Background question

[Ironfeld]

Since you guys were very nice and responded to my other question, figured i'd give this one a shot to.  I found a picture of an old piece of parchment online i wanted to use as a background.  Problem is, i have the parchment, erase the background, but it still stays on there.  Not sure if that makes sense or if its just the fact you cant take 1 picture and make it the background for another.  I tried pasting it into a new layer, but it still keeps the white background on it from the original picture.  Basically i'm trying to remove the parchement from its original picture and put it on its on to use as a background.  Like i said, may not make sense but any advice would be great, thanks again.

[phatd42]

<p>when you make a copy of the layer you want, make sure that when youre copying you have your layer highlighted.  ( you should have a toolbar on your screen with the layers listed.. if not, you can right click your screen, go to toolbars and get your layer menu)</p><p>You may want to duplicate as well.. If somethings listed as a background you cant paste something under it, but you can duplicate it, then paste something beneath the duplicate layer.  Then the one titled "background" realy doesnt matter.. you can even delete it if you want ( I try not to delete anything, if I dont want to use it i just turn off the particular layer. you never know if you decide youll want it back)</p><p>Hope I didnt get too complicated.. Happy to help if I can hehe, or try and clarify ><</p>

[Seagoat]

<p>I hope I'm following you correctly...let me know if I'm not.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>You will first need to right-click on your parchment image and "Promote Background Layer."  Now, when you erase the background, you should see a checkered pattern instead of a solid color -- that checkered pattern tells you that portion of your image is transparent.  It'll look something like this:</p><p><img src="http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/eq2graphics/miscellany/sig-breakdown06.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></p><p>Now, whatever you place "below" that layer in your Layer Palette can be seen beneath your cutout:</p><p><img src="http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/eq2graphics/miscellany/sig-breakdown08.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></p><p>Your layers are displayed in the order you see them in your Layer Palette, from top to bottom, and you can click and drag layers above and below other layers:</p><p><img src="http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/eq2graphics/miscellany/sig-breakdown00b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></p><p>(Yes, that's the actual Layer Palette for <a href="http://eq2.lunaclick.net/galleries/500x150sigs.php#Amnerys_1_500x150" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amnerys' sig</a>!)  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>