photo editing question

[AUBE]

how do you edit a photo so it has no background?

what im trying to do is make a website page that has a bamboo background picture then at the top of the page it has a picture floating above the background. the picture is actually words i ran through distort filters then saved as a jpeg. the problem is when i go to move the graphic letters overtop of the webpage it also brings a background with them...be it white/black etc. i dont want any type of background coming with the letters...i want to be able to see the bamboo background through the hole in the O, etc.

originally i thought to use a clone brush and edit the words right onto the background image but on long pages it has to tile the image...and i dont want the letters tiled...so that was out.

using jasc paint shop pro it has an "background erase" tool. sure enough it deletes the background. but saving as a jpeg/gif it pops up a message saying "due to the limitations of the file save format your project will be saved at single layer 256 color" and when copied into the website design tool it has a white background.

im pretty sure ive done it with adobe illustrator for other projects (ones ive printed) but im worried about having graphics on a page that might not be able to be viewed unless people have that software....is there a certain common type file i need to save it as?

any help would be appreciated!

thanks,
-jason

[SharpByCoop]

Jason,

You need to be able to work with a program that utilizes layers. If PSP has that ability, then you can have the bamboo background and then the lettering as the layer. At that point you would need to erase the existing lettering background to let the bamboo show through.

Better bet is to open the bamboo background and use your text drawing tool and whatever effects you wish to draw it on that. You should be able to move it around before your 'flatten' the image as one.

Can't help more wthout knowing your software or how you did the text edits. If you want it floating random on your webpage, you may be thinking of Flash.

Coop

[Terry Primos]

PSP has had layers for a number of years. In fact, the newest version is so close to Photoshop that it's scary. But that's not going to help. The JPEG (.JPG) format does not allow for transparent backgrounds. The only two common web formats that do are .GIF and .PNG. Unfortunately the .PNG format is still not fully supported by all browsers, so your only choice is a transparent .GIF file.

It is a pain in the butt to do text images with a transparent background because if you use anti-aliasing on the text, then there will be a ghost of the background color around the edges of the text. If you opt to not use anti-aliasing, then the background will be completely transparent, but the edges of the text will have the "jaggies".

Using the bamboo image as a background for your text image will not work either, because it will not line up properly with the real background for all the various screen resolutions being used.

My suggestion would be to just go ahead and have a border around the text image ( like a banner ). It will save you many hours of grief.

[AUBE]

i tried saving it as a gif (and even a png just to see if it would work) and so far it always drags a white background with it when i bring the photo to other applications. right as i save it jasc pops up that message saying "due to the limitations of the file save format your project will be saved at single layer 256 color"

im not sure if the aliasing will cause problems...the letters im using are intentionally drawn fairly rough to look kind of "tribal"...so jaggies may or may not be a problem. what i did was free hand draw the letters on paper, snap a photo of it, imported the photo into photoshop, ran through different distort effects (i cant remember which)

after messing with it for a few hours i finally just gave up and did the border thing. it probably looks ok but since its not exactly what i wanted it draws my attention right away. o well. i will mess with it again some other time.

thanks again,
-jason

[Terry Primos]

The illusion of floating text over a solid background is a piece of cake. Introduce a background image and it becomes problematic. Trying to produce the illusion of floating text with a drop shadow over a backround image can make you want to stick an ice pick in your head. Of course you didn't mention if if had a drop shadow or not, but that's the toughest to make look good when dealing with transparent .GIFs.

It can be done, but it takes a lot of patience and a little trickery.

I'm so busy right now that I'm in that ice pick in the head stage, but why don't you send me a copy of the original scan, and a copy of the bamboo background. I'll take a look at and see if it's something I can pull off.

Understand that I don't have a lot of time to spend, and it more than likely won't be a quick thing if I decide I can do it at all. But you can use your bordered image for the time being, and if I can do what you want you can swap it out at a later date.

I need to know what size in pixels you want to the final image to be, and if you can provide a link to the web page you are working on it would be helpful.

[cavetech]

I use Adobe PhotoShop and it works well. I also integrate the photos into websites.

[AUBE]

thanks guys,

i really appreciate the offer Terry. its very kind of you to offer to donate some of your time especially when you are busy. let me toy around with it for awhile, its not essential i even have it done like this and i would rather see you use your time to keep cranking out those beautiful knives. just knowing it is possible with software/file formats like this really helps. i hadnt even considered a shadow...now ive got to try that too

btw...nice avatar. im starting to have a new respect for images all the sudden lol.