add alpahed pics to background pics

I am trying for the life of me to figure out how to get an alphaed piccie of me *yes I finally figured out the alhpa! ty for your awesome tutorials* onto a background piccie. Can someone PLEASE point me to where I can find the directions, or how to do it. I would so greatly appreciate it. I am new to PS and the forums, Im using version 8.0 if that makes a difference.

I do not understand what you mean by, "an alphaed piece of me." What exactly are you trying to do?

Jen

Im taking a snapshot of my av in SL. Taking the background out of it so it is only my avatar. Then taking the pic of the avatar with a clear transparent background, and pasting it onto another picture as a background, perhaps multiple poses of me, like you would see in any advert when you go to buy something. Sorry I should have been more clear

Nico

Nicolena, if I'm reading you right, what you want to do is extract a foreground element from an image (in this case, a picture of your avatar), and place it over a different background. There are many different ways to do that, but based on what you already know how to do, I'd recommend using a layer mask.

A layer mask works just like an alpha channel except that it only affects one layer (or group of layers), not the whole image. Areas painted black on a mask make the corresponding areas on its associated layer transparent, allowing the next layer underneath to show through, while the white parts of the mask make the corresponding parts of the layer opaque. And just as with an alpha channel, shades of gray represent translucency.

Here's a quick tutorial for you. Note that the emphasis here is on the word "quick". I'm just going to walk you through the basic concepts and controls. I won't be going into advanced methods for selection/extraction at this time. That's a whole other tutorial, and it's a big subject.

Okay, here goes:

1. Open both images in Photoshop.
   Preferrably they should be about the same size ahead of time, but if they're not, it's okay. You can always resize things later.
   
   
   
2. Copy the foreground.
   On the foreground image, select all (ctrl-a) and copy (ctrl-c).
   
   
   
   
3. Paste onto the background.
   On the background image, paste (ctrl-v). A copy of the foreground image should now appear. You won't be able to see the background under it yet, but don't worry; it's still there, just covered. We'll handle the transparency in a minute.
   
   
   
4. Name your layers.
   Take a look at the Layers Palette. You should now see that your image contains two layers. The bottom one will probably be called "Background" and the top one "Background Copy" (since it's a copy of the layer which was called "Background" in the other image). Double click on the name of the Background Copy layer (on the text, not on the thumbnail), and rename it to "Avatar Layer", just to help keep track of things a little easier.
   
   It's always good practice to name your layers as clearly and simply as possible as you work. This image will be simple with only two layers, but it's not uncommon at all for professional quality images to contain dozens if not hundreds of individual layers. You don't want to end up in a situation where you have a hundred layers all called "Background Copy", especially if you ever want to be able to collaborate with others. If someone ever hands me a complex PSD without the layers named, that's the last time I work with that person. I've got neither the time nor the desire to sit there for half an hour turning layers on and off one by one just to see which one's which.
   
   
   
5. Create a new mask.
   On the Layers Palette, click once on "Avatar Layer" to make sure it's active ("active" means it's selected). It should be already since the last thing we did was rename it, but it never hurts to be sure. You can tell always tell which layer is active because its name will be in bold. All the others will be named in regular text.
   
   Now, to create the mask, click on the third button from the left on the bottom of the Layers Palette. It's the one that looks like a rectangle with a circle in the middle. It should say "Add Layer Mask" when you hover your mouse over it.
   
   You should now see that "Avatar Layer" has not just one thumbnail next to its name anymore, but two. The one on the left represents the layer itself, and the one on the right represents the mask. By default, the mask should be active, but click its thumbnail once just to be sure.
   
   
   
6. Paint the mask to create transparency
   Just as you would with an alpha channel, now it's time to paint in black, white, and gray to create desired transparency. You'll notice that whenever the mask thumbnail is selected, the color picker turns to grayscale.
   
   To start with, the mask is all white, meaning the layer is completely opaque. Grab the paintbrush, set the foreground color to black, and simply paint on the canvas over the areas you want to be able to see through. You'll see the background show through instantly, anywhere you paint black. Paint over everything on the avatar layer except the avatar itself.

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Some additional tips:

1. If you want to see the mask itself, alt-click the mask thumbnail (alt-click again to return to seeing the layer).
   
   
   
2. If you want to turn the mask off, shift-click the mask thumbnail. You'll see a red X through the thumbnail, and the transparency will disappear. To turn it back on again, simply shift-click the thumbnail again.
   
   
   
3. If you want to delete the mask, simply drag the mask thumbnail down to the trash can button at the bottom of the Layers Palette.
   
   
   
4. Just so you know, as an alternative to painting the mask, you could have auto-generated it by selecting the area you want to be opaque beforehand (using any of the selection tools), and then when you clicked the button to add the mask, it would have automatically generated the black & white values in accordance with the selection. It can be a little tricky to select exactly what you want though, which is why I'm not getting into that here. Again, selection technique is a whole tutorial in itself.

That should be enough to get you started. Layers in Photoshop are extremely powerful, and the ability to mask them like this is huge.

The beauty of the mask is it allows you to work non-destructively. You could simply erase the parts you don't want to see instead of using a mask, but what if you later change your mind about something you've erased? If it's erased it's gone. If it's masked, it's still there, and you can retrieve it at any time just by changing the mask.

Again, there are lots and lots of ways to accomplish what you're trying to do. This is just one of them. Since it goes hand in hand with what you already know about alpha channels, I figured it was a good way to go for you, but don't be afraid to explore alternative methods.

Chosen, I don’t know if you have done so in RL or not? However, you could easily write a book or two on Photoshop techniques. Your tutorials are very lucid, succinct and understandable. Thank you for all of us who have learned from you sharing your knowledge.

Jen

Wow, Chosen, I can NOT thank you enough! This is exactly what I needed. And in a way that even a complete NOOB to PS can follow the directions lol. Thank you so very much.

Nico

Word Jen, God only knows how much headache Chosen, Robin and all the other pro's who willingly share thier secrets with the rest of us has saved me from. A huge thanks to them all from all of us. Oh and to you too Jen

Cal