The basis of any digital image is the background. With the help of programs such as Photoshop, you can use a certain color or picture as a background. How to do it? How to paint a background in Photoshop?
There are 4 main ways to solve this problem. Let's analyze these methods by answering the questions:
Let's consider the marked points in more detail. We will use Photoshop in the CS6 version with an English interface - one of the most popular in Russia and in the world.
How to set the desired background color in Photoshop?
The noted problem is solved in several ways.
Firstly, you can set the background of the image in Photoshop directly when creating a new project.
If you select File, then New, a window will open with the Background Contents line.
In Photoshop CS6, the specified item assumes the choice of one of 3 options:
- White (setting a white background);
- Background Color (the system will be used as the background color);
- Transparent.
The first option is clear. The system background, with which the second item correlates, is set using a special palette located on the toolbar. For example, if it is green, then the background of the created image will be the same.
True, the desired color must be set before starting to work with the image. If you change the system background after creating a new project, no adjustments in the edited picture will occur synchronously with the specified action.
Secondly, the task can be solved also in the process of working with an image. In order to select the desired color background for the picture, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool. It is necessary to select it, left-click on the image, and then press the key combination Ctrl and A. The entire area of the picture will be selected. Then you need to right-click on the image and select Fill.
In the window that opens, select the Color option in the list that appears opposite the Content item. After that, you will need to choose a suitable color for the background. It will replace the one that was installed at the time of creating the picture.
Thirdly, you can "fill" the current background with any new color. To do this, use the Paint Bucket Tool. It correlates, in turn, with the fill color, which is fixed on the palette adjacent to the tool for defining the system background.
It is necessary, therefore, to select the Paint Bucket Tool, move the mouse over the picture and click on it with the left button. After that, the image will be completely filled with the color specified by the palette.
If the Transparent option is selected when creating a project - no background, then it can be formed later both using the Fill function and using the Paint Bucket Tool.
The next way to get the background in Photoshop pictures is to apply a gradient. What is its specificity? How to paint the background in Photoshop using this option?
How to make a background in Photoshop using a gradient?
To solve the problem in question, Photoshop provides a separate tool - Gradient. It is also located in the panel on the left.
The Gradient tool is used in a very unusual way: you need to select it, then hold down the left mouse button and draw a line on the edited image. Depending on its length, as well as the directionality, the gradient will be drawn in one way or another.
At the top of the Photoshop window there are options for choosing a color scheme for the gradient, to the right of the corresponding option - adjusting its shape and orientation on the screen.
The next way to set the background in this program is hand drawing.
How to draw a background manually in Photoshop?
The Photoshop program is largely intended not so much for editing pictures as for creating them from scratch. Therefore, this software contains a huge number of tools that can be used for such digital creativity.
Among those, for example, - Brush Tool, that is, a brush. With its help, if you have the necessary skills, you can draw anything.
To open the brush preferences, switch to the drawing options display. The corresponding menu item is located in the upper right part of the Photoshop window. The one we need is called Painting. Selecting it will open the many Brush Tool options.
So, we learned how to paint the background in Photoshop with a color, gradient, or using the drawing tools provided by the program. It often happens that for the successful implementation of the project, the use of the noted opportunities is sufficient. However, in a number of cases, it may be necessary to use other images - one or several - as a background of a graphic file being edited in Photoshop. Let's consider the ways of using this option in more detail.
How to set a picture as a background in Photoshop?
The most convenient way to solve this problem is to copy the image that you want to use as a background into the area of the edited image.
It is necessary, therefore, to open the corresponding file in the window located adjacent to the edited picture. To do this, you need to click on File, then select the Open item, then load the image for the background into Photoshop. In order to use it for its intended purpose, you should reapply the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Using it, you need to select the entire image area using the Ctrl and A keys, and then copy the picture and paste it into the edited one, using the Ctrl and C key combinations, as well as Ctrl and V.
The image that needs to be applied as a background is often smaller than the working area of the edited image - this can be noticeable in the screenshot above. In this case, it makes sense to stretch the background image.
To do this, once again activate the Rectangular Marquee Tool, right-click on the inserted picture, select the Free Transform item, then, after clicking again, click on the Scale option. Then, using the corner sliders, you can resize the image so that it fits optimally into the working area of the file being edited. At the same time, it makes sense to hold down the Shift key so that the picture does not deform during stretching (or, conversely, compression) and retains its original proportions.
As soon as the adjustment of the scale of the inserted image is completed, press the Enter key to fix the final size of the image and use it as a new background. Additional images can be added to the corresponding work area as needed. Each of them will correspond to a separate layer.
Using special selection tools, which includes Photoshop, - in particular, Magnetic Lasso, - you can move individual parts of images around the work area, which are used as background elements.
If necessary, text, for example, can also be placed in the work area. Photoshop allows, therefore, to set a background for images, including almost any graphic elements.
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