UPDATED OCTOBER 6, 2017! There are a ton of textures available on the internet, like spray paint drips that have a white background. Usually you will want to to remove the background and then bring it to your design. I created some actions that use alpha channels to remove the white background. These actions are very handy for all types of textures. There are 3 separate actions included in this set.
Samples
Installing Actions
After you have downloaded the file, unzip it and save it to a location that you prefer.
Inside of Photoshop open your Actions Panel by going to Window > Actions
Click on the Actions panel menu and click on the Load Actions menu item. Locate and select the action set file you downloaded, and then click on Load
How to Use
After you have loaded the action set file, open up the image that has a white background you want to remove.
Make sure the layer is named "Background" and that it is selected. The color mode must be set to RGB.
Change your Foreground color to the color you want the output to be
Now choose one of the sets below and click on the play button.
White BG Removal – Alpha: Great if you want to maintain the alpha look of the original file. I usually use this action set the most because you can easily duplicate the final layer a couple of times to make it darker, then merge the layers.
White BG Removal – Maximum Opacity: This is a great way to get a darker final image with a transparent background. After running, you can duplicate the layer a few more times to make it darker.
White BG Removal – with Color: I included this in the Action Set because maintaining color is something you might want, however, use it with a warning that it is not the best way to remove a white background while maintaining color.
Tips
For better results change the levels (CTRL + L) of your file before using one of the actions. You want to make the background.as white as possible.
If you have a black background you can inverse the layer (CTRL + I) and then run the appropriate action. After it run you can inverse the image again.
This action set is a great and fast way to remove white backgrounds. If you want to get better results, check out our article An In-Depth Look Into Background Removal Techniques
Troubleshooting
Error: The object "layer "Background"" is not currently available.
Solution: This is because you did not name the layer Background. These actions rely on a layer named Background
Error: The object "red channel" is currently not available.
Solution: Make sure the color mode is set to RGB before running You can change the mode by going to Image > Mode > RGB Color
Very nice and informative. Surely help lot of us.
Nice… Very useful
Thanks, this tutorial is still helping people.
Although I only got it to work using White BG Removal – with Color and not moving the slider at all.
Great post. Thanks for sharing!
Very useful. Thanks sir.
Wonderful action ! Thanks for sharing.
I am having trouble with your tool, I flattened my image as rgb, named it background, selected whit background removal with color, I changed the levels so background is nearly white, selected background with white eye dropper, then let the tool run, there is a prompt that says “new channel” with a choice of mask or selected, I just kept going next though all the alpha channels, it this correct?
This strategy is frequently used in our clipping path business. Thanks for this nice share.
Thanks a lot its a very helpful guide, saved my day.
Wow!!! Very helpful & useful Photoshop background remove tutorial. Thanks a lot
Thank you very much for sharing your work. You are amazing!
Glad to know that. Nice post. Very useful for me. Thanks a lot.. Welcome.
Such a time saver! Thanks a bunch.
Remove Photoshop Background Tips I tried and moved my winning photo background by this tutorial. Thanks for sharing.