Making Graphics Transparent?

[bradgrupe]

Can someone point me in the right direction for making graphics (either jpeg or gif) transparent using Photoshop.

I'd like to use a colored background instead of white and most of my images have a "border" around them that appears white against the background.

Thanks in advance.

[(jj)]

First off, you can not make jpeg's transparent.

Are you wanting the background of the graphic to be transparent, or are you just meaning the small white border that sometimes shows on filled background images?

An example of what you are talking about would help. :)

When you start a new graphic, do you start with a white background? It's best to start with a transparent background and then fill it with your desired background color. Or create a new layer, fill it with your background color and then move it (arrange) to the back.

If you want a full transparency, then start with a transparent background, create your graphic in 256 color mode and save as a gif.

[muijefr]

The white border or jaggies around your image(s) is caused by having anti-alias on while performing some section option on the image (cut and paste for instance). Anti-alias enables the blending of edges for a much richer finished image but plays hell on transparencies. I've mostly set transparencies aside in favor of .png or .jpg rendered on a color batch the color as the background I might have otherwise used a transparency. If you insist on transparencies, render the image on a color patch the same color as the background to be used and then render that color transparent and there will be no apparent jaggies. If you don't like this idea, use a dark color as a transparency for dark backgrounds and neutral/#c0c0c0 as transparency on light backgrounds and if you don't like this, then make sure anti-alias is off when blending the non-transparent areas. :p

[bradgrupe]

Thanks for the suggestions....I've only done the basics with Photoshop so I hadn't done anything like you suggest. I'll spend some time with it and see how I do.

Thanks!

[Outlaws]

what muijefr said.

The only thing I can add is that I have found that when I select the image I want and I delete the background of any area I don't want, using the CUT feature is cleaner for transparancies because the DELETE key still seems to feather a bit.