Blackout or whiteout the background

[PhillyPaul]

Using PaintShop Pro X9 Ultimate, I want to completely Blackout or whiteout the background of a portrait; keeping the subject, just blacking (or whiting) out the entore background. Can anyone tell me how to do that? Thank you

[LeviFiction]

There are several possible methods. And which one is best depends on your image. Anything automated needs clear and precise definitions between subject and background. If the colors are too similar or the image too dark, very little contrast, or the background is too busy, automated options will probably fail you.

Each of these are different options. Not given in detail as that would take too long.

1) Object Extractor - Found under Image -> Object Extractor. This dialog lets you paint over the outline of a subject using a quick paint brush. Then you can quickly fill in the rest of the area you want to keep. You then process the image and it'll do its best to automatically delete everything but the object. Warning, this is not a precise tool. It does its best, but most of the time you'll still need to do clean up. You can use the eraser tool to get rid of things it missed and to bring back things it over deleted. (right-click and drag with the eraser tool to unerase an area)

Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBWa6PuHCt4

2) Background Eraser tool - Found under the ERaser tool on the toolbar. This tool will attempt to auto sample and distinguish edges as it erases. It's not precise, and knowing how to manipulate the options to best suit your image.

3) Selections - Again, depending on the image you could use the Magic Wand, Magic Selection, or Auto-selection. And it doesn't hurt to try these. The magic wand selects based on colors so it's less useful unless you have a solid color background. Magic Selection will attempt to select an object based on edge detection and where you paint with the tool. Auto Selection you just pull out a rectangle and it attempts to find edges to auto select. If it fails you'll just get a giant selected rectangle. Once your object is selected, you can invert the selection and fill in the selection with a color. Or if you decided to select the backround instead of the subject, you can just fill in that selection without inverting.

You can also use the Freehand selection tool. This has edge detection modes like SMart Edge or Edge Seeker. These require you to manually click along the subject and it'll try and snap to the edges of the object.

4) Vectors as selections. If you're not familiar with vector paths, probably not a good place to start. Vectors let you set nodes and curve lines between those nodes. This is very slow as you have to set points, adjust curves or sharp corners. All very manual. Once a vector is created you can convert it to a selection.

5) Just plain old erasing, this is very manual but if you have a steady hand and patience you can use the eraser to manually delete an area around your subject. You'll be changing the eraser size as you get into small areas. This tool erases indiscriminately. So be careful. Once you have the area directly around the subject erased, you can quickly select the rest of the background to delete using any of the selection tools.

All depends on your image and how you want to handle it.