How to use the foreground and background to create stronger photos

The composition is one of the hardest aspects of landscape photography. There are many ways to compose a photo, and having a strong foreground is a common tool to create depth in your photos.

In this calm and relaxing video from award-winning landscape photographer Adam Gibbs, he explains how he approaches a scene with the intent of creating a strong depth in the photograph. He explains you cannot just use whatever object you come across, slap it in the lower third, and make a cohesive photo. It takes much more to create depth using foregrounds.

Through several examples, he emphasizes you have to have an eye on all the small things. Given you use a stone or a boulder in your foreground, it has to make sense for the entire photo to include it. If the boulder does not somehow relate to the midground and background, it is just a boulder. The boulder has to be there to drag the viewer into the scene. You can have the edges of the boulder line up with background elements; if it is elongated, you can have it point toward the background; or if there are several boulders, you can use a repeating pattern to lead the viewer into the background.

He also touches on lens selection and points out the problems with wide-angle lenses. Wide angle lenses have a tendency to dissociate the foreground from the background, as the background becomes very small. On the other hand, using longer focal lengths, you run into problems with depth of field. Knowing when to use what will highly benefit your landscape photography. Gibbs also touches on perspective and compressing your scene.

Gibbs has many videos on composition and light worth checking out. Check out the video above and let me hear your thoughts down in the comment section.

Danish Fine Art Landscape Photographer and YouTuber. He is taking photos all over the world but the main focus is the cold, rough, northern part of Europe. His style is somewhere in between dramatic and colorful fantasy and Scandinavian minimalism. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel for epic landscape photography videos from around the world.

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One of the most common uses for zoom lenses is, as their name suggests, to zoom in on objects that are far away. These lenses are fantastic for getting close-up views of nature, architecture, wildlife, or anything else that might be little more than a speck to the naked human eye.

Some cameras like the Nikon Coolpix P900 let you get a close-up view of objects a few miles away. While this flexibility might seem like a rather tempting proposition for getting close to objects without physically moving yourself, there is another often-overlooked benefit of zoom lenses when taking portraits or other types of pictures with one clear subject in front of a vast spread of scenery – background compression. Understanding how this works, and how you can manipulate it, can transform your approach to portrait photography and give your pictures the type of visual boost that you might have always wanted, but never knew how to achieve.

The basic idea with background compression is that you can take photos of something relatively close to you, such as a high school senior as shown in the image above, and bring elements of the background closer as well. This gives a more constrained feeling to the overall composition, and helps focus the viewer on your subject while not only bringing the background in, but often blurring it at the same time.

As an illustration of how this works, here are several photos of my dad taken at different focal lengths. Notice how he is framed similarly in each shot, but the background changes dramatically as I adjust the zoom on my camera lens.

18mm focal length, f/7.1, 1/80th of a second, ISO 100

I used an 18-270mm zoom lens to take these shots, and this first one (above) at 18mm shows my dad along with a massive background: utility poles, houses, trees, mailboxes, and all sorts of other elements make up the picture in addition to the subject. Take note of the car several hundred yards behind him, as indicated by the red arrow, and notice what happens as I change focal lengths, but keep my dad similarly framed.

70mm, f/7.1, 1/125 second, ISO 320

Here you can already see several differences from the original image. The scene is now slightly claustrophobic with many of the elements along the perimeter of the original photo disappearing altogether. Mailboxes and utility poles have been brought closer, and notice how the same stationary automobile far in the distance has appeared to creep forward, and is now much larger. The background, in essence, is getting squeezed together or compressed.

154mm, f/7.1, 1/250 second, ISO 800

At 154mm the vehicle in the background seems significantly closer, and various other elements such as trees and utility poles are now filling almost the entire frame. As I zoom in, while keeping my dad consistently framed in the shot, even the distance between the individual utility poles seems to be shortened, which further enhances the overall feeling of compression. It’s not just that things appear closer, but that the distances between all the elements of the frame look much smaller as well. This can be a powerful, and extraordinarily useful way to compose a picture, and you don’t even need a fancy camera or lens to do it. Most pocket cameras have optical zooms that can be used to accomplish the same effect.

270mm, f/7.1, 1/400 second, ISO 1600

In this final shot, the background elements virtually dominate the frame and almost overpower my subject. The vehicle just over his shoulder is about a quarter of a mile (0.4 km) away, though it appears as if it’s a mere stone’s throw behind him.

Background compression can be a good or bad thing, depending on the type of picture you are taking. The key takeaway here is to know what it is, and how to utilize it to get the type of composition you are going for. The longer your focal length, the more you will be able to add this sense of compression to your background. But, it also helps if you have a great deal of distance between your subject and the elements behind it. If my dad were standing a few feet away from something, like a tree or a brick wall, there would be virtually no compression at all, even with a very long focal length.

Text & Photography By Russ Burden

When you photograph scenics, and even wildlife images, it’s important to have a strong foreground, middleground and background to add a sense of depth to the image. For scenics, it’s imperative to have these layers. More so than when you make wildlife images, but if it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander.

The foreground element allows the viewer to enter the picture. The middleground adds a component that holds the viewer’s interest. The first two layers should lead the observer to the background element to complete the image. To have all three elements work in harmony helps improve the photograph.

Foreground In Landscapes

Traditional landscape photographers strive to have every layer of their photos fall into sharp focus. This necessitates the use of wide angles, stopped-down apertures, hyperfocal distance focusing and a tripod. The eye is drawn to what’s sharp in an image. Since every layer in a scenic is important, it’s essential that it’s sharp throughout all planes. Compositionally, the foreground should include a key element that magnetizes the viewer and sucks them into the photo. For scenics, that could be a field of flowers, an array of intriguing rocks, a cascade of water and a multitude of other options. Let the environment dictate what element you choose.

Middleground In Landscapes

The middleground should act as a landing and takeoff strip that allows the viewer to transition from the center of the image and be brought to the elements in the rear. There should be harmony between all three layers. There should also be balance between the layers so the transition is smooth. The environment in which the photo is made and the subjects that make up the composition should dictate which layer winds up having the most impact. Regardless of which one dominates, be sure all three are in accord and in proportion to each other.

Background In Landscapes

The background should help unify and tie together the other two layers. The top area of the background should contain elements that arrest the viewer from wanting to look outside the image. That can be accomplished by darkening the top or by including elements that grasp the looker on so intently, he or she has no desire to let their eye wander out of the frame. As a matter of fact, a great background leads the spectator back to the middleground so the photo is more deeply analyzed.

Wildlife

Wildlife images can stand on their own, but because I discuss landscapes above and I love to help photographers get to the next level in their image making, I’m adding the entire wildlife section below as a bonus to this week’s Tip of the Week.

Foreground In Wildlife

There are a number of aspects of wildlife photography. One aspect that we all want to capture great images of is the headshot. With this in mind, it’s tough to apply the F/M/B concept to it. One aspect of wildlife photography I’ve grown to love over the years is what I call environmental portraiture. This is where the animal is depicted in its habitat. Here’s where the F/M/B approach works well. The image of the lioness walking the road was made in early light in the Ngorongoro Crater. The sweeping S curve of the road allows the viewer to enter and the eye is brought to the lioness. The continuation of the road brings the eye back to the primary tree. Because its shape mimics the mountains in the background, a strong connection is made between the middle and background.

Middleground In Wildlife

For the photo of the cheetah and wildebeest, I used a technique called selective focus. The only plane that’s sharp is where I want the viewer’s eye to rest but also have him or her traverse the rest of the image. Because the foreground cheetah is tack sharp and the middleground wildebeests fall somewhat out of focus, it implies they’re secondary but form a strong middleground. The eye then travels up to the sky, but because it’s the softest portion of the photo, it immediately transitions back to the wildebeests and then in turn to the cheetah in the foreground.

Background In Wildlife

With environmental portraiture, what often constitutes the middleground is the main subject. In the photo of the wildebeests crossing the Mara River, since they’re lit the brightest, they do create a strong middleground. But because the background tells the viewer from where the wildebeests came, the background is very strong in the photo.

As is the case in this photo, the background completes the story that tells what’s happening. The small yellow-billed stork that’s the primary foreground subject doesn’t need to be any bigger since it’s brightly lit and is a different species. Therefore, even though it’s tiny, it creates a bold foreground.

The concept of foreground interest is not a new discovery, but it’s a monumental way to take an ordinary image and make it stunning. Images with foreground interest (mostly landscapes) are generally more visually intriguing than those without. It creates a layered photograph that provides a focal point to start on, and then allows you to expand to other parts of the image. This concept works especially well when you have an overbearing subject (such as the sun) as a strong foreground object can help balance out your composition.

How to Find Foreground Interest

Foreground interest is much more than just putting your subject front and center – it is a focal point that compliments your subject and adds more interest to an already-intriguing photograph.

Let’s say you’ve found a subject you want to capture – it could be a scenic mountain vista or simply a passer-by in the street. Once you know your focal point, look at your surroundings and find something that you can use to create foreground interest. This could be a person, rock formations, a leaf on the ground – so many different things could work their way into your photo. Once you’ve found both your focal point and an interesting foreground object, you can then recompose your shot to include both subjects – just make sure to explore different perspectives.

Here, the photographer found a stunning coastal sunrise – a great subject but something seen quite often. Looking around their environment, they settled on an abandoned boat to serve as their foreground object, which not only increased the interest level greatly, but also made it a more attractive photograph overall.

The best photographs have foreground interest that don’t just provide something else to focus on, but compliments the overall composition or subject matter– a true sign of a knowledgeable photographer.

This photo is the perfect example of foreground interest used to compliment an image rather than overpowering it. The scenic Smoky Mountains in the background is the main subject and would be a beautiful image itself. However, the photographer chose to include the barren tree trunk in the foreground, which gave an imposing focal point and helped to balance the image so that you’re not “stuck” on the setting sun.

Tips for Using Foreground Interest

Use your aperture to pinpoint your focus on either the foreground or your subject – this is a great way to create artful images while also defining where you want your audience to focus in on.

In my image here, I wanted to create something unique with a traditional subject: lighthouses. I found a field of tall grass and used that as my foreground interest, and then shot wide open (f/1.8) in order to blur my subject (the lighthouse). You can still make out that it’s a lighthouse, but my aperture provided a soft background which helped make the individual blades more defined and prominent – if I shot this at f/11, they would simply blend in with the background.

In a previous article, we discussed how your focal length can affect the distances in your image – most notably exaggerating and compressing them. In the image above, I used an 85mm prime lens as that provided a good focal length to make the lighthouse large enough to identify. If I decided to use a wide angle lens, it would appear to be too far in the distance and not be as prominent as it is now. Keep your focal length in mind when composing your image with foreground interest as it can greatly affect how much weight you want it to have in your overall composition.

There are many ways to use foreground interest to your advantage – this article is simply an introduction to it’s effectiveness. Next time you’re out on a photo shoot, try to incorporate this into your next image – use different perspectives, apertures, and focal lengths to see how recomposing to include some foreground can greatly change the impact your photo has.

Read more great articles by Christopher O’Donnell at his blog or follow him on Facebook.

Got a shot in need of something special? Get acquainted with the Picsart Background Editor.

Make your Images More Dynamic with the Picsart Background Photo Editor

Have you ever taken a picture, only to discover that something in the background has completely ruined it? You’re not alone. It can happen to anyone, from plucky beginners to seasoned pros. But now you can easily change the background of your photos online with Picsart. Once you upload an image, AI technology will detect its background and suggest a range of possible replacements. All within seconds. You can choose between textured backgrounds and patterns, for example. Or maybe you’re in need of something a little more snazzy? The Picsart Background Changer offers a wide selection of themed ideas, from holidays, to seasonal occasions, and more playful possibilities like fruit patterns, flowers and hearts. If your shot is so strong that you’d prefer to keep things simple, you can also apply a plain background. This tool can help you create high quality content for social media, ensuring your posts stand out from the crowd. Whatever the content, there’s a background to suit your needs, ready and waiting to be used.

Change a Background Instantly

In graphic design, visual trends and new techniques emerge on an almost daily basis. To make sure your content remains current, it’s important to keep up. Having an eye-catching background is just one of the many ways in which you can ensure that someone stops scrolling and checks out what you have to offer. With that in mind, this picture Background Changer is especially useful for product promotions. If there’s a particular product that you are trying to push, your background has to serve the image perfectly. You can apply a solid color, or create a smooth gradient, but whatever works best, changing your background color online has never been so simple. You can also upload your own background, if you’ve got something perfect in mind. Whatever approach you take, be sure your background and foreground complement each other. To do so, you can use the Picsart editing tools for touch-ups and adjustments. Easily tweak the hue, saturation, color, and the luminosity of your image in the foreground with our Background Changer online. You can blend it in with the background or make it stand out more. No matter what the objective, Picsart puts the power in your hands instantly.

Make the Fit Tool Work for Your Social Media

You can have the best social media strategy in the world, but unless you’ve adjusted your imagery to conform to platform regulations, it’ll be worthless. You’ve got to make sure your social media posts are sized properly. A Facebook cover photo that doesn’t fit? An Instagram post that crops out important aspects of your image? That’s not going to impress anyone. But with the Picsart Fit tool, you can easily set your canvas to specific social media image sizes. The templates are preset to the optimal sizes on each social media channel. All you have to do is simply click on whichever format you’re going for, and your image will automatically fit the required proportions. With the Fit tool, you can take any image and use the photo cropping feature to change its size and dimensions. If you need landscape, portrait, square or something custom-sized, the Fit tool will sort it in seconds. Once your image is reshaped, it’s ready to share on social media, whether that’s on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, or Youtube.

Edit Your Photo Background to Perfection

The Picsart online Background Changer comes with a multi-purpose Eraser tool too. Whether you want to refine some elements in your image, or achieve a more textured background, this tool will help bring your vision to life. In the online photo Background Changer, simply click on the Eraser and start refining your image. This easy-to-use tool will help you achieve professional-looking content, without the need to master complex software. You can also remove the background of your image entirely, if you so wish. With the brush mode, you can retrieve textures and details from your original background. Select the tool and brush over the area where you want your original background to appear. You can be as creative as you need while editing your background. What you do with it, is up to you.

Today I will discuss the importance of background in photography composition illustrated with some examples of mine.

Part of a larger series covering elements of composition in photography for which you’ll find links at the end of this article.

I taught myself photography in quite a specific order, I navigated / progressed through various urban photography genres:

Graffiti Photography > Urban Landscape Photography > Street Photography

It’s the reason I realised early how important an image’s background really is, allow me to explain:

I took-up photography as I used to have an obsession with graffiti, around 2006. I was like a trainspotter but instead of obsessively shooting trains, I’d hunt for new graffiti art around London which would be cleaned or gone just as fast as that elusive locomotive.

I had to find them.

After exclusively shooting graffiti up-close, photography itself became my passion. I realised I loved graffiti because of how it sat within its surroundings and its environment.

I therefore decided to improve my photography by taking a step back in order for the graffiti to only represent a part of the photo. It felt more relevant and logical.

Clouds can make for interesting backgrounds.

I did this for a while and naturally began searching for other types of effective backgrounds, not just graffiti (or skies), for my urban photography such as the lines of shop roller shutters, colourful walls and other textures such as concrete omnipresent in urban settings.

My passion had shifted from graffiti to photography.

How many of you can relate to that? You begin by shooting what you love: graffiti, cars, babies, flowers, insects… and before you know it you are a photographer specialising in that very niche.

The third stage of my photographic development was when I eventually realised that I needed life in my shots to reflect the buzz of the city and so in came people, walking through my pre-composed frames.

Using these ingredients I now had an urban / street photography recipe I was happy with.

Talking of ingredients and recipes, I’m a trained chef and in fact there are many similarities between cooking food and photography. You mix the right ingredients which you arrange within a composition, in photography it’s the frame, in cookery it’s the plate.

But back to photography…

Focus on a strong background whenever possible and add life or wait for it to present itself, but almost in such a way that the background and what appears to be the subject are equally as important, they balance each other.

Let’s look at some more examples showing the importance of background in photography composition, how they should balance other elements of a photo and their impact on the shot:

In the photo below of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the building still visible in the background is balanced with the light trails from a double-decker bus which also act as leading lines guiding the viewer’s eye towards the landmark.

In the next image we have in the background a modern building, The Gherkin, contrasted with a more traditional building in the foreground both in terms of texture and lines. Contrasts between background and foreground are effective composition techniques.

In this photo, taken on the London underground, the background / the character in the middle only represents a minuscule portion of the shot and yet they are key, without it the photo would have absolutely no reason to exist.

I like to call it “Underground Renaissance”.

Whereas in this photo below, the background is the main part of the shot with in the foreground only the unrecognisable ghostly figure of a commuter which clearly has freaked out Pharrell Williams, here in the advert.

It is a form of juxtaposition in street photography, something often sought after by street photographers.

In these two colourful images, I deliberately went for a minimal look, making full use of negative space. I thought these gloriously colourful walls made for a beautifully simple, stripped-down photograph which could be perfect as a framed photo print for an urban interior.

There are many ways to use the right backgrounds your advantage.

Using a wide aperture (low f. number) while focusing on your subject at the front will create a background blur from the shallow depth of field. This blurred background is usually a lot less busy than if it’d been left sharp, it helps the subject you are shooting stand out better. Works great for example with people portraits, animal portraits and botanical photography.

Tip: Next time you head out try the following

Select your background first, frame your shot, maybe from a lower angle or straight on and wait for someone to enter the frame you carefully composed… take that shot. You can either freeze their movement like in the colourful pink shot above or decide to deliberately capture motion with a slightly slower shutter speed such as in this example:

Practise this many times and you’ll end up with some strong images.

Please share your attempts and successes with me, whatever your level, on Twitter and Instagram mentioning @nicholasgoodden, I look forward to seeing what you shoot!

Until next time,

About the Author

Nicholas “Nico” Goodden is a professional London photographer specializing in urban photography, street photography, and attention grabbing micro video content such as cinemagraphs and timelapse. You can see more of his work on his website and say hi on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This article was posted here and shared with permission.

One of the biggest challenges you face when making black and white landscape photos is understanding how a scene you see in color will come out in black and white.

Back when I started in photography, using film, you had to make a judgement about whether a photo would work in black and white without any feedback. You had to wait until you had developed the film and made a contact sheet made to see whether it worked.

Now, feedback is instant. Just set your digital camera to its monochrome mode, and use the Raw format. You will see your images in black and white when you play them back. Yet as you used Raw you still have all the color information if you want to use it.

Cameras with electronic viewfinders are even more versatile because they give you a black and white display in the viewfinder. This makes visualization much easier as you don’t have to guess how the photo will come out. Your camera just tells you.

If your camera has Live View (and most modern dSLRs do) you can also use it to see the scene in black and white. This is useful when you have the camera mounted on a tripod, which is normal for landscape photography.

Now let’s look at the ways you can improve the composition of your black and white landscape photos.

1. Use the camera technology to see in black and white

The technology has advanced, but the elements that make up a good black and white image haven’t changed since Ansel Adams wandered the American west with his view camera. You still have to train your eye to see in black and white.

You might say that the ability of a digital camera to capture a full color file (when you shoot Raw) is a big advantage of digital, and you’d be right.

But consider this – if you use a film camera with black and white film then you are committed to the black and white image. It puts you in a mindset where you have to create images that work well in monochrome. It forces you to ignore color and look at tonal contrast, line, shape and texture instead.

Try and replicate that mindset. Set your camera to monochrome. Think in black and white, and forget about the fact that your camera is capturing full color files.

It’s a bit like learning a second language – real progress comes when you start to think in the second language, rather than think in English and translate.

It’s the same with black and white photography. You need to learn to think in the language of monochrome.

For example, with the camera set to monochrome, I could see that the white horse in this landscape photo stood out from the background. I didn’t have to think about it, I could just see it, and start searching for the best composition right away. That’s the benefit of working in monochrome mode.

2. Understand how light works in black and white landscape photography

Using black and white for landscape photography gives you lots of creative freedom. It’s not so important to be on location during the golden hour or dusk. But it helps if you are. The quality of light at this time of day is hard to beat. Always try to get there if you can.

Working in black and white extends the hours in which you work productively. The golden hour is your prime time for creating landscape photos. But, depending on subject, you can also work during the day in harsher light or on cloudy days. But you may not work in color because the quality of the light isn’t good enough.

Seeing in black and white is about learning to see the shapes, patterns and textures that occur in the natural world and arrange the composition to suit them.

That’s one of the reasons why this photo that I made in Granada, Spain, works.

The southern Spanish sun was strong and the landscape was slightly backlit. But the textures and shapes are interesting and make a strong composition in black and white.

It would be interesting to be on location at sunset with the sun shining on the Alhambra palace, and hopefully one day I will get chance to do that.

3. Use tonal contrast in your black and white landscape photos

Another important element is tonal contrast. It’s a simple enough compositional device to photograph a light object against a dark background, and it works particularly well in black and white. The interplay of light tones against dark tones is what black and white photography is all about (don’t forget those subtle mid-grays either).

We’ve already see that the photo above of a horse in a field has strong tonal contrast. Your eye goes to the horse because it’s white and the tones around it are gray.

This landscape photo has an interesting tonal contrast between the light sky, the gray sea and the darker jetty.

But other factors are at play. The concrete jetty forms a strong shape and has lots of texture. The texture of the concrete contrasts with the smooth sea and featureless sky (the photo was taken in fog). All these things come together to create a strong composition. They support each other. None of them work in isolation.

4. Look for lines

Line is another compositional tool that you should look to use whenever you can. Given that most landscape photographs are taken with wide-angle lenses, there is lots of potential for finding and using lines, both curved and straight, to take the viewer’s eye through the photo from the foreground to the horizon.

Lines are not always obvious. Can you see the lines in this photo?

I’ve marked them in red so you can see what I mean.

The rocks make a line that takes the eye through to the island on the horizon. The structure of the rocks is triangular, and so is the island, so you have the idea of repetition of shape. You have contrast between the textured rocks and the smooth sea.

And then there’s the tonal contrast between the different areas of the scene (sky, distant hills, the island, the rocks in the foreground, the sea) that helps the eye distinguish between those areas.

Again, there’s a number of interesting things going on that come together to create a strong composition.

Colin Smith

How to combine photos, seamlessly blend and match the colors in Photoshop.

A very important skill to have in photoshop is the ability to combine photos and blend them together seamlessly while matching the color and tone. The doesn’t have to be difficult guys. Here is my Photoshop technique to make this so easy, it’s fun. Watch the video first and then use the written steps as a reference. If you like this, tell your friends about PhotoshopCAFE, they will love you for it 😉

Step 1.

Open the 2 images in Photoshop, they are in separate documents, we need to get them into a single window.

Step 2.

It’s as simple as a 3 step process, Click, hold and release. This has to be done just right though.

1. Choose the move tool (v). Click and drag up into the the tab of the document you are moving it to.

2. Don’t let go yet, wait a couple of seconds and the destination image will open, keep holding (I feel like Braveheart, hold, hold…)

3. Move your cursor to the middle of the image and release. (Hold Shift to drop it in place).

You will now see the images as 2 layers. Lets position them

Step 3.

Drag the top layer into position. If you press Cmd/Ctrl+T you will see the boundaries.

Press Enter when it positioned correctly

Step 4.

Let’s resize the canvas to show the whole composition.

Choose Image>Reveal all

And, boom, now the canvas is now the correct size.

Step 5. Blending the images seamlessly

Choose the top layer and click on the new Layer mask icon

Step 6.

Choose the gradient tool (G), reset foreground and background colors (D).

Make sure the gradient is set to Linear, Foreground to background, normal blending mode and 100% opacity (default settings).

Step 7.

With the layer mask selected, drag the gradient in the area between the 2 images to get a seamless blend. Watch the video above to see this in action.

Step 8, matching colors across layers in photoshop

We have a nice blend, now we need to match the color and tone of the images.

Duplicate the background layer (waterfall) Ctrl/Cmd+J

Step 9.

Choose Image>Adjustments>Match Color

Under Source, choose the same document that you are working on.

Under Layer, choose the layer that you want to get the color palette from. (Layer 1, milky way).

Step 10.

Adjust the 3 sliders until it matches (see video for more details).

• Luminance: Brightness
• Color Intensity:Saturation
• Fade: Amount of effect

Step 11: Cleaning the highlights.

The colors are matching, but the highlights are looking washed out, lets make them pop.

With the top layer of the background selected (the one we applied match color to). Click on the fx button on the Layers Panel.

Choose Blending Options at the very top of the pop up.

In Blend if, move the top white triangle to the right. You will see the whites come back in the waterfall. It looks posterized, let’s fix that.

Hold down the alt/option key and drag on the right side of the white triangle. It will separate and allow for a nice even blend of the whites.

Make it look like the screen shot.

And we are all done! Congrats!

I really hope you enjoyed this week’s tutorial and that you learned some useful things about combining images. If you did, share this page with your friends!

PS Don’t forget to join our mailing list and follow me on Social Media>

(Ive been posting some fun Instagram and Facebook Stories lately)

Last updated Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, at 10:23 a.m.

This article is based on legacy software.

With Photoshop, you can alter the appearance of an image by changing the colors that make up the image. Photoshop allows you to work with the Foreground color and the Background color. These color choices also correspond to the various drawing tools included with Photoshop (e.g., the Paint Bucket tool and Brush tool).

Selecting Colors

You can move between two color options at a time, the Foreground and Background colors. The Background and Foreground colors are used differently by each tool. For example, the Brush tool uses whatever color is in the Foreground box. The Background and Foreground colors can be switched at any time.

The Color Picker Dialog Box

The Color Picker dialog box allows you four options to set the color: the color field, the color slider, numeric values, and hexadecimal values. The Color Picker opens when you go to select a color using the Toolbox

Using the Color Picker Dialog Box

HINT: The Toolbox is located at the left hand side of the work area by default. If the Toolbox is not visible, re-select it in the View menu.

From the Toolbox, click the Foreground or Background color square.
The Color Picker dialog box appears.

Using the Color Picker dialog box, select the desired color.
Your selection appears in the Color Preview box.

When you have decided on a color, click OK.
Your new color now appears on the Toolbox in the color square that you clicked in step one.

Moving Between Foreground and Background Colors

The Color Selection box on the Toolbox contains a toggle switch to alternate between the Foreground and Background colors.

In the Color Selection box, click the Toggle Switch.
The background color has now moved to the foreground color.

Using the Foreground and Background Default Colors

In addition to your Foreground and Background colors, the Color Selection box on the Toolbox also contains default black and white colors.

In the Color Selection box, click Default Colors.
The default black and white colors have now become your foreground and background colors, respectively.
NOTE: Any custom colors you previously selected will disappear.

Recoloring Graphics

Photoshop allows you to recolor images. For example, if you wish to change the color scheme of a document, you can recolor related images in Photoshop. The active Foreground or Background color can be applied to any selected area of the image. For information on how to select an area, refer to Selecting an Area.

Recoloring Graphics: Using the Fill Command

One way to change the color of an image is by using the Fill command. The Fill dialog box allows you to fill with either the Foreground or Background color, or with black, white, or gray.

If you will be using the Foreground or Background color, verify that the color is correct.

Select the area you wish to apply color to.
For information on how to select an area, refer to Selecting an Area.

From the Edit menu, select Fill.
The Fill dialog box appears.

From the Use pull-down list, select the desired option.

(Optional) In the Blending section, make any necessary changes to the Opacity and/or Mode setting.

Click OK.
Your selected area is filled with the color you chose.

Recoloring Graphics: Using the Paint Bucket

You can use the Paint Bucket tool to change the color of an image. The Paint Bucket tool does not require you to select the area to be filled. The Paint Bucket tool, like the Magic Wand, selects like-colored pixels to fill. You can affect which pixels are filled by adjusting the tolerance.

NOTE: The Paint Bucket command will not work on a bitmap image. If this tool is not available, check your image mode. For additional information on image modes, refer to Special Terms: Image Modes.

From the Image menu, select Mode.

Select RGB Color.
NOTE: The option is selected if a checkmark appears before it.

Select your desired Foreground color.

Position the Paint Bucket Tool over the area you would like to color.

Click the mouse.
The area you pointed to is now filled with the Foreground color.

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