Ultimate Guide to Changing Backgrounds with ON1 Photo Raw

[@jimkok1957]

I like your real world approach... how to fix mistakes! Good job!

[@TomCheswick]

Thanks Jim, glad you liked it!

[@StrangeTu]

Thanks for the great tutorial! Having trouble with the first step though, maybe cause old version of program - not sure - but the mask ai dropdown doesn't give me a selection of my subject. Will rewatch and try workaround if find. Yup, tried with several pictures and my mask ai is so bad it wont let me get through first step.

[@TomCheswick]

Let me know if you are still having a problem. This should work with the new 2025 and updated 2024.5 versions.

[@NJM1948]

Another excellent tutorial - I found this from your NEO tutorial on removing backgrounds. I have both of these programs so really good for me. Many thanks for your easy to follow vids

[@TomCheswick]

Thank you, I'm glad it was helpful!

[@eddu4361]

Very good! Thx!

[@TomCheswick]

Glad you like it!

[@carsamendi4994]

Sorry for the English, thanks for the video and it would be possible to make one on how to remove halos, thanks and greetings

[@TomCheswick]

Thanks for the suggestion and I am happy that you like the video. Most of the time, you get halos when trying to replace a dark background with a light one or replacing a white background with a darker one. It is best to replace a background with a another background with a similar brightness. If that is not an option, then you are going to either feather the mask's edge, use the Chisel Brush or the Masking Brush to manually remove the halo. Another way is under the Masking Global Settings is to slide the Levels buttons. I find sliding the middle button left or right works well for me.

[@chappledesign]

Hi Thanks for this video. Why didn't you erase the hair in the original layer or use the mask and paint out on the mask on the girl layer? Not sure I understand the new Stamped Layer. Is that like a "flatten" automated feature?

[@TomCheswick]

Thanks for the questions! I don't erase the hair on the original layer because I know that when I cut the girl out to replace the background, I will lose some of the fine stray hairs, and that is OK because I would just have to remove them later as I find stray hairs distracting. A new Stamped Layer is similar to Flatten but you have the added advantage of still being able to access the other layers. If you know that you won't need the other layers,then Flatten is a great choice.

[@chappledesign]

@@TomCheswick Hey Tom thanks for the speedy reply. I'm getting me feet wet with ON1 and it is a little bit like trying to find the salt an pepper in an AirBNB

[@jamesollick4413]

Thank you!

[@TomCheswick]

You're welcome!

[@knuderikvinding5808]

Thanks. It is very useful. 👍

[@TomCheswick]

Glad it was helpful!

[@neildevers8952]

Thanks

[@TomCheswick]

You are welcome!

[@drip3084]

Good job... It did seem you had grey background around the outside area of the arms. Love ON1

[@TomCheswick]

Thank you!

[@cmdrxevaster]

Thanks for this tutorial. I just wish I had seen it before I spend a tonne of time doing the same thing in a way more complicated way. You earned a sub from me. Keep up the great work!

[@TomCheswick]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@marcrjacobs]

Question for a future topic. I love ON1 as an editor, but I don't use the DAM because Sync 360 in a word, SUCKS. I've been using Mylio as a DAM and it works great for that, allowing me to sync all my devices and even pull down originals when needed. Do you happen to have a recommended workflow for this? I'd really like to have both apps pointing at the same set of photos.

[@TomCheswick]

Sorry, I am not familiar with Mylio. Hopefully someone else will reply with an answer.

[@Michael-fw5ef]

This is an excellent tutorial. Can you also do a tutorial on how to make a mask smooth, not polygon like? I do product photography and I need hard, straight lines in some areas of my product image and then I need half-circle, round like lines in other areas of my product. Some programs are good at selecting straight or round lines, but some programs are not. I am not talking about feathering.

[@TomCheswick]

Thank you! ON1 does have Line Mask tool (Shift P), though it doesn't let you adjust around curves like Photoshop's Pen tool. ON1 also gives you different options when Refining a selection. Instead of Hair/Branches, consider trying Hard Edges.

[@carlcasparo]

How did you remove the grey line on der right arm? You didn't show that....

[@TomCheswick]

Hey Carl, are you asking about the grey on the edge of her arm at 10:52 in the video? If so, the skin has a soft edge so there does appear to have a soft grey transition on the edge. Since I am replacing the background with a background that has a similar luminosity, the grey edge just goes away. It may show up if I was to make the new background white or black. I will have to make a more advanced masking tutorial on how to deal with halos or when the cutout isn't very clean. In the mean time, my best advice is if you know that you want to swap a background, select the background before the shoot. If it is really dark, shoot on a black or dark grey background. Be sure to have edge lights so there is good separation from you subject and background. If the new background is really light, shoot on a light grey background. And in this example, a medium grey background was the right choice. Hope this helps, but feel free to follow up if I didn't answer your question.

[@carlcasparo]

@@TomCheswick Thank you Tom for taking the time to answer my comment. I had not considered the connection with the background. It's nice that you can learn something new throughout your life, usually with the help of others. Thank you very much, I will continue to follow you and am already looking forward to your next "lessons".

[@TomCheswick]

You are welcome Carl!

[@ReneDiazJD]

I cannot get it to execute the “Paint in” “Apply” command and hangs up every time. I have already upgraded to 2024.5. Tried many, many times. Very frustrated with ON1; there has got to be a better program.

[@TomCheswick]

I'm sorry that the "Paint in" is not working for you. Be sure to contact ON1's support team at on1help.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new