@Heather Flyte
I agree about layer masks being utterly useful. I use them extensively in GIMP and they are just as useful in GIMP as they are in Photoshop. Same as you, I’ve found that “all the layer options” once used are *very* hard to live without. :)

@Zach Dunn
Thanks for this useful post. Always nice to have bookmarks like this handy to point folk at when they ask how to do these sort of things. ;)

@Those who might want to do this same sort of thing in GIMP, it’s an almost identical process:

1) Select the area you want to make transparent or mask out using the “Fuzzy Select” (GIMP) or “Magic Wand” (Photoshop) tool, as the article above states.
2) Press Ctrl-I to invert the selection (again, just as in the article above).
3) In the GIMP menus, select “Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask”
4) Choose “Selection” in the dialog window which pops up to create a mask that works exactly like the one in the article.

Also useful in GIMP for this type of task is the “Quick Mask” tool (Shift-Q) which allows you to fine tune the selection using the painting tools. I’m sure that an identical feature exists in Photoshop as well.

@Heather Flyte
I agree about layer masks being utterly useful. I use them extensively in GIMP and they are just as useful in GIMP as they are in Photoshop. Same as you, I’ve found that “all the layer options” once used are *very* hard to live without. :)

@Zach Dunn
Thanks for this useful post. Always nice to have bookmarks like this handy to point folk at when they ask how to do these sort of things. ;)

@Those who might want to do this same sort of thing in GIMP, it’s an almost identical process:

1) Select the area you want to make transparent or mask out using the “Fuzzy Select” (GIMP) or “Magic Wand” (Photoshop) tool, as the article above states.
2) Press Ctrl-I to invert the selection (again, just as in the article above).
3) In the GIMP menus, select “Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask”
4) Select “Selection” in the dialog window that pops up to create a mask which works exactly like the one in the article.

Also useful in GIMP for this type of task is the “Quick Mask” tool (Shift-Q) which allows you to fine tune the selection using the painting tools. I’m sure that an identical feature exists in Photoshop as well.

A great way to fine-tune the mask is to select the “Channels” tab next to “Layers” and make the mask channel visible. The semi-transparent pink color is the mask (hidden). From here you can use white paint to reveal the image. Also, try using white text to display the image through that text on that channel.

Don’t forget to hide the mask on the “Channel” tab when you’re done editing.

For example, as with this article, to remove backgrounds as I use earse in PSP and the results are honking (!) most of the time.

Thanks.