How to Make a Transparent Background in Photoshop

Do you have a photo where you need to separate the subject and the background? With Photoshop, it is easy to create a transparent background or remove it entirely.

There are a number of great tools to use for making selections and creating different layers in Photoshop. Whether you want to make a background transparent, separate the subject from the background for targeted edits, or put the subject on a solid color background, Photoshop has a number of helpful tools.

Some of the best tools to use include:

The Magic Wand
The Quick Selection Tool
The Select Subject Menu
The Lasso Tool
Color Range Selections

With these tools, you'll have an easy time selecting the subject. This is an essential first step to separating the subject and the background. For this tutorial, you'll want to have Photoshop, which is available as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud.

Many of these same techniques can be used in other photo editors that offer layer tools, so check out our guide to the top free Photoshop alternatives.

The following tools are listed in terms of increasing complexity, but make sure to try them all out! Some techniques work better for certain subjects than others, but all can do a good job at removing the background from an image.

Any change to the background of an image, like background removal, starts with selecting the subject. Once the subject has been selected, you can change the background any way you want.

If you want to turn the background into a solid color, like white, that is easy to do with a separate subject. Once you've read through the different options for selecting a subject, check out some of the suggestions for ways to edit the background at the end of the article.