I have a stock photography collection that has a stand alone app to select pictures. It will show me a preview of my images, with a transparent background. It then requires me to select a background color before I save it. (.psd, .tif, .jpg, .gif, and more) My issue with this is that I want the picture with no background, so that I might export it as an eps. I have had no luck getting around this little stock photo program, and have been left to save the picture with a background,then remove the background, and export my image in photoshop. That doesn't seem like a big deal, until you're doing it all day long. My question: When I open these images in Photoshop, inside my channels I have an alpha channel. This channel apears to have nothing in it. I feel as though it should contain information about my images previous clipping path, but I can't seem to get to it. Is it a lost cause?

Hey susieQ, are you able to "explore" the contents of the CD itself or is the data buried? If you can access the directory that contains the image files you may be able to open them directly within PS and see if the "alpha" retains the info...

just a thought...

BTW: is the prog "portfolio" that displays the pics or is it a Macromedia app like "director"??

:)
retrocity

I tried to get them from the cd, but the only files I could find were .hpi I have never heard of that kind of file format, and it will not open in Illustrator or Photoshop. I am running OS X, not sure if that is my problem or not. I'm not sure what director is, but when i launch the application (hemara I believe) it shows me a thumbnail of all the images. To open the image, I must insert the cd containing the image then go thru the ridiculous process of taking a perfectly good image with its clipping path and placing it on some background. I know that the files have the transparency locked in them, but I can not figure out how in the world to get to it. I appreciate any help with this that I can get. Susie

Attached Link: http://www.sonic.net/mnitepub/pccafe/reviews/hemera_photo_objects/photo_objects.html

"Placing Photo-Objects and PhotoFonts In Your Documents

The program is flexible and gives you four different ways you can place Photo-Objects and PhotoFonts in your documents for the PC and five different ways for the Mac.

Export Assistant - The first and easiest method is by using the Export Assistant. You start the Export Assistant by double-clicking the thumbnail image of any Photo-Object.

Drag and Drop - The second method is dragging and dropping Photo-Objects directly into your document from the Hemera Photo-Objects window. When you use this method, the image will take on the file format defined in the Drag and Drop default settings under Preferences in the Edit menu.

Copy and Paste - The third method is exporting Photo-Objects using the copy/paste method. You simply copy the image onto the clipboard by selecting the thumbnail image you want, select the Edit menu, and choose Copy to Clipboard. Then from the application you wish to use the copied image, select the Edit menu and choose Paste. When you use this method, the image will be copied in the file format defined in the Clipboard settings found under Preferences.

Save-As/Importing - The fourth method is saving the selected Photo-Object directly to your hard drive by choosing Save As from the File menu, and then importing the Photo-Object from within the application in which you wish to use the image.

Drag and Drop to Finder - The Mac has a fifth method which is dragging and dropping images to the Finder--in other words from Photo-Objects to your desktop or any folder on your system."

Thank you Lucan. I can get them to open in photoshop no problem, but try as I might, I can not get them to open with the transparent layer, the open with a white background. Were you ever succsessful in getting them to open with the transparency? I will try to check my preferences for my clipboard, and see if my problem might lie there. Thanks for the help, and I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

I use Hemera's PhotoObjects. In that, I save at full size TIFF. (JPG's dont contain alpha data) - They then come with an alpha mask. Some librarys actually have a clipping path which is even more accurate.