Remove Background in Pictures - the Easy Way !!

Have you always feel frustrated when looking for easy-to-use image editing software that able to remove the background of a picture?

I do sometimes, as I'm not very proficient in using professional image editing software, e.g. Photoshop...

But today I discovered one great tool in MS Office 2010, that I just have to share with all ^^

Take this picture for example...So how do I use MS Office 2010 to remove the background, and only retain the house (the subject)?

                                                                     Image Source: thehousedesigners

Step 1: Open the picture file in MS Office Word 2010, Excel 2010 or PowerPoint 2010. In this case, I opened the file in PowerPoint.

Step 2: Select the picture. It would automatically switch to the "Picture Tools: Format" tab. 

Step 3: Look for the icon "Adjust: Remove Background" and click on the icon. In my pc, the icon is on the top left. It would switch to the "Background Removal" tab. 

The purple color area is the portion to remove. You can adjust the edge accordingly, based on what you want to retain or remove. 

But I also want to retain the bush flowers in front of the house. So what do I do?


Step 4: Select the icon "Mark Areas to Keep". The cursor would change to a 'pencil'. Mark the areas that you wish to retain. Or select the icon "Mark Area to Remove" if there are areas that you wish to remove.

Step 5: After satisfied with the area to keep or remove, select the icon "Keep Changes".

And you are done!!!!!

Now I can 'build' the house on a beautiful mountain in New Zealand... 

                                                 Background image source: hdwallpapersdepot

...or even on the tip of Pyramid :D :D :D

 
                                                  Background image source: wikipedia

The end result of the tool may be pretty basic compared to Photoshop...but I think this tool is very useful and good enough for people who are Photoshop-dummy like me, haha...