Matte
A grayscale image that defines which parts of a photo are visible and which are hidden, used for compositing.
A matte functions as a visibility map for an image. White areas are fully visible, black areas are fully hidden, and gray values represent partial transparency. A matte may be a separate grayscale image or be stored as an alpha channel.
In compositing, each foreground element can have its own matte. Matte quality depends on accurate edges and sensible treatment of semi-transparent details. A good portrait matte preserves fine hair, soft shadows, and translucent fabric; a poor one creates hard cutouts, halos, or leftover background color.
Background-removal tools create a matte by estimating opacity at each pixel. You can inspect the result against both light and dark backgrounds, then refine any fringes before placing the subject in a new composition.
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