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Photoshop help, please.

T

Tim

Hi Guys, I desperately need some guidance with Photoshop Elements 5.0; I'll try to explain exactly what I'm trying to do.

I am designing some basic labels for jars and bottles and want to use a chilli as my logo. I have taken a photo of a chilli on a white background and I then put this into Photoshop and then change the background to white. When I insert this image into Publisher (basic program I know, but it's all I've got for the time being), all is fine as long as I want to print on white labels. The problem is that I want to use coloured labels too, so when I print off on coloured labels, obviously what I'll end up with is a white box with a chilli inside it.

Is there a way of getting rid of the background in the chilli photo and then saving the file so that I can insert just the chilli image into a document? At least then I would be able to print out on any colour of label. I think it's all to do with layers and backgrounds, but I still don't understand; I need an idiot's guide!

I hope this post makes sense, and I hope someone can help; I'm tearing my hair out.
 
You have to cut and paste the pepper and make the pepper its own layer. Then erase the layer behind the pepper.
 
Thanks for your reply, Dick. I did something similar to that; I used the lasso tool to get hold of the pepper and then copied it to another layer which I had set up to be transparent. I then had a problem with saving the pepper as a jpeg. Apparently the jpeg format doesn't support transparent backgrounds so I had to save the pepper as a gif file. I got there in the end!
 
GIF is not print quality, it's web quality only.
 
Well, there's more than the file type. Make sure your colors are at least CMYK, not RGB, RGB is for monitors, CMYK is for printing. Make sure you are creating your file at 300 PPI, not 72, 72 is for the web. If you want it transparent, try a PNG image, at the highest bit rate. This should get you started.
 
Cheers, Dan. I've just saved the image as a PNG file and I'll follow the rest of your advice in the morning. I've been at it so long I'm at that stage where I've become unproductive. Bedtime methinks! Thanks again, Dan, much appreciated ;)
 
Thanks for your replies, guys. I did try tif but lost the transparent background when I opened up the file in MS Publisher. It seems to work as a PNG file; I have a laser printer coming today, so fingers crossed that the labels are of a useable quality.
 
Tim said:
Thanks for your replies, guys. I did try tif but lost the transparent background when I opened up the file in MS Publisher. It seems to work as a PNG file; I have a laser printer coming today, so fingers crossed that the labels are of a useable quality.
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Ugh, what the hell are you using publisher for?

There's an option to export as a transparent tif in photoshop.
 
imaguitargod said:
Ugh, what the hell are you using publisher for?

There's an option to export as a transparent tif in photoshop.
Click to expand...

Publisher is all I have here; what would/do you use for this kind of work?

Thanks for the tip about saving files as a transparent tiff. I've just looked through the save options and there it was staring me in the face. Easy when you know how, like everything I suppose.
 
Tim said:
Publisher is all I have here; what would/do you use for this kind of work?
Click to expand...
Photoshop and Quark XPress.

Tim said:
Easy when you know how, like everything I suppose.
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Well, 4 years experience as a professional graphic designer and 10 years experience with graphics programs does pay off eventually. :lol:
 
imaguitargod said:
Well, 4 years experience as a professional graphic designer and 10 years experience with graphics programs does pay off eventually. :lol:
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah? Exactly how much did you get paid anyways?:lol:
 
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