Purpose of tutorial: When I got Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, I had some experience with Photoshop so the transition wasn’t too hard, but books were sparse and videos seemed to be more ” look what I can do” then an actual tutorial, so I studied its manual and then decided to create the tutorial above for you web folk.  Aren’t you blessed?

Tutorial teaches:  The Video shows using the background eraser tool, the smart edge selection tool, freehand selection, eraser tool, fading an edge, airbrushing shading, and using color changer to change background color.

Why learn this?  All this was done to make a new background on an image. Once learned however, you can use it for all sorts of mischievous uses. One of my favorite photos is where I put the whole family in various positions on a beached surfboard and then edited it into the ocean surf.  It’s obvious to all we couldn’t surf backwards, 3 on a board, but everyone enjoys it and comments. So heck, lets go surfing.

 Here is what you need to know and have before starting:

1) Main Image: If you plan ahead you can make it easier by selecting a high contrast background with a color not in the actual image (got a blue screen anyone).

2) Background: The background can be a beach or mountains or a muted studio like the one I used. I couldn’t find one online that I liked with adequate quality so I created my own remember you can use Corel’s color changer to adapt it for your image.  Here is mine in higher quality if you want to use it.

3) Software: For this project I used Corel Paintshop Pro Photo  X2 and am sold on it. I prefer it to Photoshop and my outdated Microsoft’s digital Image suite.

Procedure:  Note: Video in step 2 says click center to move dancing selection lines but float command is probably necessary as written dirctions state. 

1) Open: the main image. Copy it.  close image.  Open background and paste main image as a new layer.

2) Separate image from its old background: Start with the easiest tool and that is the back ground removal tool. It has flaws needing the main image to contrast from its background so use eraser tool if necessary where background and image colors are similar (just switch tools as necessary).  Once circled use freehand selection tool to again circle object stay in the middle of erased area.  By clicking float under selections the dancing lines move the selection to the object edge.  You now have an object isolated from its background.  You can further define area with a small eraser or smart tool (isolate bad area and click delete).

3)Copy image- paste as a new layer.

4)Remove extra image by clicking eye in layers palette.

5) Fade: Now fade some edges using eraser on low opacity (weakness) low hardness (graduate to edge).

6) Shade: Now shadow object to unify picture. I used the eye dropper to select a shadow color from the main image and then the airbrush setting hardness about 3 and opacity about 10.

Your done! aren’t you amazing… the envy of all your friends?  With practice you too can put yourself into all sorts of odd places. Yes, that’s me with Neil Armstrong on the moon. No, I didn’t need a spacesuit because I held my breath. 

Buy Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2thru this link to give me credit and help pay for this site (I really do appreciate it and Amazon is usually the cheapest). And please comment with your techniques that may help others or just to give a thumbs up if this info helped you. Thank You for visiting!