>>I am trying to remove the white background from a small black logo (created in PSP) enabling the web page background of light blue to show through. The colour replacement tool just refuses to change it to a colour.<<
Well, there are certain issues that come into play when you are wanting to remove parts of an image.
[ol]
Possible Issues:
[li]Will antialiasing be important?[/li]
[li]Is the part being removed in a background or full layer?[/li]
[li]Is the part being removed a solid color?[/li]
[li]Does any part of the are to be removed have any whsips (is that a word?) of fine lined stuff like hair?[/li][/ol]When trying to remove a background all the above is important. If the background is a solid white and there aren't to many soft curves, then the magic wand will work nicely. However if there are lots of curves, then using the freehand tool set to point to point might be a better option. The reason for that is because the freehand tool allows you to select with an antialiased selection.
Part of the problem with the magic wand is that in some instances the resulting selection tends to produce jagged edges along a curved edge. You can adjust the feathering but for curves, for the reason stated above, the freehand tool is probably the better overall way to make selections.
So, if you have a logo on a white background and the logo is just basic text, then the magic wand might work just fine. If the new background color is close to white, then the magic wand will work even better.
If for example you have a person or persons in a photo and you want to remove the background, I would use the freehand tool set to point to point.
TIP: Zooming in helps you make more accurate selections.
If the image only has a background layer, promote the layer to a full layer, Layers > Promote to a Layer. Next make your selection. Then invert the selection, Selections > Invert. Now you can press the delete key on your keyboard. Your background is gone.
If you want some more information on how to make good selections, visit my site at
I have several basic tutorials on the subject.
A drawing tablet makes such selections easy.
hth...mike