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Removing unwanted areas from an image

With the Instant Alpha tool you can mask certain colors in a photo so that they become transparent. This feature is useful for removing an unwanted background or element in an image, for creating images that are silhouettes (for example, by masking out the sky behind a person’s head), and so on.

Image of instant alpha tool removing background on a photo

Note:You can’t use Instant Alpha to modify photos you added to the photo grid of a Photos or My Albums template.

To remove unwanted areas:

  1. Select the image by clicking it.

  2. Choose Format > Instant Alpha.

  3. Drag slowly over an area you want to make transparent.

    As you drag, the selection grows to include areas of the same color. You can control how much of the image is selected by dragging less or more.

  4. Continue dragging until the desired area is selected.

You get the best results when removing solid colors with distinct boundaries around them. With areas that are less distinct, remove smaller portions at a time for better control, and repeat the Instant Alpha process until your image looks the way you want.

Because using the Instant Alpha tool is a kind of masking (cropping), you can restore the parts removed from the image at any time. To revert to the original image, choose Format > Remove Instant Alpha.


Related Topics

Masking (cropping) images

Masking an image using a shape other than a rectangle

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