How To Remove Backgrounds From Images & Pictures

I'm starting with this image of a banana:

When you start, your image probably only has one layer. You can check by looking at the Layers Dialog box, which should be to the right of the main Image Window, you will see that there is only one layer:

Click on the icon for the Fuzzy Select Tool in the Toolbox which should be the window floating to the left of your main Image Window:

The default threshold setting should work fine for this procedure. With the Fuzzy Select Tool Activated, click on your image's background:

On an image like this one, a single click is all I need. The lines that show the border of the background at the outside edge of the picture, and around the banana appear to be moving.

With an image with a background that is broken up with areas that are not connected to each other, you may have to press the shift key as you click other points of the background, or try increasing the threshold setting.

With the entire background selected, click on "Selection" on the main Image Window's toolbar, then click on "Float" on the context menu:

Now you should see two layers in the Layers Dialog box:

In the Layers Dialog box, select the layer you want to remove, right click on it, then click on delete on the context menu:

This leaves just the other layer, the checker board type background indicates a transparent background:

Now I can simply copy and paste just the banana into another picture without the white background I had before.

That seemed easy enough with a image that is not a picture of a real item, but what about removing the background from a photo. Here's a photo of a Half Lemon courtesy of Photos8.com:

For a picture like this, I find it is better to remove the check mark from the box that says, "Select transparent areas" in the settings for the Fuzzy Select Tool. I also increase the threshold setting.

I'm using 57, but that isn't an exact number. It could be different depending on how much contrast there is between the image you want, and the images in the background that you want removed.

I make my first click in the area that looks to me to be the center of the largest area of the background with a similar shade of color.

The wavy line indicates that I've selected an area from the top left corner, down to the entire lower left corner then almost wrapping beneath the lemon to the lower right side corner.

I even managed to get some of that light green background, probably because there isn't much contrast between it an the main color of background area I had clicked onto.

Now I can add to what I've already selected by pressing the "Shift" key as I click more areas. If you want, you can also click a sticky button in the Fuzzy Select Tool settings which will cause all of your clicks to automatically add to the selected areas without having the "Shift" key pressed:

Now I click a little closer to the lemon, and my selection begins to look a little more chaotic. I'm also touching the lemon on the top left hand side. I want to touch it, I just don't want to select any of it:

At any point, if you feel the tool is selecting to much to be able to control it, lower the threshold. If you do select part of the image you are trying separate from the background, you can click "Edit" on the toolbar, then click "Undo Fuzzy Select":

I dropped the threshold, and after a few more clicks I've selected most of the background. Here I've circled six areas other than the area of the lemon itself which still are not selected:

A few more clicks, and I'm almost there.

If you get a point where a small part of the image you are trying to save gets selected with the background, try lowering the threshold, then click on that point while pressing the "Ctrl" key. This removes that area from the selection.

I would say to lower the threshold so you don't unselect too much:

If you have a lot of spots to remove from selection, there's a sticky button for that, too. If you have one of these stickys set, you can temporarily do the opposite operation by holding down the proper key.

For example, the sticky button here is set to remove areas from selection, but if I hold down the "Shift" key, I will add areas to the selection as I click:

Finally I have the whole background selected, and it looks as if none of the lemon half is selected:

Now to make a new layer by clicking "Select" on the toolbar in the main Image Window, and "Float" in the context menu:

Now I go to the Layers Dialog box, and delete the floating section, which is the background:

Which gives me this:

If I want a copy of this lemon to paste into another picture, I'll go to "Layer" on the main Image Window's Toolbar, drop to "Transparency" which opens another menu, and click on "Add Alpha Channel":

Then I use the Fuzzy Select Tool to make a new floating section which I'll delete just as I did with the image of the banana in the first example:

GIMP © The GIMP Team

Original content:


How To Remove
Backgrounds From Images & Pictures
by CleanerLife
is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
United States License.