Making transparent images

[dannizpix]

Hi all. I have been literally struggling with this for months, so I am sure there is some easy way to it.

What I want to do is cut part of a photo out and place it onto another background.

I have been trying to do this by: using the magic wand tool to cut out the background of the image I want to move. Then I save that as a .png file. I then open the image I want to use as a background and (after copying the .png image,) I paste the .png image on top of the background.

At this point, one of two things happens: I either get the first image on there with lots of backgrounds showing through faces, etc; or I get the image pasted onto the background but I get the box with the little grey squares and I cannot see the background through that. I have tried playing with the transparency of the background, but then it still blends through the original images.

Can someone please help me and dumb it down as much as possible? I've got all these great digital backgrounds that came with my studio set up and danged if I've been able to use a single one. (I don't have photo shop because its above my head and I really don't have the extra cash for it right now.)

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Ego Eram Reputo]

The grey & white checkerboard pattern is Paint.net's way of denoting transparency. Areas with the checkerboard pattern will allow underlying layers to show through.

If there are no other layers, or they too are transparent in the same region, then the image when saved in a format that supports transparency, will allow the background behind the image to show through.

You say that one of two things happens. Here's why:

1. When using the magic wand , it selects a region by color. If you're getting the background showing through faces, then you have not selected all of the region within the bounds of the face. Try adding unselected areas by holding down the CTRL key & using the magic wand to add to the original selection.

2. As explained above. The checkerboard pattern denotes transparency. The background should show through these regions.

If you're having trouble, start here: (hint, read the whole thread - there's gold in there)