Jump to content

Need help removing a background in Affinity Photo


Recommended Posts

Hello,

I have 2 photos that I need some assistance with removing the background. I've tried to use a tolerance of 5% with the selection brush and have tried Refine, but there's a portion of each photo that has a similar color as the object. If someone could help me with this, I'd be grateful. I have attached two photos of the object.

Thank you so much for any help!

Chris

floatron-project-remove-bg-2.jpg

floatron-project-remove-bg.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An alternate approach to using selection tools is to create vector shapes that outline the product and create a mask from the shapes. Because of the product's shape, most of the vector shapes can be created using the Ellipse Tool, which makes it easier than outlining the entire product using the Pen Tool.

Steps:

  • Create multiple vector shapes using the Ellipse Tool and Pen Tool that make up the shape of the product. (I only used the Pen Tool for the cylinder and chain.)
  • Ctrl-click all the vector shape layers' thumbnails to create a pixel selection.
  • Create a mask from the pixel selection

I don't have much experience using the selection tools for hard-to-select subject matter. Someone else may be able to provide guidance for using adjustment layers or other techniques to increase the contrast to make selection tools more effective.

(.afphoto file attached)

image.thumb.png.c28dca1fe84017ea521fcf4be9270e7c.png

image.thumb.jpeg.b46213d40847eee019e53a94720baa60.jpeg

Remove bg.afphoto

Windows 10 22H2, 32GB RAM | Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 (MSI/EXE)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For future photographs I would invest in either a lightbox or a large sheet of A1 bright white card and a cool led light. 

iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
B| (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum)

Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian_J,

I'm trying to repeat your steps on the next image and must be missing something.

1. I have created an ellipse around the circular object.

2. I Control-clicked on the vector "ellipse" layer, but all I get is a dropdown menu and I'm assuming I'm supposed to choose rasterize? (BTW I'm on a Mac, so was wondering if Control-click might be different.) I click rasterize, and the pixel layer is blank. So not sure why I'm not getting a pixel selection around the object?

Thank you,

ChrisScreenShot2024-05-31at10_21_37AM.thumb.png.a91deb6fe5ebe5557eea0bd521af95ce.png 

Screen Shot 2024-05-31 at 10.31.40 AM.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, chriscaldwell said:

(BTW I'm on a Mac, so was wondering if Control-click might be different.)

That’s the problem! Ctrl on Windows is not the same as Control on macOS, except for the odd few things (such as clearing your user data in any of the Affinity apps). You need to Cmd-click instead.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.5.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, chriscaldwell said:

(BTW I'm on a Mac, so was wondering if Control-click might be different.)

Yes, as @Alfred pointed out, it's a different modifier key on Mac. I also forgot to mention the shortcut to add to a selection is Command+Shift-click.

To create the selection, with the mask shape layers visibility toggled on (so the shapes are visible on the canvas):

  1. Command-click the first layer thumbnail
  2. Command+Shift-click the remaining layer thumbnails to add to the selection

PixelSelectionviaLayersPanel.thumb.png.40e6efba33471ba2c77bf75efd160749.png

Windows 10 22H2, 32GB RAM | Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 (MSI/EXE)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.