Need help with removing backgrounds

[bartman2589]

First of I'd like to say hello to everyone and thanks in advance for any help you can provide. That said I should let you all know that I am fairly new to image editing on this level so there are a lot of things I don't as yet understand (good example exactly how layer blend modes work). What I am attempting to do is to remove a backdrop from a series of images, I have a clean version of the backdrop without the foreground image present and would like to know if it is possible to use this as a layer (mask?) of some sort to remove the backdrop from the main image. I should note that in a few of the images I want to cleanup the foreground image (which I want to save without any serious compromise) is somewhat translucent allowing the backdrop to show through in some areas albeit somewhat faded or tinted due to the properties of the foreground image, if the foreground image were completely solid all the way through and if it wasn't very very complex i would probably be able to use the magic wand tool to remove the backdrop and leave myself with a transparent backdrop and a solid/semisolid/semitransparent foreground image which is my end goal. Once again thank you for any help you can provide on this matter.

Thank you,

bartman2589

[Chris_Rulez]

Try using this or this. The first one is very helpful.

[bartman2589]

Thanks for the reply Chris, however i am trying to find a way to shall we say 'cancel out' the existing background not 'cut it' out, the images i am working with are very complex and have several areas where the foreground image (the part I want to save) is translucent enough to see the background through it. that's why neither the magicwand cutting or the painting an outline around the foreground methods described in both of those tutorials will work for me, i was hoping to use the 'clean' background image i have as a layer to have it shall we say 'strip' itself out of the main image, leaving a foreground image that has the areas where the background didn't show through as full transparent and the areas where the background did show through as translucent areas. I was hoping i could achieve this by setting the blend modes of each layer to some specific setting like multiply or something maybe (i don't understand enough of how all the different blend modes actually interact with each other to do it myself that's why i'm asking here). I do however thank you for taking the time for trying to help me, I just wish it was as simple as using one of those methods.

Thank You,

bartman2589

[Shadow_n]

So,

Is it like you have a window. and you can see a man through the glass but you want to leave the class and remove the man?

[Chris_Rulez]

Thanks for the reply Chris, however i am trying to find a way to shall we say 'cancel out' the existing background not 'cut it' out, the images i am working with are very complex and have several areas where the foreground image (the part I want to save) is translucent enough to see the background through it. that's why neither the magicwand cutting or the painting an outline around the foreground methods described in both of those tutorials will work for me, i was hoping to use the 'clean' background image i have as a layer to have it shall we say 'strip' itself out of the main image, leaving a foreground image that has the areas where the background didn't show through as full transparent and the areas where the background did show through as translucent areas. I was hoping i could achieve this by setting the blend modes of each layer to some specific setting like multiply or something maybe (i don't understand enough of how all the different blend modes actually interact with each other to do it myself that's why i'm asking here). I do however thank you for taking the time for trying to help me, I just wish it was as simple as using one of those methods.

Thank You,

bartman2589

Oh, well, Sorry, I have been trying to figure the same thing out for a while now, You'd need to ask a veteran of Paint.net for that.

[bartman2589]

Hi Shadow_n,

Think of it more like i have a picture of a man viewed through a stained glass window, i want to remove the stained glass and be left with a picture of the man, i have a picture of the 'stained glass' without the man in it and i want to know if it's possible to use that picture as a sort of filter or mask layer to cancel out the 'stained glass' in the picture with the man. Because of the way the 'stained glass' has altered the colors and left marks on the image of the man i can't just use the magic wand tool to remove the 'stained glass' and end up left with a usable image of just the man. I need to be able to cancel out the color alterations on the man himself so that i can end up with a usable image of the man. In addition the image of the 'man' is very complex and has several tiny holes (hundreds of them on a few of the pictures, so it would take too long to remove them by hand) where all you see is the 'stained glass' so to speak, I want to be able to remove those areas as well in one fell swoop. I hope this explanation helps explain more of what I'm trying to do. Thanks again for any help anyone can provide.