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Calling All Photoshop Geeks-Creating Ebook

by jefferybaxter
6 replies
Hi everyone! I'm working on my ebook right now and I'm very excited to get this bad baby launched soon! Right now I'm making the cover,found a picture I would like from stock photo, but it has this white background on it. My ebook cover will be blue so how do I take that white out of there so it looks like the picture is sitting on the cover? Im not an expert in photoshop and a step by step would be nice! Thanks in advance!
#calling #ebook #geekscreating #photoshop
  • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
    Duplicate the whole image to a new layer. This gives you an extra copy to work with if you make a mistake. (Easier than reverting back to the original.)

    Next, make a blue layer. Put it between the two image layers. The top layer will be the image. The middle layer blue. The bottom layer the image again. This bottom layer doesn't matter; it's just there if you need to start over with the image.

    On the top-most image, you can either use the quick selection tool or the magic wand tool to select the white background. Just depends on what the image actually looks like as to what might work best.

    Once you've selected the white, delete it. You'll now see this over top of the blue layer, so you can see if any white remains.

    Examine what you have and see if you need to go back and try again, if it needs tweaking or if you need to start over.
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    • Profile picture of the author jefferybaxter
      Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert View Post

      Duplicate the whole image to a new layer. This gives you an extra copy to work with if you make a mistake. (Easier than reverting back to the original.)

      Next, make a blue layer. Put it between the two image layers. The top layer will be the image. The middle layer blue. The bottom layer the image again. This bottom layer doesn't matter; it's just there if you need to start over with the image.

      On the top-most image, you can either use the quick selection tool or the magic wand tool to select the white background. Just depends on what the image actually looks like as to what might work best.

      Once you've selected the white, delete it. You'll now see this over top of the blue layer, so you can see if any white remains.

      Examine what you have and see if you need to go back and try again, if it needs tweaking or if you need to start over.



      Worked like a charm!!!! Appreciate it!!
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  • Profile picture of the author JackTheLad
    Hey Jeff,
    I think Dan has the right idea, if the white is fairly consistant - the magic wand tool should do the trick.

    If you're having any problems just send me over a p.m and I'll see if I can give you a hand.
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  • Profile picture of the author LincolnKK
    I think investing a couple of days to learn PhotoShop can be very useful.

    I mean, even if you outsource a lot of graphic designs... sometimes you just want to make a minor change that would take just 1 minute or two. It will take more time to write the email to your guy to explain him what you want.

    I think every online marketer should invest in a basic tutorial course!


    Take care!
    Good luck with this venture!
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Parker
    There is a pretty good video that shows you step by step how to create eBook covers using free open source applications. I think you can check it out at www.eCoverTutorial.com.
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    -Christopher Parker
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  • Profile picture of the author DrewG
    There's a few options--

    -Use 'Extract' to select around the image you want (not including the white).

    -Use the magic wand to tool to delete the white.

    -Use the magnetic lasso tool to select around the image you want to keep >>> select>inverse and delete the white.

    -Zoom in and use the polygonal lasso tool to manually select the area you want to keep. This can be tedious but yield the best results.

    Good luck!
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