pink color for the background.

Now, drag your Color Fill Layer beneath your main image layer to make your subject visible above the new background:

This is how you change the background color in Photoshop!

But let's take it a step further, and ADD A FEW ADDITIONAL EDITS THAT WILL HELP YOUR SUBJECT REALLY STAND OUT and also make the background look more natural.

Step 4: Give the Background Added Depth

When you look at a solid background in a studio, it typically has highlights, midtones, and shadows to it.  In other words, it is NOT one solid color but a gradient.  We will simulate that color gradient effect by selecting our Elliptical Marquee tool and adjusting the Levels.

First, using the Marquee Tool, draw an elliptical somewhere near the center of your image - it does not have to be exact.  In this case, I drew mine a bit higher so that it would be closer to the model's face.

Be sure to right-click, select Feather, and then select 200 pixels to prevent a hard edge on your elliptical selection.

Create a Levels adjustment layer by selecting Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Levels. 

Brighten the midtones by sliding the midtones slider to the left.  This will create the illusion of a light shining on the background.

Now, let's darken the edges of our background.

Just as we did in the previous step, create another elliptical marquee selection and right-click to feather at 200 pixels.  Now, right-click again and go to Select Inverse - that way, only the outer edges of our image are adjusted.

Create another Levels Layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels) and this time, slide the midtones slider to the right to darken the edges of the image.

You can continue to tweak each Levels layer by double-clicking the layer until you are satisfied with the results.

In this example, I reduced the brightness of the first layer and made my second layer a bit brighter, so there was more of a smooth transition between the levels.

Here is my final image, including the new background color I selected.  I love it!

There you have it.  I truly hope you enjoyed this tutorial on changing the background color in Photoshop!  Make sure to keep this page bookmarked as a reference until you can remember all these steps on your own.

Color Change Actions for Photoshop

If you want to REALLY SIMPLIFY THE BACKGROUND COLOR CHANGE PROCESS, Pretty Preset & Actions has a fantastic Magic Color Change Action included in their Pure Color Workflow Collection for Photoshop.  I love it and use it all the time!

Do you have any questions or comments about How to Change a Background Color in Photoshop?  Leave us a comment below - we would LOVE to hear from you!  And PLEASE SHARE this tutorial using the social sharing buttons (we really appreciate it)!

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