remove background from logo

[Douglas Bonneville]

Hi:

I have a recurring graphic problem I am never able to solve easily:

I get logos from companies, usually in low-res gif format, or a jpg. They always come off their websites. In all these cases, I have to lift the logo out of it's background and insert it onto another background. I always struggle to get the logos out of the original graphics, due to the aliasing of the edges of the logo where it merges with its original background.

One way I attempt to lift this out, if the logo is one color, is to simply marque and paste the image into the new psd file, where I set the layer to "multiply". I usually desaturate the image so it's black and white (balancing levels too). When "multiply" is chosen, the aliased edges work fine. But this is a really limited method, and with a complex or non-monochromatic logo, it doesn't work.

Does someone have a method(s) for extracting images like this for use in other design settings?

Of course, of course, get the original vector or hi-res tiff or whatnot. That is never never an option given that we are always working with a sales rep who never has access to anything other than the website or a photocopy or something lo-res like that.

Doug

[Cheesefood]

Are they impossible to redraw? If not, try tracing them with the pen tool and duplicating what they've done.

Or, if they're a big enough company, send an email to marketing at WhateverTheirNameIs dot com asking for high-rez files. Or call and ask them who manages their logos.

I find that, more often than not, the person sending you the logo isn't in marketing and doesn't know what files their marketing department has. A simple phone call or e-mail will help you about 50% of the time.

[YrbkMgr]

In the Save As Options for Tiff, make sure transparency is selected.

[E. Segen]

Dave, I'm pretty sure you are right. I am still using 5.5 at work and that is not a save option for me there.

[YrbkMgr]

Yep. My mistake. I just loaded 5.5 (still on my HD for some stupid reason), flatten image is checked and grayed out. I guess they didn't support tiff trannys then. Sorry.

[Sparklellama]

Found a great way to do it for solid colour logos

1. Copy the logo into a new alpha channel
2. Use levels control and set the colour area as the black point. Might have to do a few times, once for each colour.
3. You now have a black and white version of the logo in an alpha channel. Invert it and load it as a selection.
4. Go back to the RGB channel and sample all the colours into a palette.
5. Delete everything. Load the selection. Fill with a colour.
6. Marquee select each bit and fill with the correct colour (with transparency lock on)

Hope that helps.