changing the background color on an image

Hi...really new at Photoshop editing and was wonder if it is possible to change the background color (in this case white) to another color such as black. Do you have to paint in the whole white area or is there an easier method. Your help would be greatly appreciated. I wil try to show the image.

There are two ways to do it: if you press CTRL+Backspace it fills the selected layer/selection with the background color.

If you go edit->fill you can select a color to fill the layer/selection with.

You can see in the attached photo what I mean by background color...

Hi stinkoman....tried that but when I change the foreground or background to white or black unable to see the image. I am trying to keep the image only or with a black background because that is my webpage color and I want the image to blend in with the page.

Hello bsharke,

You could try the magic wand tool and select the background. It selects the whole background on some pictures. or another way is to just hand paint over the background and then just keep zooming in when you get close the the edges. Hope this helps.

ah. ok, now I see what you were asking. I thought you were talking about an image you were making so you had the background on a seperate layer. footballstar is right, use the magic wand to select the background, changing the tollerance as needed, then fill that area like I mentioned.

Hi Guys.....that magic wand did the trick. So simple after you smarten up.

Thanks