I am far from being a professional photographer. But as a scrapbooker I take many photos. Upon inspecting my photos I have taken I often notice items in my background that I do not want in my photo. Maybe it is a basket of laundry or a messy garage in the photo, maybe it is a crowd of people or a busy background that is taking away from the person I am trying to focus on. Whatever the case may be, there are many times when I would like to make the subject of my photo standout from the rest of the picture. With photo editing software you can make this happen.

The following instructions pertain to Paint Shop Pro 8 software. However, you may be able to accomplish the same effects with other software programs. In addition to a photo editing software you will also need your photo saved on your computer. If you do not have a digital camera to transfer the photo from you can scan your photo and edit the scanned image.

Step 1: Open your photo in your favorite program.
In this example I am using a photo of my daughter spinning around in our messy garage.

Step 2: From the Tools toolbar click on the Freehand Selection tool that looks like a lasso. This tool lets you select objects with irregular borders. The program finds the edges between two areas with color or light changes between them.

Step 2

Step 3: Decide what area of your photo you want to remain unaffected.
In this example I want my daughter to be unaffected.
You are going to outline this area of the photo.
Choose a starting point and left click.

Step 4: Move your mouse and you will see a rectangle forming. Click on another point of the border to the area you want to remain unaffected. After each click a line appears that indicates the border. Keep clicking along the area until you have made a complete border around the area that will remain unaffected.

Step 3 & 4 - Making the Border

Step 5: Once you have made it back to your starting point double click and you will see the solid line border has turned into a border of dotted lines.

Step 5 - Dotted Border

Step 6: Click Selections --> Invert.
You will see that the entire border of the photo is now blinking.

Step 5

Now is the time to start making changes to the background of the photo.

One change you can make will be to make the background less saturated or "colorful".
Choose Adjust --> Hue and Saturation --> Hue/Saturation/Lightness.

Hue/Saturation/Lightness

The Hue/Saturation/Lightness detail box will pop up.
Changing the saturation to -100 will make the background appear black and white.
You can also try other levels of saturation which can make the background lose some of its color.

Hue/Saturation/Lightness Box

Finished Photo - Saturation Changed

Another option is to blur the background.
Choose Adjust --> Blur --> Average Blur.

Blur

The Average Blur detail box will pop up.
You can choose the filter aperature you want to use.
The higher the aperature you use the more blurred the background will become.

Blur Box

Finished Photo - Blurred Background

Ageing is a way to alter the background.
This is done by clicking Effects --> Artistic Effects --> Aged Newspaper.

Finished Photo - Aged Background

In the same Artistic Effects menu is an option called Sepia Toning which can also be used.

Finished Photo - Sepia Background

Life doesn't always happen in pretty settings. But that doesn't mean you have to pass up on the photo opportunity. Just remember that there are great photo editing programs out there to lend a hand so you can still scrap those memories.

Free trial versions of the following programs can be found at the following links:

• Paint Shop Pro
• PhotoImpact
• Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

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See more of Rebecca's work in our gallery.