Photo-Paint Channel Mask
Removing the Background > Corel Photo-Paint
In Photoshop, I was able to quickly remove the background from this image using a duplicate color channel. In Photo-Paint the concept is the same, but the actual procedure is quite a bit different.
The total time isolating the fireworks was under two minutes. This technique doesn't always work this smoothly for every image, but it can be used in combination with other methods for making more complex selections. In the fifth example on removing backgrounds with Photoshop, you can see how this technique was expanded on and combined with other methods for masking a more complicated image. If you're not familiar with masks, you may find it helpful to read my previous article, All About Grayscale Masks.
First we need to split the image into individual color channels. From the image menu, choose Split Channels To... RGB. You'll get three new, separate image containing a grayscale image of the contents of the red, blue, and green color channels. Compare the three channels and pick the one with the most information. In this case, we will keep the red channel. This channel will become our image mask.
Since we only want to isolate the fireworks in this image, we will paint over the city lights at the bottom of the image with black as the paint color.
You may not be able to see it in these screen shots, but if you look closely or sample the color, you will see that the black in the areas where we didn't paint is not pure 100% black. To correct this we will go to Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast/Intensity. Bump up the contrast slider just enough to ensure that the black areas are 100% black. A value of about 10 should do it.
Save the grayscale image to you hard drive and remember where you saved it. I named mine fireworksmask.cpt. Next, go back to the original image. Open the object docker if it's not already open (Windows > Dockers > Object Manager). Right click on the background thumbnail icon in the object docker and choose Create from Background to convert it to an object.
From the mask menu, choose Load > Load from Disk. Navigate to the fireworksmask image you just saved and select it. Your cursor will appear attached to a small image of the mask... click anywhere in the image to load the mask. The mask marquee will appear on the object. Go to the object menu and choose Clip Mask > Create > From Mask. The background will disappear leaving only the fireworks.
Open
the image you'd like to use for the new background and choose Select All > Copy.
Go back to the fireworks image and choose Paste > As New Object.
Drag the new background below the fireworks in the object docker.
Select the fireworks in the object docker. Right click on the clip mask thumbnail and choose Combine Clip Mask.
Go to the object menu and choose Matting > Remove Black Matte. The fireworks will brighten and pop out of the background.
Any time you pull an image from its background, it's a good idea to try each of the matting commands. Sometimes one will produce better results than another, and sometimes none of them appear to have any effect at all... it all depends on the combination of your foreground and background. But don't overlook them entirely because they can often make a world of difference.
Example 1 2
Removing the Background > Corel Photo-Paint
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Some images from Nova Development's Art Explosion 600,000.
