Hi How does anybody know how I extract a reasonably dark image from its background?

Below are two identical images with white background.

But the preset colour of my vistaprint business card is light blue.

So I just want to paste the image from the links below onto a light blue business card if that is possible.

http://www.divshare.com/download/16727822-d94

http://www.divshare.com/download/16727831-e09

This is almost 100% what I want: http://www.divshare.com/download/16727868-e64

but for some reason the resolution from this home made job comes out terrible at Vista Print so I have to do the card writing on their site and give them a better resolution image which the one in the first two links is.

Thanks in advance.

What you could do is go to Color > Color To Alpha > Change the color to white.

Thanks the "to Color > Color To Alpha > " worked.

Replying to all at once here:

It is easy to remove the white

background in the image. Right

click the image, then select Layer ->

Transparency -> Colour to Alpha...

then click OK. .........

Kevin.

GimpDummy: Thanks Kevin that worked too. I am looking at the option to colourfy. Do you know if there is a wider range of colors that we can colourfy with?
Answer:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ James: I'd recommend doing Color > Levels first, then making sure the black is as black as you want. Otherwise if it's dark gray (not quite black), that will translate to partially-transparent when you do the Color to Alpha.
You could also do Color > Levels and adjust alpha layer after. Either way. -James

GimpDummy: This is a good point you raise here James about what to do when some of the colour on my image is patchy. Obviously the answer lies in your instructions somewhere except I can't figure out how to use that Levels instrument to darken up the image to a consistent black? Answer:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Isn't that a good thing? Then you get a soft edge that blends well on other backgrounds rather than a hard edge that looks like jagged crap.

Frank Gore 

GimpDummy:  Thanks Frank I will consider that option too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




>

Well I have succeeded in removing

white or background colours, but

that still means that I see the

image with those ugly charcoal and

black squares underneath.

More importantly, when I create a

nice light turquoise layer and

paste the image on there, the nice

light turquoise colour converts

into a mix of grey and turquoise. Here is a desktop video of my pitiful plight :-) http://youtu.be/xUFRgbSRahI

Another issue that is coming up

here is....Is there a way to

straighten up lines and edges of an

image that are diagnal on the

image?

Or a way to crispen up lines and

outlines?

Thanks in advance Tom

Thanks James I will have a good look at that after I get a quick bite. Currently Vistaprint is telling me I have a pixel problem. See next post.

There is a new development which is more easily explained here on this screenshot: http://www.divshare.com/download/16734472-6d9

This is the actual card size and appearance that I would be happy with: http://www.divshare.com/download/16727868-e64

but for some weird reason Vistaprint's specs won't accept it so I have to try and see if GIMP can make an image to Vistaprint's specifications as explained on the screenshot in the first link.

Thanks for all help so far. Tom

After Color To Alpha:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/rocketmonkeys/3-aftercolortoalpha.png Notice that the blacks are true black, not semi-transparent. This because you started with black, not gray.

This is what it looks like with a blue background: http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/rocketmonkeys/4-withbluebackground.png

Try it out, let me know if you're still stuck.

-James

Thanks for making Levels much clearer James. I got similar results but never quite saw the graphlike imput levels such as in your link here: http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/rocketmonkeys/2-afterlevels.png

I am interested in the exact process of how you went from Color To Alpha here: http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/rocketmonkeys/3-aftercolortoalpha.png

to a blue background here: http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/rocketmonkeys/4-withbluebackground.png which is much closer to what I am after.

So exactly how did you get this Color To Alpha here: http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/rocketmonkeys/3-aftercolortoalpha.png

to a blue background here: http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/rocketmonkeys/4-withbluebackground.png ??

and how would you make or change that blue background, to a light turquoise background or foreground or whatever the right term is?

Even better, how would you just paste the black image from here:http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/rocketmonkeys/3-aftercolortoalpha.png

onto the top right corner of this card

http://www.divshare.com/download/16735622-95f

assuming the card was made of the right amount of pixels which is my next issue?

Thanks Tom

They want 300dpi, you sent 61dpi! No way.

Also the dimensions are incorrect

OK, so with gimp, open a new image, 1063x615 px at 300 dpi and redo your card

Owen

Sorry not nearly on the same page yet Owen.

"open a new image..."

It can't be this image that I open as my new image http://www.divshare.com/download/16735622-95f can it??

which was a screenshot I took off Vistaprints screen

and which this Vista screenshot http://www.divshare.com/download/16734472-6d9

seems to explain as a "Genetically Flawed Image seriously deficient in pixels"

Also where do I find the "300 dpi" setting?

Thanks Tom

...... or rescale, Image->Scale

Image (set dpi to 300, ok, then set dimensions to what is required, ok)

Owen

Thanks Owen that got me on my way.