How to Use Instant Alpha in Keynote in 60 Seconds

You've got the perfect image for your slide presentation—perfect except for one thing: the background. In this lesson, you'll learn how to use Instant Alpha, a great Keynote feature, to easily remove the background of an image for our presentation. You can use this in a variety of situations to remove color and show transparency in the image.

We also have a helpful complement to this tutorial. Download our FREE eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations. Grab it now before you read on.

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Note: In this tutorial we use the Pitch Vol.3 - Professional Keynote Template template. You can find more great Keynote presentation templates on Envato Elements, on GraphicRiver. or in 15+ Best Keynote Presentation Templates.

How to Use Instant Alpha in Keynote

Note: Watch this short tutorial screencast or follow the quick steps below, that complement this video.

1. Select an Image

Start with an image selected. Now, let's make sure we've got Format selected on the right side. Then, let's switch to the Image tab.

Intant Alpha Keynote Image Tab — You'll find the **Instant Alpha** option on the **Image** tab.

2. Create Transparency in the Graphic

Next, let's go ahead and click on Instant Alpha to start creating transparency in the graphic. I'll click in an area that I want to remove color and show transparency in.

Area to make transparent in Instant Alpa — Click your cursor in the area that you want to make transparent.

After you click in it, you can drag your mouse cursor to increase or decrease the tolerance to the color that you want to remove. While you still have this tool open, you can click in another region of the image to remove that color and create transparency there as well.

Adding transparency with Instant Alpha — With Instant Alpha, you can add transparency to different areas of your image.

3. Finish the Process

Just repeat this process with as many areas as you want to remove from the image. Finally, let's go ahead and click Done. We've created transparency in the image and removed the color.

Instant Alpha Before and After — As you can see, we removed the green color from the image with Instant Alpha.

Instant Alpha is really a breeze to use in Keynote.

More Envato Tuts+ Keynote Presentation Tutorials

Learn more in our Keynote tutorials on Envato Tuts+. We've got an assortment of Keynote material to help you learn how to use the tool better:

Here's an additional resource to help you find great Keynote templates:

30+ Mac Keynote Themes: To Customize New Presentations Quickly (2022)

Sean Hodge

05 Apr 2021

You can also find great Keynote presentation templates with premium designs on GraphicRiver or Envato Elements.

Make Great Presentations (Free PDF eBook Download)

We also have the perfect complement to this tutorial, which will walk you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully.

Download our new eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations. It's available for free with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter.