Using the Background Remover in Paint Shop Pro X2

Written by: Michele McDonough • Edited by: Rhonda Callow
Updated Feb 18, 2010 • Related Guides: Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo

In Part 2 of this series, we look at how to use the new background remover that comes packaged with Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate to isolate basic solid objects in a digital photograph.

How Hard is it to Remove the Background in a Photo?

The difficulty in removing the background in any digital photograph depends on a lot of factors, but one of the biggest obstacles is the shape and structure of the object that you want to keep. If you’re working with an object that has a lot of “fuzzy” edges, like a long-haired cat, or one that has a lot of interior “holes”, such as a window or shrub, then the process of removing the background can get a whole lot harder.

The easiest type of object to isolate in a photograph and remove the background from is one that is solid and has well-defined boundaries. We’ll use an example of this type for our first guide on how to use the new background remover tool in Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate.

Removing the Background from a Solid Object

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Begin by opening the photo that you are going to be working with in Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate. If you plan on making any other adjustments to the photo, such as cropping or resizing, it’s a good idea to perform those tasks first. It’s also a good idea to save your photo after every change is made, and use a different file name for each saved image so if you make a mistake, you don’t have to start all over from the very beginning.

When opening a digital photograph in Paint Shop Pro, its layer type will default to Background. Before you can use the background remover plugin to edit the photo, you must first convert it to a full raster layer. To do this, choose Promote Background Layer from the Layers menu on the main toolbar.

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Now we’re ready to use the background remover plugin to edit the photo. From the Effects menu, select Plugins and then choose Background Remover 3 from the Image Skill submenu.

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This will open a new window in which you can edit your photo using the background remover. Below is a screenshot of this.

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Use the Mark Object tool to trace a path just inside the boundaries of the object that you want to keep in your photo. The markings from this tool will show up in green on your photo as shown in the screenshot below.

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Next use the Mark Colors for Erasing tool to trace a path just outside of the boundaries of the object. This path will be shown in red on your photo. These paths don’t have to be perfect, and it may take a little practice before you’re fully comfortable with drawing them, especially if you’re using a mouse that isn’t very precise.

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Now, select the Magic Wand tool and click anywhere in the background of the photograph. This will erase the background according to the marks you have made with the Mark Object and Mark Colors for Erasing tools.

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You will probably need to make adjustments to the Strength, Contract, and Feathering controls in order to get the best extraction for your object. The great thing about the new background remover in Paint Shop Pro is that you can play around with these controls and see what effect they will have on your photo before you actually apply the changes.

When you’re done making all of your modifications, click the Ok button, and you will be returned to the main Paint Shop Pro application with your edited photograph.

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Additional Resources

Looking for more tips and tricks? Check out Bright Hub's library of Paint Shop Pro tutorials here on the Digital Photography Channel. The following articles may be of particular interest to those looking for tips on how to remove backgrounds and extract objects from digital photos:

Saving Images with Transparency in Paint Shop Pro

Using PaintShop Photo Pro X3's Object Extractor

Create Your Own Picture Tubes in Paint Shop Pro

Michele McDonough Mar 13, 2010 12:14 AM

RE: pspx2 ultimate

Have you tried reinstalling both PXP X2 and the plugin? It sounds like there may be a missing or corrupted file.

okiebirdnerd Mar 12, 2010 3:46 PM

pspx2 ultimate

I think there is a problem with pspx2 working properly with windows 7. I know the background remover plugin is installed but I get a pop up when I select it that it failed to load the DLL plugin. So I went to C, program files-corel-pspx2-language-english-plugins-image skills-background remover 3- and when I click on the 8bf file I get an error in PSPx2 saying the specified file can’t be identified as a supported type. I hope you can help me.

Michele McDonough Jan 28, 2010 4:55 PM

RE: Photo Backgrounds

Hi Andy - When saving, the JPEG format doesn't support transparency so to keep that part of the image transparent when moving to another app, you'd have to save in GIF or PNG format.

Andy Jan 28, 2010 1:52 PM

Photo Backgrounds

Hello..I'm new to Corel Draw and Paint Shop Pro Ultimate X2. I used the background removal tool in Paint Shop Pro which worked great, however when I import that image into Corel Draw the dreaded white square background reappears. I'm sure my problem is operator error .... any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

Paul Bader Jan 26, 2010 3:38 PM

emails

Today I received about 8 emails with the same information. Thanks but only one would be sufficient. I enjoy readng your help information to those that need help.

Amber Elms Jan 26, 2010 12:34 PM

Resolution

I thought to try and change the ppi of the photo in corel to 200 and then resave it. Then upload to mpix. I am able to get a 10x15 now. So that helped. I can't tell if I lost some resolution. The picture still looks clear. I guess I won't know until the print comes in? Also, after playing with the outer and inner glow, I was able to get the hazy effect on a different picture. I couldn't see anything with the outer, but when I unchecked outer and checked inner and layer, it worked! Thanks!

Michele McDonough Jan 26, 2010 11:17 AM

Aha - it's that 72 ppi causing the problems. That resolution is fine for an image on a computer screen, but print images should be 150 ppi at the very least (for a quality print, 200 ppi or greater is really better).

My guess is that your printing company is rescaling the photo to increase the number of pixels per inch in order to get a better quality print. Since they're squeezing in more pixels per inch, the max dimensions of the photo are smaller.

One thing you can try to do is to enlarge the image before you send it to a printer. This doesn't always work out so well, though. One enlargement application that I've had good results with is AKVIS Magnifier - I have it review of it here:

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/reviews/22536.aspx

It's not free, but there is a 10-day free trial. How large would you like the print to be?

Amber Elms Jan 26, 2010 10:57 AM

I didn't crop or resize the image at all before I edited it. Pixel dimensions are 604x452. Print size is 8.39x6.28. Resolution is 72.000 pixels/inch.

Michele McDonough Jan 26, 2010 10:43 AM

RE: Resolution

Amber,

JPEG would be the right format - how big was the original image? Did you crop it down or resize any before you edited?

Amber Elms Jan 26, 2010 10:32 AM

Michele thank you for the tips. I keep bombarding you with questions. If I ask too many, just tell me. Like I said, I'm learning as I go. My newest problem is when I try to order the pic of the baby, the biggest size I can get is the 4x6 because of resolution. I know I uploaded to mpix as a jpeg. Should I have saved the pic as something else and then uploaded it?

Michele McDonough Jan 26, 2010 1:44 AM

RE: Black Backgound

Amber, I love it! (And what a precious little girl!) Thanks so much for sharing your work. :)

I think the photo looks great just the way it is, but if you want to experiment with some of the other things you mentioned, try this: Right-click on the layer that contains the baby from the original photo and choose Properties. Then go to the Layer Styles tab. One of the options you can pick here is Outer Glow - this can be used to create a smoky haze effect around the object in the layer. You can change the color, size, and opacity of the glow to get all sorts of effects.

Like I said, I think your final image looks perfect just the way it is - but I thought you might have some fun playing with that other setting also.

Amber Elms Jan 26, 2010 1:12 AM

Black Background

Whoo Hoo! I did it! Thank you, thank you, thank you Michele!!! You are now my new best friend. I hope it's not too bad for a first time. Here is a link to the before and after. Tell me what you think. Honesty is best! I'd also love to learn how to get the hazy white, grey, or black border around a photo.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15462&id=1841210929&saved

Michele McDonough Jan 26, 2010 12:02 AM

RE: Black Background

Amber -

No problem - I'm glad to help if I can! I prefer the method of adding a new layer, too. That way it doesn't mess up the work you already did to get rid of the old background.

The type of new layer you want to add is Raster. Then, when that is added, make sure you have the Layers palette open (see http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/17051.aspx for more info on that).

After you've created the new layer, you can drag the layers around in the Layers palette - make sure the layer with your image is on top and the blank layer is on the bottom. Then click on the blank bottom layer so that any changes you make will only be applied to that layer.

Now, you can use the Materials Palette to select black and the Flood Fill tool to apply that color to that bottom layer. For screenshots to help with this, look at the steps starting with Step 3 in the following tutorial:

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/52929.aspx

If you have any trouble, let me know! Even if you don't have trouble, I'd love to hear back from you to hear how it turns out - especially if you have a link to share your final image.

Thanks!
Michele

Amber Elms Jan 25, 2010 11:46 PM

I just want to say THANK YOU for helping me out. I am very new to all this photo enhancing so sometimes I'm not really sure what you're talking about. I think adding the new layer is better for me because the picture has a lot of edges. What kind of layer do I need to add? And how do I move it under the Raster 1?

Michele McDonough Jan 25, 2010 11:34 PM

Hi Amber -

The gray and white checked background you see in the image means the current background is transparent. There are a few different ways you can change this to black. One is to select the transparent area and use the flood fill tool. Another is to add a new layer and move it under your current photo and to fill that whole area with black.

Amber Elms Jan 25, 2010 11:16 PM

Michele, thanks for getting back with me so quickly. I installed the Topaz Remask and I've cut out the part of my pic I don't want. Now in Corel, the part of the picture I don't want is gray and white checks. How do I get it black?

Michele McDonough Jan 22, 2010 11:24 PM

Amber - There is another plugin that I think might make that process easier. It's called Topaz ReMask - there is more info about it at this link:

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/reviews/59555.aspx

ReMask isn't free, but it does have a 30-day free trial that is fully functional so you can download it and see if it works for your project.

Amber Jan 22, 2010 11:07 PM

I have a photo I took of a baby. I made it black & white with the hairbow in color. Now I'm wanting to replace the background with an all black one. I mean, I just want the baby in the picture with the black all around her. I'm not sure how to do this. Can you help?

Paul Bader Jan 18, 2010 2:17 PM

Paint Shop Pro Background Remover

Best explanation of its use that I've seen to date.

Michele McDonough Oct 20, 2009 5:51 PM

Background Changes

Hi Clark,

Thanks for the update and the link to your work! It sounds like you've found a way to handle your workflow issue.

I did write up a little more about how to change backgrounds in PSP for these types of photos - if you're interested in taking a look, the link to that new article is

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/52929.aspx

If you find some other tips, I'd love it if you'd share them with us!

Thanks again,
Michele

Clark Oct 19, 2009 10:53 PM

Chroma Key & Video Studio

Michele,
I just used Video Studio to do a Mask & Chroma Key on my photos. I used the Youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLVz-f6WxQ8 to figure out how and then when I got frustrated trying to save the image that I had created I just used PSP to capture the on screen image and then saved it as a jpg file and I am done. This Mask & Chroma Key option should be in PSP since they are both Corel products. It is soooo much easier than all the hassle with the layers and incompletely erased backgrounds I was getting in PSP. I am not sure of the image quality of the final product but for my 5x7 prints onsite it will do.
I put the photos online at http://austinphoto.zenfolio.com/chromakey
in case you want to see the result.

Michele McDonough Oct 19, 2009 4:52 PM

RE: Clark

Hi Clark,

That works, too! You should be able to remove the solid background without the background remover (just using the regular magic wand tool), but your edges may not blend as well. But it definitely sounds like you're on the right path - there are a lot of different ways to remove the background, some easier than others depending on how complex the background is.

For adding the extracted object to a new background, it's a lot easier to paste the object as a selection layer into the background - then you can move it around and reposition. I think it would be easier to describe with some screenshots though, so I am working on putting those together now.

I know some of this has sounded convoluted, but I'm hoping some screenshots will clear the process up!

Thanks,
Michele

Clark Oct 19, 2009 4:30 PM

Chroma Key Delete Green background

Michele,
I guess I did it right. I just hit Layers / Promote Background Layer. I did not know how to Promote to a Full Layer. I then opened up Background Remover by going to Effects / Plugins / Imageskill / Background Remover. Once the photo was in there I just used the Magic Wand and left clicked on the mouse with the tolerance level at 26 and repeated the process on all the green areas, which kept moving around on me but finally got them to be mostly all gone. I then clicked OK and it brought the final photo into PSP where I saved it as a Gif image. Now I just need to figure out how to combine a background image with this image on top and position it and then I can save the resulting image as a jpg, I guess. Am I on the right path?
Thanks so much. I hope somebody else is getting something out of this as well.
Clark

Michele McDonough Oct 19, 2009 1:41 PM

RE: Chromakey and Color Changer

Clark,

You may want to try this for the quickest way to get rid of the background since it is completely solid:

1. Promote the background layer to a full layer.

2. Use the Magic Wand tool and click anywhere on the background - this should select the entire green area.

3. Hit the Delete key.

You should then see the transparent grid behind the image, indicating the background is invisible. You may have to adjust the tolerance level of the Magic Wand tool a bit, somewhere between 20-25.

This action would be the same as changing a color to transparent.

Hope this helps!
Michele

Clark Oct 19, 2009 1:17 PM

ChromaKey and Color Changer

Michele,
The process we have been discussing seems to be quite cumbersome to me but I am probably not grasping the exact procedure you have described. I also tried the Color Changer Option in PSP without Background Remover and that is very effective in changing the Greenscreen to White for example and does it very percisely. Is there anyway to change the Greenscreen to a Transparent Color for example? That would be very quick and painless.
Thanks
Clark

Michele McDonough Oct 19, 2009 12:55 PM

RE: Chromakey & Greenscreen

Hi Clark,

Actually, you don't have to worry about that gray and white grid - even though it is showing in PSP as a grid, that is just to signify that the background is invisible so that you don't confuse it with a white background. If you are seeing that gray and white grid, that's exactly what you want to make sure that the background is completely gone with nothing replacing it.

-Michele

Clark Oct 19, 2009 12:35 PM

Chromakey and Greenscreen

Michele,
See, I got it right.
Yes, I am wanting to add a digital background image to the photo I take of the couple in front of a greenscreen. I want to be able to complete the removal of the background or make it invisible - can you tell me how you make the background invisible? There seems to be very few options in Background Remover. I see the Preference menu and I see it says transparency but when I try and use the Layers / Prompt Background option and then pick white for both of the colors on the Grid I am not getting consistant results - Only part of the Greenscreen background is turned white. Are you still talking about using Background Remover or is there another option to change the greenscreen background to transparent?
Thanks again.
Clark

Michele McDonough Oct 19, 2009 11:11 AM

RE: background...

Jamie,

There are several ways you can add a new background - instead of removing the original one, you can actually select it and replace it with a new one from a swatch or pattern. If you just want to replace a color, you can use the color changing tool - there's a tutorial on that at this link:

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/22864.aspx

Also, you can use layers to add all different sorts of backgrounds - including other photos. Here's a link to several tutorials on layers:

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/17051.aspx

I personally prefer working with layers because that gives a lot more flexibility, but it can take a little practice to get comfortable working with them!

-Michele

Michele McDonough Oct 19, 2009 10:54 AM

Re: Chromakey & Greenscreen

Hi Clark,

Thanks! (And that one "L" in my name often gives me a lot of trouble. :))

I'm afraid I don't know too much about Videostudio X2, but you can make backgrounds transparent in PSP - the trick is saving them in the right format to support the transparency. JPEG doesn't support transparency so you have to save either as a PSP (or PSPIMAGE) or a GIF to prevent that "invisible" area from changing to a default white color.

I just tried a quick background removal of the photo you linked to and got better results marking the subject than just using the magic wand, although both were giving good quality and could be greatly improved with a little extra time spent. So it could be possible to come up with the right settings on the tools before the Gala and save them (or even create a script to run the process) so that you could get them printed quickly at the event.

After you remove the background are you inserting another in its place before printing?

Thanks!
Michele

Jamie Oct 19, 2009 10:51 AM

background...

okay so that tells how to remove a background...do you have tutorial that shows you how to apply a new background...like a digital one for chromakey green screens? i just bought this program and i'm lost!

Clark Oct 19, 2009 10:19 AM

Chromakey & Greenscreen

Michele,
Love that name, I have a daughter and step daughter both with middle name Michelle.
Regarding the color change I tried to change the color of the background but it got messy. I used an online photo from http://www.owens-originals.com/cdrom/greenscreen1/how_to_use_paint_shop_pro.html where I was shopping for a Muslin Greenscreen. Can you turn the background invisible like you can in Corel Videostudio X2? That program works well but I can't print from it or save a clip of a single photo. There is a Youtube video on using VS X2 for Greenscreen and that works but even if I could save a clip of the photo I don't know what quality of the image I would get.
Thanks so much for your help!!
Clark

Michele McDonough Oct 19, 2009 1:59 AM

RE: Using the Background Remover in Paint Shop Pro X2

Hi Clark,

For simple solid backgrounds, you usually don't have to use Mark Tool unless the edges of the object "bleed in" to the background. The Background Remover has a Magic Wand tool that can be used to click and remove a solid background without tracing the edges of the object. For the initial use, you may have to experiment a little with the settings of the tools, but once you determine the correct ones, they should work on all photos of similar types.

Clark Oct 18, 2009 6:39 PM

Can you tell me if Background remover can easily remove a Green Screen without using the Mark Tool to Outline and remove the background. I want to shoot photos of Couples at a Gala and print them at the site quickly. Outlining by mouse woudl be too tedious.
Thanks

Athena Sep 28, 2009 11:56 PM

background remover plugin

Thanks so much! This is the tutorial I've been looking for.

Using the Background Remover in Paint Shop Pro X2

How Hard is it to Remove the Background in a Photo?

Removing the Background from a Solid Object

Additional Resources

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