Save an Image with a Transparent Background?

The trick to saving an image with a transparent background (maybe something like your company logo or a graphic) is to put the image on a transparent layer all by itself, and then delete the Background layer by dragging-and-dropping it onto the Trash icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. After you’ve deleted the Background layer, save this file as a PNG (“ping”) file. This is a specific file format that supports transparency in many other programs. You do that by going under Photoshop’s File menu and choosing Save As. When the Save As dialog appears, from the Format pop-up menu at the bottom of the dialog, choose PNG. That’s it—now you can open that file into other programs, or even put it on the web, without having a solid, colored background around it. One last thing: For this to work, your image has to be on a layer with a transparent background already. If, when you opened your logo in Photoshop, it had a solid background around it, you’ll need to remove that background first. Probably the easiest way to do this is to drag the Background layer’s Lock icon onto the Trash icon at the bottom of the panel, then get the Magic Wand tool (Shift-W), click it once in the background area around your logo to select it, then hit the Delete (PC: Backspace) key to remove that background area. If you need to select multiple areas, press-and-hold the Shift key, then click on those areas, and it will add them to your selection to delete. Lastly, if the Magic Wand tool didn’t work well for you (hey, it happens), deselect by pressing Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D), then switch to the Quick Selection tool (it’s nested with the Magic Wand tool) and paint over that background area to select it. Once selected, hit the Delete key.