Change an photo background

Have a great photo but don't like the background? Change it! With a little patience and practice, a pair of images and an image editing program that offers layering, you can.

Changing the background of a digital image:

• Open your image and then click on an edge selection tool such as the Magnetic Lasso found in Adobe Photoshop or Elements.
• Carefully outline the edges of the subject. You may have to use the Add and Subtract icon to get a more precise outline.
• After the image is selected, Inverse the selection. Select > Inverse.
• Next, open the image you plan to use for the background, in this illustration, a plain beach scene. The image will open in a new window.
• Select All, then copy. Select menu > All
• Edit menu > Copy. The sunset image will be placed on the clipboard.
• Make the first window active by clicking on it, then use the Paste Into menu to place the clipboard image into the selected area. Edit > Paste Into.
• If desired, move the image around with the Move Tool selected until the background image is place as you like it.
• Save image layers as a JPEG file.