How to Use Photoshop to Apply Background Effect on Your Photos

Today we’re going to introduce a way of adding photoshop background effects! We’ll include the regular Photoshop tutorial, and will introduce you to a couple of other programs that you can try out as an alternative! All of these programs will have their own minor differences. So, make sure to give it a proper scroll to see which one of these is the one for you!

• Part 1. How to Apply Background Effect on Photos with Photoshop
• Part 2. How to Add Background Effects on Photos with Fotophire Editing Toolkit
• Part 3. How to Add Background Effects on Photos with Other Tools

Part 1. How to Apply Background Effect on Photos with Photoshop

As you’re probably already familiar with, Photoshop is leading the market when it comes to graphics editors. There’s nothing that you can’t do with Photoshop. However, there is a lot of crazy complicated ways of doing one thing. The same goes for applying Photoshop Background effects!

Step 1: Started!

We decided to choose the process that was the most foolproof for our purposes today. To get started, click on the “Open…” text button on the left-hand side of the screen. This will prompt you to choose the image that you want to apply background effects to!

Step 2: Select and Mask… (alt + ctrl + r)

Once you’ve been transferred to the main photo editor, we can start to delete the background (so that we can apply effects to it later.) To do this, click on the “Select” tab > “Select and Mask…” or press the alt + ctrl + r buttons on your keyboard simultaneously!

Step 3: Erase the background

As you can see in the image down below. We successfully picked and chose the parts of the image that we wanted to delete (the background.) This process applied a transparency mask that you can apply background effects to!

Step 4: Apply Layer Mask!

Finalize your mask by right-clicking on the layer that you’re working on and clicking on the “Apply Layer Mask…” option on the drop-down menu.

Step 5: Import the Background Effect

Next, we’re going to add a new background to our image. This can be down by clicking on the “File” tab > “Open…” Doing this will prompt you to choose a background effect that you want to add. Do so and wait for the program to import the image!

Step 6: Duplicate Layer

We decided to apply a beach-themed background effect on this photo (image as shown below.) To use it, right-click on the image layer and click “Duplicate Layer” on the drop-down menu.

This will prompt a tiny popup window (shown below.) Name the layer as you wish, but make sure that under “Destination” > “Document” you pick the original file that you were working on.

Step 7: Background Applied

As you can see, we were able to apply a completely new background to the image! This is just one of way of adding a background effect, there are definitely others that you can try out!

Step 8: Save As…

Once you’re satisfied with the changes that you’ve made, click on the “Save As…” option. This will allow you to save your image in a variety of different image formats!

Part 2. How to Add Background Effects on Photos with Fotophire Editing Toolkit

Now that we’ve learned how difficult it is to apply background effects with Photoshop. Let’s look at a couple of alternatives! The first one that we’re going to be introducing you to is the Fotophire Editing Toolkit! This is a rich-in-content photo editor that you can learn to use, very easily! Down below, we’ve included a short tutorial on the subject as a well as five key features that you need to know about the Fotophire Editing Toolkit!

Key Features of Fotophire Editing Toolkit

• Delete background easily with eraser tools.
• Add a custom background to your image with ease.
• Hundreds of applicable effects that can be applied automatically — with one click.
• Apply PRESET filters, textures, overlays, etc.
• Intuitive interface that’s easy to use!

How to Add Background Effects on Photos with Fotophire Editing Toolkit

Step 1: Photo Cutter

The editor that we’re going to be using to cut off the background, is the Photo Cutter! The Wondershare Fotophire will launch like this (see image below.) Click on the middle box, called the “Photo Cutter” and proceed with the next step.

Step 2: Open…

Much like with Photoshop, you’re going to have to import the image that you want to apply background effects to. This can be done by clicking on the “Open…” text on the left-hand side of the screen!

Step 3: CUT-OUT

As you can see, we headed straight into marking out the parts of the picture that we wanted to keep. This is pretty easy, all you have to do is click on the “CUT-OUT” module and make use of the tools provided. These are:

• Paint Areas to Keep: Green highlight tool that you can use to mark the areas of the image that you want to keep (the foreground.)
• Paint Areas to Remove: Red highlight tool that you can use to mark the areas of the image that you want to remove (the background!)


Your image should look a little like this when you’re done! The gray area behind the foreground is the part of the image that was made transparent.



Step 4: Apply Background Effect on Your Photos

Fotophire offers a couple of presets that you can try under the “PHOTOMONTAGE” module. However, if you want something a little more customizable, then click on the “+” button on the bottom of the module. Doing this will prompt a popup that will urge you to choose a background image.



Step 5: Save…

As you can see, we decided to stick with the same background that we used for the Photoshop tutorial. There’s an obvious difference in overall quality, and the ease in which we were able to do this (1-4 minutes max) than when we worked on the Photoshop version (which involved a lot of delays and extra little bit of bits.)



Part 3. How to Add Background Effects on Photos with Other Tools

If you’re interested in checking out a couple of other programs, then the following list might interest you! The following products are unique in their own ways. However, these can all definitely be used to apply background effects on your Photos! Give it a scroll! See which one is the one for you!

Teorex PhotoScissors

Price: $19.99 (One-time payment)

If you’re looking for something a little more reasonable when it comes to budgeting, then you might be interested in the Teorex Photoscissors editor! This will allow you to cut out parts of your image. Which you can then change to suit your need!

URL: https://www.photoscissors.com/



GIMP

Price: FREE.

Now, if you’re looking to just save money in general, then this is the one for you! GIMP will allow you to cut out the background of your images and apply a new one that would better suit your photo! It offers a lot of illustration tools as well. Which allows you to get in-depth with the kind of changes that you’re making!

URL: https://www.gimp.org/



Acorn6 Image Editor

Price: $28.99 (One-time payment)

Acorn 6 is a good Mac alternative! You can only use it on a Mac PC, but it’s packed with tools that you can use to apply effects on your background! The cost of this program is actually fairly cheap as well. However, if you want to get really detailed with the edits you make, then you might have to cough up some extra cash buying their in-app purchases.

URL: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/acorn-6-image-editor/id1233861775



Fotor Photo Editor

Price: FREE

Another FREE tool that you can use, is the Fotor Photo Editor. This one is a little different the others. It’s not a software that you necessarily have to download into your computer! Instead, you can access its tools using the URL down below.

URL: https://www.fotor.com/



Movavi

Price: $39.95

This is the most expensive item on our list. However, it is also the most varied when it comes to tools. Much like with the Fotophire, using this will give you access to a couple of different ways that you can edit your Photographs. The only thing I can really nitpick about is the awkwardness of the screen layout.

URL: https://www.movavi.com/mac-photo-editor/



Conclusion:

This concludes our how to use Photoshop to apply background effects tutorial! We introduced you to quite a few photo editors. All of which are unique in their own way. However, if you’re looking for something that’s easy-to-use, cheap, and packed with helpful preset effects and filters… then I would have to recommend you to the Wondershare Fotophire Photo Editing Toolkit! It’s the most helpful alternative to photoshop!