How to Make a White Background in Photoshop

The short answer

To get a white background in Photoshop, separate the subject from its surroundings with a selection or layer mask, then place a white layer behind it. If you only need a blank white canvas or a white Background layer, a single Fill command does it. If the photo already has a light backdrop that looks gray or uneven, you can push that area to white with a masked Levels or Curves adjustment instead of cutting the subject out. The method depends on your starting point, and how clean the result looks depends mostly on how well the subject's edges are selected, especially around hair and soft outlines.

Menu names and the placement of some tools, such as Remove Background and the AI-assisted options, vary between Photoshop versions. The paths below follow the long-standing menus. If an item isn't where this guide says, check the documentation for your version.

Scope: this is an image task, not an audio one

This guide covers image editing only. A white background made in Photoshop can serve as a static virtual background in a video-call app, but it has no effect on how a webcam or its built-in microphone picks up speech. No evidence was supplied on any link between background images and voice capture, so this article doesn't cover microphone selection or audio settings.

Method 1: Fill a layer or new document with white

Use this when you need a plain white canvas or want to turn an existing layer solid white.

• For a new file, choose File > New and set Background Contents to White before creating the document.
• For an existing layer, select it in the Layers panel.
• Press D to reset the swatches to the defaults: black foreground and white background. Press X to swap them if needed.
• Choose Edit > Fill, set Contents to White, and click OK.
• Shortcut alternatives: Ctrl+Backspace (Cmd+Delete on Mac) fills the active layer or selection with the background color. Alt+Backspace (Option+Delete) fills with the foreground color.

The same steps cover the related tasks people search for. To make a background black, choose Black in the Fill dialog. To use any other color, choose Color and pick it in the Color Picker.

Method 2: Replace a photo's background with white

Use this when the subject sits in front of a busy or colored scene that you want swapped for clean white. This method uses non-destructive steps, so the original pixels stay intact and you can refine the result later.

• Open the photo. If the layer shows a lock icon as the Background layer, click the lock to convert it to a regular layer.
• Choose Select > Subject to let Photoshop detect the main subject. In versions that offer it, the Remove Background quick action in the Properties panel creates the mask in one step.
• Open Select > Select and Mask to refine the edges. The Refine Edge Brush helps with hair and fuzzy outlines. Set the output to Layer Mask.
• Choose Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color, pick pure white, and confirm.
• Drag the white fill layer below the subject layer in the Layers panel.
• Zoom in along the edges. Paint on the mask with black to hide leftover background and with white to restore parts of the subject.

A Solid Color fill layer is easier to change than a filled pixel layer. Double-click its thumbnail to switch the background to black or any other color without redoing the cutout.

Method 3: Whiten an existing light background

If the photo was shot against a white or near-white wall that came out gray or uneven, brightening that area can look more natural than a cutout, because the original edge transitions are kept.

• Select the background area, for example with Select > Subject followed by Select > Inverse.
• Add a Levels or Curves adjustment layer. Photoshop uses the active selection as the adjustment's mask.
• In Levels, drag the white input slider left until the background turns white. In Curves, raise the top of the curve. You can also click the background with the white-point eyedropper.
• If the adjustment spills onto the subject, paint the mask black over those areas.

Check that the background is truly white

Off-white areas can look white on screen. To confirm, open Window > Info, set the readout to RGB, and hover over several points of the background. Pure white reads 255 in red, green and blue. Values below that indicate gray or tinted patches that need another pass. Also check the subject's edges at 100% zoom or higher for halos, which look like thin colored outlines left over from the old background.

Choosing a method

Starting point | Recommended method | Main thing to watch

Blank canvas or layer | Edit > Fill with White | Make sure the correct layer is active

Subject on a busy or colored scene | Select Subject, refine the mask, add a white fill layer below | Edge quality around hair and soft outlines

Subject on a dull white or light backdrop | Masked Levels or Curves adjustment | Keeping the brightening off the subject

Exporting for use as a virtual background

If the image is meant to be a virtual camera or video-call background, export it with File > Export or Save a Copy in a common format such as JPEG or PNG. Supported image sizes and formats differ between conferencing apps, and no app-specific requirements were supplied for this guide. Check the background settings in the app you use before choosing dimensions.