How to change the background of portraits and group photos, using Paint Shop Pro X

 1. Launch Paint Shop Pro X.  Open the image by double-clicking on it.

 2. Select the Freehand Selection tool  (2nd tool from the 3rd tool group).

 3. In the Tool Options palette just above the picture, set the Selection type to "Point-to-point" and set Feather to 2. (If you can't see the Selection type or Feather, select View => Palettes => Tool Options).

 4. Zoom in anywhere along the edge of the figure you want to cut out. (use mouse wheel or click  ) 

 5. Trace carefully by single-clicking at various points all around the edges of the figure. Be careful not to double-click. (If you accidently include some parts that you don't want, don't worry - you can erase the excess later).  If you goof up, select Selections => Select none and start over.

 6. When you get back to your starting point, right-click (or double-click) to end the trace.

 7. Select Edit => Copy.  Click the hand tool  (1st tool) to remove the selection tool.

 8. Click Edit => Paste as New Image.  This creates an image of the people on a transparent background, which shows as a gray-and-white checkerboard. (If needed, use the pencil eraser tool  to erase any areas of the image that should be transparent, through which the background should show.  You can change the size of the eraser tool in the tool options palette, by using the Size box.  Zoom in and out - use the mouse wheel or click   - so that you can work more precisely to erase just the desired regions). 

9. In the browser palette, locate a picture that you want to use as a background and drag it onto the open image of the people.

10. Click Layers => Arrange => Send to Bottom.  

11. Use the Move tool   (2nd tool in the toolbar) to drag the background into position.

12. If the background is too large or too small, you can adjust its size as needed.  Select the background by clicking on it with  the Move tool , select Image => Resize, set the desired size, un-check "Resize all layers", and click OK.

13. Optional: To make the subject stand out more dramatically from the background, use the Move tool  to click on the background, then click Adjust => Blur => Blur to blur the background.

14. To try another background, just drag it from the browser palette onto the background in the open image and continue with step 11.

15. To save the result, select File => Save As..., click on the "Save as type..." pop-up menu and select "JPG JPEG", type in a file name, and click Save. This format fuses the two layers into one image. 

Note: If you want to save the cut-out people for later use, after step 8 select Edit => Paste as New Image, then select Save as...click on the "Save as type..." pop-up menu and select "PSPIMAGE", type in a file name, and click Save.  Later, you can open this image and start at step 9. 

Hints: (a) When working with layered images, press F8 to show the Layer palette.  This lists all the layers in the picture and highlights the currently active layer.  To make any layer active, click it in this list. (b) You can apply any of the usual image operations to the active layer (contrast-brightness adjustment, etc).  Image operations apply only to the active layer and do not affect the other layers;  (c) This works best if the images are large high-resolution images and if both images are about the same size.

(c) Tom O'Haver, April 2006