Are you or your friend a frequent traveler who practically experiences withdrawals without a new portion of traveling images? Did the social distancing make your Instagram account look boring and monotonous? All travel enthusiasts are missing the thrill of discovering a new country, new culture, meeting new exciting people – it’s been too long! 

However, borders will remain shut down for a while for our own safety, so let’s improvise and create traveling photos using modern technology. There are two great programs that will help you change the background on any picture and relocate to Paris, Hong Kong, or Melbourne in under 5 minutes. 

Photoshop 

Firstly, let’s try to replace a background in a photo using Photoshop – a highly popular photo editor with myriads of functions and professional tools. 

Pros: you can virtually do anything in this program: create a logo, website elements, restore old photos, make brochures, and, of course, add a different background to a photo.

Cons: Photoshop requires a powerful PC to run smoothly as well as a thick wallet – the monthly fee is not cheap. Besides that, it is a professional tool that requires some prior editing knowledge. 

How to add a background to a picture in Photoshop

Choose the Selection Tool and mark the object on the photo that you would like to keep. Then click on Select and Mask and use the Refine Brush on hair to make it look more natural. Open the picture of the background you are going to use and copy-paste the cutout image to the new layer. That’s it! Now you can adjust the colors to make the tones match and create a harmonious color palette. 

PhotoWorks

Now, let’s attempt to add a new background to a photo in PhotoWorks – a great photo editing software with lots of both professional and amateur tools.

Pros: the program is very easy to use and quick to master, yet it contains every popular editing option in the book: photo restoration, color adjustments, 3D LUT correction, one-click Red Eye Remover and Change Background tool.

Cons: you cannot use the program on a Mac computer.

How to add a background to a photo in PhotoWorks

At first, choose the Change Background tool and use the Object brush to select the object. Then use the Background brush to separate the background from your object and adjust the edges. Click Next and select the background image and it will automatically appear behind the object. It was easy, right? You can also use the Healing brush to smooth out the edges and adjust the colors if necessary. 

Which program should you go for?

All in all, they are both great tools for this purpose, however, if you are not a professional photographer or graphic designer, give a try to PhotoWorks – the learning curve will be much easier. 

Don’t let the current situation bring you down – you will get a chance to travel again and discover new places, in the meantime – learn a new skill and create new cool photos to fill up your Instagram page.