How to make an image round in Elements 10 please?

[Bettyboo]

Hi,

I am on a photography course and we are currently doing photo essays.

Mine is about ice hockey and I would like to make a few of the images round to make them more interesting. I found a tutorial on line on how to make it round which I have done (practicing on an old image) but can't then get the round image into my essay as the image on it's own, the white square background goes in as well.

I have attached (hopefully) the problem. I have to get this finished Friday night, as I have to take it to the printers on Saturday morning.

Any advice/guidance would be most gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance. Lynne

[revi]

Well, basically, you cannot make a round image, in that the common formats are all rectangular by definition.

What you can do, is make the background transparent, but I'm not sure Elements can do that. This will
require the image to have a so-called alpha channel. That also means you cannot use the jpeg format,
as it doesn't support an alpha channel/transparency. You'll have to export the image to PNG or TIFF.

[Manfred M]

I unfortuantely do not use Elements, mostly just Photoshop. I seem to remember that Elements does have a marquee tool. Have you tried making a circular selection with it and then erasing everything outside of the selection?

[Bettyboo]

Hi Guys, many thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks Manfred, I used the marquee tool to make it round, but it's the background it is on now I am having problems with.

Thanks Revi, I have been toying with the idea of trialing CS6 so might do that and try making the background transparent as you suggest (well I will try anyway) and have another go with another image and save that in PNG first.

Many thanks both, another massive learning curve for me!!

[oldgreygary]

I use elements 7 and if I've understood correctly I think this will work. If you open both of the images in the editor. Then from the image that you want to make the circle of. Use the ellipse marquee tool. After you start dragging the tool hold down the Shift key and this will make the circle. Then with that selection choose Edit>Copy, then Edit>Paste this will create a new layer with your extracted circle. Then click and drag this layer onto your other image. Once it is copied across you can use CTRL-T(transform) to move around and manipulate. That should work.

Cheers for now

Gary

[Bettyboo]

Hi Gary, thanks ever so much for this, but sadly I have failed at the last hurdle!!

I got the circle as you described, cut and paste and got the new layer. But I can't seem to be able to drag it anywhere?

Sorry for this, I am sure it is simple, but I do seem to be technically challenged!!

[Bettyboo]

Bingo, a little bit more patience and I move it! The only thing is that it is transparent, but opacity is set to 100%, so not sure why that is?

Many thanks Gary, small steps for me, but getting there!

[oldgreygary]

no worries, at the stage you have got to on the right hand side of the elements interface there should be a Layers panel. It will have created a new layer called Layer 1? above the background layer? You need to click and drag the layer 1 onto the image you want it to go on. As you have got two images on the workspace for edit you might have to move them about to make the other image visible. Whichever image you click on makes it the active image and you will see the Layers panel on the right hand side change. The image that contains your extracted circle must be the active image.

Cheers for now

Gary

[oldgreygary]

You beat me to it! Well done for persevering! re:transparency is the blend mode at the top set to Normal? If its something like Soft light that will make it transparent.

Cheers for now

Gary

[Mito]

You can also prepare an image in PNG format and import it as a new layer onto your original image. Make sure that the background is transparent. This will enable you to import irregular shaped images with ease.
I have Elements 8 and have just tried it now. When you have finished flatten it to whatever file format you use.
I hope this helps.

[Bettyboo]

Sorry for the delay in saying thanks Guys, but spent most of yesterday tinkering with it and have been successful, so really appreciate your help.

Lynne