Stripping the background off images

[PhilD]

I would like to strip the background off images of coins and artefacts for the UKDN Magazine.

Has anyone got a link to any free software that can do this easily please.

I've tried MS Paint but my hands are a bit shaky.

I don't have photoshop.

Thanks.

[DetectingDavid]

Phil, if you send me the pics I'll do it for you on photoshop
thanks
DD

[PhilD]

Thanks very much David, very kind of you, I'll wait till I have them all together and PM them to you, much appreciated

[deepseeker]

http://www.irfanview.com/

[PhilD]

Thanks a lot for the link, I've downloaded it and will have a play with it later

[Steve Rice]

and will have a play with it later

Phil can you please leave what you do in your spare time to yourself.

[IronRon]

Phil, if you send me the pics I'll do it for you on photoshop
thanks
DD

I have photoshop 7..& i would wondered if this can be done without using the clone tool? .. as phil says..when your hands are a bit shaky its a bit tricky

[PhilD]

Thanks a lot for the link, I've downloaded it and will have a play with it later

I've got Adobe 6 now but no idea how to remove the backgrounds, can it be done without using an eraser tool?

[IronRon]

Nobody seems to know, either that or they havent got photoshop.

[PhilD]

I've just found this video Ron, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kjg3f7k ... re=related

I will have a try with it when I get time, I'm not sure it will help me as I don't know what she is clicking on a lot of the time

[IronRon]

Thanks for the link phil Looks a bit complicated though

[PhilD]

I had a go with a coin Ron, managed to do the bit with the red circle from the inside of the coin, kept re winding that bit of the video

But not tried the other methods yet.

[Donnydave]

I did a passport photo last week, took a pic of myself with the wallpaper etc behind me and used the paint bucket to fill in behind me white. When doing coins or artifacts one method is to cut them out using the magnet tool then drag and paste onto a white background, thats how the FLO does pics for the PAS site

[PhilD]

Will give the pen, eraser, wand, lasoo, magnetic things a go Dave thanks

[scratchiemm]

You need to select the image using the software's selection tool.
Magnetic is useful as it picks up pixels of a similar colour. You might need to adjust the tolerance if it picks up too much.
If you have an ellipsis (circle) selection option this works well with coins, but takes a bit of practice to get the selection the right size and in the right place.

Once selected, simply 'copy' then open a new file and 'paste from clipboard'

Most of the background should now be gone and it just takes a bit of erasing round the edges that you missed.

Hope this helps.............