How to work with an eraser in Photoshop. Differences between Eraser, Magic Eraser and Background Eraser in Adobe Photoshop. Complete background erasing

Good afternoon dear friends, let's look at a number of drawing tools in .

Everyone knows about the functions of the "Eraser", however, the program also provides such options as "Magic Eraser" and "Background Eraser" - they provide even greater opportunities, which, however, not many people know about.

I'll try to demonstrate the functions of all these Erasers using the example of processing a specific photo. Let's check whether they are really capable of making tasks easier for the designer.

The toolbar with a selection of erasers looks like this:

Erase part of a picture using the Eraser tool

As the name of the option suggests, Eraser removes selected pixels from the image. IN basic settings you can select the brush size, set the transparency level for erasing and select the mode of use:

The eraser comes in the form of a "Brush", "Pencil" or "Block", and depending on the eraser mode you choose, you get a different effect and they are required for different images. We will look in more detail below.

To begin, select “Eraser” from the toolbar. We carefully draw along the image in our picture. If we suddenly accidentally go beyond the boundaries and erase the desired part of the image, then press Cntrl+Z to cancel last action and use the Eraser to go over this place again. This way we restore the image to its original form.

This is the simplest action, which by the way is used most often.

Erase with the Background Eraser tool

Using the Background Eraser Tool, we can remove unnecessary background while preserving the boundaries of the object that is in the foreground. Using the "Background Eraser" we select the background color, after which this color can be removed from the entire work area of ​​your image.

To be on the safe side, you can protect the foreground color from being accidentally or automatically erased.

In Limits, you should select Contiguous and using the Sample tool (eyedropper on the toolbar), specify the color in your image that cannot be touched by our eraser.

Don't forget to press the Alt button before setting the color and also make sure that the Protect Foreground Color checkbox is checked.

Erasing with the Magic Eraser Tool

Unlike the Background Eraser, the Magic Eraser can erase pixels in non-brush areas.

On the toolbar, select "Magic Eraser" and mark in top menu Tolerance at 32.

Tolerance - this property determines the level of tolerance of one color to another. By increasing this indicator, you can achieve very smooth erasing in areas where colors smoothly blend into each other.

Then we check the boxes “Adjacent pixels” and “Smoothing”, after which we work with this tool and erase entire areas of the same color.

You can also try different brush sizes, test different tolerances, and other settings.

In general, taking into account the existing nuances, you can try different options and achieve even better visual results and effects.

Tool Magic eraser(Magic Eraser) removes pixels that are similar in color at the point where the mouse was clicked. Moreover, it automatically converts background layer to normal. Its settings are similar to those of the tool Magic wand(Magic Wand).

The Magic Eraser is best used in conjunction with a regular eraser, which deletes all pixels located under the brush. In Fig. 1.2 shows an image whose background has been removed using sharing these tools. Using the magic eraser, you need to click the mouse in those places where you need to remove the background.

Original image

Result of using the tool Magic eraser

The result of removing the remaining background fragments with the tool Eraser

Rice. 1.2. Example of tool sharing Eraser And Magic eraser

Due to the fact that the green color to be removed is also present in the dragonfly image, the checkbox Adjacent pix.(Contiguous) must be set, otherwise the green pixels in the dragonfly image will be removed. Each time you click the mouse, you must change the value of the parameter Tolerance(Tolerance). For example, for clicks around the wings and head, you can set a fairly large tolerance value, about 60, and to remove the background around the legs of a dragonfly, you need to reduce the value of this parameter to 15-20.

If you want to practice using magic and regular erasers,

The image of the dragonfly is saved on the attached disk in the file /glava1/start/02.jpg. The result of background removal is presented in the file /glava1/finish/02.tif.

Source: Skrylina S.N. Secrets of creating montage and collage in Photoshop CS5 with examples. - St. Petersburg: BHV Petersburg, 2011. - 288 p.: ill. + DVD

Hi all! Today we will talk about one of the most interesting tools subgroups of erasers - the magic eraser. The Magic Eraser tool makes it easy to erase areas of the same color. The tool combines the functionality of a regular eraser and a magic wand. What else is interesting about the magic eraser in Photoshop, let's figure it out.

Activation and operation of the tool

Activate the magic eraser in Photoshop using a hotkey "E".

When you select a tool, a cursor appears in the form of a black eraser with an asterisk. This cursor can remember the selected color.

Move the cursor to any place in the image where there is a sufficiently large monochromatic fragment. Click left button mouse and Photoshop will delete absolutely all pixels that either touch each other or are located throughout the document and have the color of the selected pixel at the click location.

This allows you to quickly remove large areas of the background by simply clicking the mouse button, without selectively using the eraser at the junction of the background and the main image.

Because the Magic Eraser actually removes pixels rather than replacing them with a background layer, a transparent checkerboard-like area appears in the image, where imperfections in the work are sometimes invisible.

To make sure that the actions are clean, it is advisable to create an underlying layer with a contrasting color, which will show well if there are pixels that have not been removed somewhere.
This working layer should be placed at the very bottom of the list of layers.

Setting up the Eraser tool

Like all tools, the Magic Eraser has its own auxiliary panel of additional settings, which is located above the work area.

Here you can set the color recognition tolerance of the pixels that will be removed. The lower this indicator, the fewer matches will be found.

Usually Tolerance is set within 30-50 - this is enough to work with background fills.
Next are three parameters that are either turned on or off by checking the box.

This Smoothing, Adjacent pixels And Sample from all layers

The first allows you to soften the edges of the area the tool is working on.
The second (adjacent pixels) specifies which pixels to remove, those that touch each other or all pixels in the image of the selected color.

The third (sample of all layers) tool is useful when working with documents where there are many developed layers and color removal correction using the Magic Eraser tool must be performed on all layers.

The last transparency option allows you to control the depth at which selected pixels are removed. At a value of 100%, the pixel is completely removed; decreasing the value makes it transparent to the specified depth.

This Photoshop lesson will be devoted to the Photoshop tools of the Eraser Tool group. Hotkey For quick access E. I think you already guessed by the name that the tool erases the active layer.

There are 3 instruments in one group:

  • Eraser - Eraser Tool;
  • Background eraser - Background Eraser Tool;
  • Magic eraser - Magic Eraser Tool.

The first one will be a simple Eraser. Let's go through the settings it has:

  • Mode - determines the operating features of the tool. Can be: brush, pencil or block;
  • Brush settings - you can adjust the size, hardness and shape of the brush. The setting is available in brush and pencil modes;
  • Opacity and Pressure are also available for the first two operating modes. With these settings you can erase the top part of the image, i.e. not completely;
  • Restore History is essentially an analogue of the Archive Brush tool. Check the box and use the eraser to return the image to its original form.

Now let's figure out a little how to work with the eraser. We have two moments - when the background layer is unlocked and when the background layer is locked. In the first case, if we erase the image, then a photo will appear at the place where we drag the eraser new color(the one located in the small square).

If a layer is unlocked, it will be erased either to the next visible one or to the checkerboard marking, which indicates transparency.

Brush parameters - everything is the same as in the previous example, you can adjust the shape, diameter and hardness of the brush. There is only one recommendation here: the larger the background segments, the larger the brush size. Tolerance is an important setting that controls sensitivity. The higher the percentage, the more background colors the tool will capture. Limits - responsible for erasable areas. Has settings:

  • All Pixels - Photoshop will remove the selected background from the entire image;
  • Adjacent pixels - only adjacent pixels will be deleted;
  • Edge selection - the program will preserve the sharpness of the edges of the object.

There is also such a setting as Test:

  • Continuous - the program will constantly select a new color. It is recommended to select this setting if the background has a complex structure;
  • Once - the program will use the color you click on and will delete only this color during the entire removal process;
  • Background sample - will remove the background, which matches the color selected in the toolbar.

For an example of work, select Sample - Once, set Restrictions - All pixels and Tolerance - 20%. Let's click on the background of our image and, without releasing the mouse button, begin to remove our background. Below is an example of using the tool. Before.

Well, lastly, I will show you how to work with the Magic Eraser tool. It doesn’t have many settings and they are mostly similar, so I won’t dwell on them.

It works very simply. We set the settings and click on the background with the mouse button. The program recognizes the color and automatically removes it from the image. With the Adjacent setting, you can tell Photoshop to remove color from the entire image, or from adjacent areas (adjacent to each other).

Video tutorial:

In many of my tutorials you might have come across this command: “Remove part of the image using Layer Masks (Layer Mask) or using a tool Eraser (Eraser Tool)».

Since you are a beginner, you will of course choose Eraser, because you already know how to use it, but Layer Mask will sound to you like some kind of complex professional technique. The truth is that using Layer Masks not much different from using Eraser, but it gives you more options and will save you a lot of time.

The only advantage Eraser is that it replaces the "real eraser" you're already familiar with. But why limit yourself to replacing a traditional tool when working digitally?

I suggest you check out this easy tutorial to understand how you can use Photoshop and its tools for your ideas. Discover new type An eraser that will allow you to erase an image without any loss!

Why the Eraser is not always convenient to use

Let's imagine a very simple situation where you could use the Eraser. For example, you drew a sketch of a snow leopard:

Eraser

Looking at the sketch, you notice that the snow leopard's tail is too long. Therefore, with the help Eraser you erase the end of the tail.

By studying the body proportions of the snow leopard, you find out that these animals actually have disproportionately long tails.

And to return the sketch to its original appearance, you can choose one of the proposed solutions:

  • Use command Undo(Undo) by pressing the Ctrl+Z key combination as many times as necessary to return to the original state.
  • Close the file without saving last changes, then open it again to see the original sketch.
  • Re-draw the tail.

The first solution works great, but only if you have a sufficient number of story actions (the more there are, the slower Photoshop will work), and also if, in addition to erasing the tail, you have not made any other changes to the sketch. The second solution will only work if you saved the sketch before erasing the tail. And the third solution can take a lot of your time.

Layer Mask

If you use instead Layer Mask, then you could erase most of the tail, as in the picture:

You can even use this anti-eraser to get back parts you deleted, even after you've closed and reopened the file!

It's like magic, isn't it? Let's see how to achieve this!

How to use a Layer Mask

You can download this file to follow the lesson step by step:

Step 1

To take advantage Layer Mask, you need to initially select the snow leopard layer.

Step 2

Click on the icon Add Layer Mask(Add a layer mask).

A white layer mask thumbnail will appear in the Layers palette, next to the layer thumbnail.

Step 3

Please note that you can choose one of two layers to work with. This is very important as you may confuse them due to their proximity. If you select one of the layers, then everything you draw will be displayed on the layer thumbnail.

Step 4

Make sure you select the layer mask. Select a black round brush and paint a large dot right in the middle of the snow leopard's body.

See what's happening? When you select the layer mask thumbnail, you can use black to erase any part of the image (on the layer you're working on).

Step 5

Now you need to select a white color and use a brush to draw a white dot inside the black one.

See, part of the image is back! This is how our anti-eraser works!

Step 6

On this moment you see the layer mask effect itself. To see the mask itself, you need to press the “\” key. The black dot area will be shown in red.

Step 7

To get everything back, you need to take a white brush and paint a black dot on the layer mask.

Step 8

As you have already noticed, with the help of black we can make the image transparent, and white will help restore the opacity of the picture. You can also use gray shades - the darker the shade of gray, the more transparent the mask effect will be.

Step 9

Let's use this technique to hide the snow leopard's paws under the snow. Select the layer mask and use a soft black brush to paint over the snow leopard's paws.

You can change the brush size at your discretion to get the desired effect:

Step 10

If you hover over the layer mask thumbnail and click right button mouse, a context menu will appear in front of you. In this menu we only need the first three items:

  1. Disable Layer Mask(Turn off layer mask) - turns off the mask effect so that you see the original image. You can use this anytime.
  2. DeleteLayerMask(Remove Layer Mask) - will allow you to delete the entire mask, while the original image will remain unchanged.
  1. Apply Layer Mask(Apply Layer Mask) - Allows you to combine the layer mask effect with the image. In this case, the mask itself will disappear, but the image will remain with the changes.

Step 11

If you want to make a copy of the image with a layer mask, you will need to hide the other layers and use CopyMerged(by pressing the key combination Ctrl-Shift-C). If you use in the usual way copying, you will copy the original image completely without changes.

When is the best time to use a Layer Mask?

Although Layer Mask A great tool, you shouldn't use it every time you want to erase some part of an image. If you draw a sketch, then faster and effective option will be used Eraser in order to erase something. Also, if at the same time you periodically make several copies of the layer with the sketch, so that you can correct them at any time.

Layer Mask It is best used when working with large images, for example, photo processing or digital painting.

Blending the Image Together

By using Layer Masks you will be able to achieve soft blending between images. Unlike Eraser, with Layer Mask you will get more options in customizing it when working with an image.

Partial texture application

When you apply a texture to an object, sometimes you only need to use a small part of it. Using a layer mask you can remove those parts of the texture that you do not need.

Drawing light and shadow

Beginners often draw light and shadow separately, but the truth is that shadow is only the absence of light. In digital painting, you can darken the entire image and then use Layer Masks lighten the areas you need.

Adjustment Layers

You may also have noticed that all adjustment layers have their own layer masks. You can use the same mechanism to apply an adjustment layer to just the part of the image you want.

This is all!

Photoshop has many different instruments, which you had no idea about, but once you learn about them, they become very useful and effective for you than their simpler counterparts.

The Layer Mask is one of those tools, but I'm sure it's not magic for you anymore!