Preparing Your Background

If you want to get really fancy with your web backgrounds, it's still possible to achieve near-perfect transparency over a patterned or complex background, even with a drop shadow on your image. This is done through a slightly modified version of the basic transparency methods described in the first transparency tutorial. You'll need to get a screen shot of the background you want your image to float over, so use a 3rd party application or the PRINT SCREEN key and paste it into a new PhotoImpact document.

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Figure 10: The background we want our image to float on.

TIP: Make sure the color you're knocking out (making transparent) isn't also in the image or you'll be removing some of your image. Transparency effects the color selected in the entire image, not just the area you select. If you're having trouble, try making the background a few RGB points different than the original color.

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Figure 11: Selecting the dominant color of the complex background image and prepping the fill.