A transparent background will help a featured product interact differently with its background depending on the user’s screen size. It gives you the flexibility to place your product against a background that dynamically changes colours. This tutorial will help you understand how to create a transparent background using Photoshop.
Make your image into a layered file
Open your product image which is in a JPG format in Photoshop. Let us take the example of a wristwatch image taken against a white background. You can use the Layers panel to create a layer. This panel rests to the right of your image window.
Create Your Selection
First you have select the Magic Wand tool from the Toolbar on the left-hand side of the application window. Click on the Select Subject from the Options bar at the top of the screen. Photoshop will try to select the object from your photograph regardless of the background. The selection will appear as “marching ants” surrounding the selection.
Delete the background
When you have your product selected, select the inverse by typing SHIFT+CTRL+I or by choosing Select>Inverse from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window. With your inverse selected, type BACKSPACE. The background will now be transparent. A transparent background is represented with a gray and white checkerboard pattern on Photoshop.
Save your image in the proper web-ready format
After you created a transparent background, you need to make sure you save your product image in the correct format. This has to be done so that it is easily displayed as a transparent background on your ecommerce website.
Saving the images in smaller dimensions mean a smaller file size. Making your image’s dimensions smaller than you want them to appear on your website will create blurry or pixelated images.
Save your file
When you have adjusted the Image size to proper dimensions, click Export All. Choose the folder where you keep your web-ready product images in the Save dialog box. The optimized image files should be separated from your original image files to avoid confusion.
Creating a transparent background for a logo in Photoshop
Click Open the logo file after going to File > Open. You will need to double-click the Background layer in the Layers panel and click OK to convert the Background to Layer 0. Choose the Magic Wand tool from the Toolbar. Click on the white background of your logo file. By holding down the SHIFT key and clicking with the Magic Wand tool, you can select multiple areas. Lastly, you have export your image as we did with the product image.
Your file size is significantly lower when you export your image. This is because the logos tend to have only one or two colors, unlike the thousands of colors that exist in product image.
When you save your logo file, you don’t need to reduce your image proportions. Keep your dimensions at the same size as the original file you have been working with, and click Save.
