Thankfully, you can learn how to turn a picture into a line drawing in Photoshop CC 2019 following the photo editing steps below. Images of objects isolated on a white background work best for this technique, making this a great option for modifying or enhancing product photos.
Scroll down below the video for the written tutorial.
If you want to turn a photo into a pencil sketch in Photoshop, but don't want it to look like you did it in Photoshop, you'll need to pay attention to detail and prepare your image properly before you apply any filters.
I’m going to show you one method on how to convert your image into a pencil sketch flawlessly, and then we'll discuss specific tools you can explore to achieve other image outlining effects in Photoshop.
Not all photos are the same, so you'll need to use your judgment as you adjust filters, blurs and layer opacities each time you use Photoshop to convert a photo into a line drawing.
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For the first step, we’re going to adjust the contrast of the photo to optimize it for a line drawing. In this photograph, the red parts of the bike contrast significantly against the white background. However, you’ll see there are sections of the bike’s frame that are very light, like up here by the bike’s seat.
We'll adjust the contrast of the entire photograph so the light areas of the bike won’t blend into the background as we modify this photo. Go to your Layers panel and make sure the layer that contains your image is selected. If you're working in a flattened image (such as a JPG), this layer will be the locked Background layer.
If you can’t see your Layers panel, you can access it by going to the top menu here, selecting Windows, and then scrolling down until you see “Layers.”
We’re going to use Curves to make the light parts of the photo darker against the light background. To do this, choose Image > Adjustments > Curves from the dropdown menu at the top of Photoshop's application window.
Now I have my Curves window open. This can look intimidating but it’s actually really easy and fun to use. What I’m going to be doing is clicking and dragging on this line here to change the lights and darks in my image, like this.
I’m working in RGB, so when I pull down on the curve, it darkens the inside shades of the image, and when I pull up, it lightens them. If you’re working in CMYK, it’s just the opposite—down to lighten, up to darken.
I want to adjust just these white areas of the bike, so I’ll click on the area in the image to see where those colors correspond on my curve—for this image, it’s up here—and that gives me an idea of where I need to adjust my curve. So, I’ll grab here, and pull down here, and see what that does to my image? Every image is a little bit different, but you should have an idea now of how to use curves to create more contrast between the object and the background.
Once you’ve got some significant contrast going on, click OK in the Curves dialog box.
Next thing we’ll be doing is setting up our layers. We’re going to have four regular layers in all and an adjustment layer, and I’ll walk you through each layer, one by one.
In your Layers panel, duplicate the layer containing your image three times, so that you have four identical layers. To duplicate the layer, select the original layer in the Layers panel, click on the Layers panel menu in the upper right hand corner of the panel, and choose Duplicate Layer.
Let’s name these layers so we don’t get confused. We can keep the Background layer called “Background,” that’s fine. Now, click on the layer name of the Background copy layer so you can rename it. We’ll call this one “Inverted.” The next layer up—this one called “Background copy 2”—we’ll name “Sketch.” And the top one we’ll rename to “Cross hatch.” Let’s move on to the next step.
This is going to be a black and white sketch, so the next thing we’re going to do is convert our image to black and white. Yes, you can go to Image > Mode > Grayscale and convert it that way, but we’re going to use an Adjustment Layer, which is a little more elegant and isn’t as destructive.
To start, select the duplicated layer at the top of the Layers panel. We’re doing this so that the adjustment layer we’re going to create will sit on top of all the other layers.
Select the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel—it’s the icon that looks like a half black, half white circle. Choose Hue/Saturation from the dropdown menu.
Voila! You've just created an adjustment layer for Hue/Saturation, which means all layers that appear beneath the adjustment layer will retain the Hue/Saturation properties you set for that adjustment layer.
With your adjustment layer still selected, go to your Properties panel, located to the right of your image by default. If you don't see your Properties panel, you can choose Window > Properties from the dropdown menu at the top of the Photoshop application window.
You'll see three sliders in the Properties panel: Hue, Saturation and Lightness. Drag the slider for Saturation as far as it will go to the left, so that the value listed for Saturation is now -100.
Your image now appears grayscale. Pretty cool, right?
In this next step, you'll learn how to outline, or trace, the picture in Photoshop using a series of layer effects. If your goal is to create just an outline of your photograph, you may decide your picture is complete after this step.
Make your top two duplicated layers invisible by clicking on the eye icons next to the layers in the Layers panel. Then select the visible layer that is second from the bottom of the Layers panel, the one we named “Inverted.”
Click on the dropdown menu at the top of the Layers panel next to Normal. Select Color Dodge.
With the same layer still selected, invert the image by typing CTRL+I (COMMAND+I on a Mac). You can also invert the image by choosing Image > Adjustments > Invert from the dropdown menu at the top of Photoshop's application window.
So, if you look here in the Layers panel, there’s a preview of what the image would look like if it didn’t have the Color Dodge blending mode attached. Don’t worry—this is all correct. And it’s about to get even better.
Next, choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
In the Gaussian Blur dialog box that appears, adjust the slider until your image looks like a line drawing.
Moving the slider to the left will result in thinner lines; moving the slider to the right and increasing the blur will thicken and darken the lines, and add some shading to the image. Make sure that Preview is checked in the dialog box so that you can see how the image changes as you move the slider to the right or to the left.
Now, as a side note, you may decide you want to thicken the strokes of your line drawing as it looks so far. To thicken the strokes, duplicate your original layer one more time and move the new layer above the layer you just adjusted (layer with Color Dodge blend mode).
Choose Filter > Filter Gallery... from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window. Choose Glowing Edges under Stylize. Here, you can adjust the Edge Width on the right-hand side of the window. Reducing Edge Brightness will result in a cleaner edge. Click OK.
Back in your Inverted layer, click CTRL+I (COMMAND+I on a Mac) to invert the layer, and change the layer blend mode to Multiply.
The outlines of your image will now be thicker and darker.
For the next steps in this process, we’ll need to make sure that our foreground and background colors are set up correctly before we do anything with our filters. So let’s do that now.
In your Toolbar, set your Background Color to white by double-clicking on the Background Color icon. In the Color Picker (Background Color) dialog box, click on the upper left-hand corner of the large color box.
Next, set your Foreground Color to a medium gray. Double click on the Foreground Color square in the Toolbar. In the Color Picker (Foreground Color) dialog box, click midway down the left side of the large color box.
Other colors in the large color box (such as the blues and reds visible in the Color Picker panel image below) are irrelevant since you're keeping the cursor all the way to the left side of the large color box.
In the Layers panel, select the layer above the layer you just worked with—the layer called “Sketch.” Click on the eye icon to make the layer visible again. Your image will now look like a black-and-white photograph again.
Choose Filter > Filter Gallery... from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window. That big Filter window will pop up again.
In the Filter window, click on the folder marked Sketch and choose Charcoal.
Adjust the Charcoal Thickness, Detail, and Light/Dark Balance sliders until the image in the preview window has the appropriate amount of detail. Remember, you already have a line drawing of the photo in a lower layer, so you only need to create shading in this step.
Click OK.
Back in the Layers panel, click on the dropdown menu next Normal and adjust the Layer Blend Mode of the charcoal layer to Multiply.
The last part of the process is what will really set your image apart, and make it truly look like something drawn by hand. We’re going to add a cross-hatching effect.
In the Layers panel, click the eye icon on the top layer—the “cross-hatch” layer, to make the layer visible. All layers should now be visible in your image.
With the top layer selected, choose Filter > Filter Gallery... once more from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window. If you see the Filter Gallery option more than once in the dropdown, make sure you select the lower option.
In the Filter window, click on the option marked Sketch and choose Torn Edges. Adjust the toggles on the right-hand side of the window until you can see the details of your image, just like you see here on my screen.
Once you're happy with the appearance of the Torn Edges filter, click on the New icon located at the lower right-hand side of the Filter window. (This icon looks like a piece of paper with a plus sign in the middle of it.)
You'll see Torn Edges appear twice in the right-hand side of the Filter window. While the top instance of Torn Edges is still selected, click on the Graphic Pen filter and change the Stroke Diagonal to Left Diagonal.
You can also adjust the sliders for the Graphic Pen filter until you're satisfied with the image in the preview window. As with the previous layer, you're only creating shading at this stage.
Click OK.
And now, change the Layer Blend Mode from Normal to Multiply as you did with the previous layer.
We’re almost done!
Finally, because the graphic pen filter is crisper than the charcoal filter we applied to the lower layer, we'll add a slight motion blur.
With the same layer still selected, choose Filter > Blur > Motion Blur from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
In the Motion Blur dialog box, set the angle to -45° and move the Distance slider to the left to create a very slight blur. Make sure Preview is checked so you can see the blur before you apply it.
Click OK.
You're not done yet! Playing with the opacity of your layers and cleaning up any dark spots that you see in your image will put the final touch on your new pencil sketch.
First, let’s adjust the opacity of some of our layers. You can adjust the opacity of the top two layers to reduce the intensity of the pencil shading.
In the image below, the top layer's opacity is reduced to 60% and the next layer down has an opacity of 70%.
You should not adjust the opacity of the bottom two layers as doing so could undermine the line drawing effect you have created.
Next, let’s clean up any artifacts.
Depending on your image, there may be several places where the white background looks as if it has smudges, or dark spots.
In order to remove dark spots such as these, stamp the layers by selecting all layers, including the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, within the Layers panel. Type SHIFT+CTRL+A+E (SHIFT+COMMAND+OPTION+E on a Mac) to create a stamped layer, which will appear at the top of your Layers panel.
Set your foreground color to white in the Toolbar and choose the Brush tool from the Toolbar. Within the new stamped layer, carefully paint over any smudges using the brush tool. And there you have it! Your finished image will now look like a pencil sketch.
Now that you know how to turn a picture into a line drawing in Photoshop, be sure to check out our other Photoshop tutorials to master your skills.
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So, what better way to capture shoppers’ attention than using color strategically to evoke the right mood and emotions? Color can take an otherwise ordinary product and make it pop off the page. Not only that, you can create a cohesive brand your shoppers will become familiar with.
Understanding color’s role in ecommerce allows you to make the right decisions for your shoot, but how can you choose the right background for your product photos? That depends on a variety of factors.
Not only do your product photos need to look great on your own website, but you also need to consider the context of your photos for other placements, such as online marketplaces, social media, and brochures. Let’s look at the best background colors for each channel.
White, transparent, slightly off-white, and light gray are popular background colors for most ecommerce websites. These clean backgrounds make it easy for shoppers to browse through your products. Instead of being distracted by too much color, they can focus on and compare the products, like on Agood Company’s online store.
If you want to use a touch of color, make sure the tones work well across your website. For example, children’s product retailer Kidly opts for different neutrals that fit well together and suit the brand’s light color scheme.
If your brand calls for bright colors and you want a unique ecommerce shop front, get inspired by Life Supplies, which uses different tones to separate its various product ranges visually. One quick glance and shoppers instantly know which products are from the same line.
When people look at your social media channels, you want them to see some visual connection between your images and your overall brand identity.
For example, Vielö sells premium skincare focused on organic and sustainable ingredients. The brand’s Instagram page shows photos featuring neutral colors and tactile materials, such as wood, paper, stone, and others. No photo is the same, but they all work together in a collection.
You can also experiment with more colorful backgrounds, cropping, and filters for social media. It all depends on your brand and audience.
Amazon requires sellers to use a pure white background for product photos. Even if you didn’t use a white background at the time of shooting, you can add it during post-processing.
Here are other requirements to keep in mind for Amazon:
While other platforms aren’t as strict on having a white background, it’s still recommended for marketplaces like Etsy and eBay. It brings uniformity to the product browsing experience and makes your products look professional.
However, Etsy, for example, also allows you to use brighter colors and lifestyle settings as product backdrops. Browsing the different Etsy gift collections shows how sellers use various backgrounds.
Print signage, catalogs, and brochures haven’t gone anywhere. They’re still essential parts of marketing campaigns for many brands.
Clean white background is the perfect canvas for showing your product’s features and colors, while contextual lifestyle shots will allow shoppers to envision how they may use your product. For example, DIY and home improvement retailer B&Q uses both across its brochures.
If you need to use product photos for in-store displays and signage, contextual lifestyle backgrounds tend to reign supreme.
Product color is another consideration when deciding your background color. The main thing to remember is you need contrast between your product and the background color. This means your product should always be lighter or darker than the background, regardless of your chosen tones.
If you’re not limited to specific background colors, like white for an Amazon listing, and want to add color to your products, why not experiment with vibrant hues?
Once you know which products you need to photograph, review your shot list and look at the main product colors. Then, using the color wheel, review the opposite colors on the spectrum—these shades will let your products stand out.
For example, if you have a green-colored product like this cleansing bar by Ambi, you’ll find reds, pinks, and violets on the opposite side of the color wheel. Using one of those as a background color for your product is a simple trick to create instantly eye-catching and attractive visuals.
You’re not limited to just indoor studio shots, either. Take this purple wine bottle and tumbler from Partner in Wine as an example. While the overall shot features similar lilac tones, the product is displayed against the contrasting green grass, leading the eye straight to the product.
Similarly, if your product has warm tones, opt for a cool color as the background—and the opposite for products with cool tones.
If your product only features a hint of color, try that as a background option. But, instead of going for the exact same shade, tone it down and opt for a lighter one, like Mio’s body butter photo.
One trick is to use an online color tool like HTML Color Codes first to find your product accent color and then move the slider to the left for a lighter shade you can use as the background.
If your products are in the neutral tone range, why not stay there? Gray, nude, beige, and other neutral shades lend themselves equally as calm background colors for a sophisticated look. That’s not to say you can’t add a splash of color if it fits your brand, but neutrals work particularly well with equally neutral background colors and organic backdrops like stone, sand, wood, linen, and other materials.
Ethical and eco-friendly lifestyle brand Nkuku shows how adding similar neutral colors in the background can create an earthy but elegant look. The trick is to add enough color contrast to let the product take center stage.
If you sell white products and need a white background to fit the requirements of a marketplace like Amazon, ensure your lighting and editing emphasize any shadows or texture the product might have. Doing so will help the product stand out even on a white or off-white background, like the Amazon listings for white gloves.
If your white background shots need a touch of luxury, add a reflection shadow, just like Lily & Roo’s pearl necklace shot. It gives the illusion of a glossy surface, often used in higher-end jewelry, accessories, and tech stores.
However, If you have the creative freedom to pick a background, any darker colors will help your white product pop. There is no one-size-fits-all, and instead, consider your brand’s color palette to help you choose a few different tones to find the best color background for your product, like this rich, maroon fabric showcasing high-end jewelry from Prestons.
What if your products have no color and are made of a transparent material like glass? Whether you choose a white or dark background, lighting your product to bring out its edges is key. Adding shadows will help separate your products from the background, just like Waterdrop’s shots of clear glasses on a white backdrop.
Another option is to add a subtle gradient. Nkuku’s glass bottles demonstrate it well—the lighter shade on the left highlights both bottles on one side, while the darker side contrasts the bottles’ contour on the right.
Photographing black products brings its own challenges, similar to white and transparent. You want the product to be distinguishable from the background without losing any of its unique features.
Generally, this means you’ll want to go for a lighter color background. But you don’t have to always stick with white. Try more powerful colors, like Ethique did with its charcoal soap bar against a bright pink backdrop.
On the other hand, dark backgrounds can create a luxurious, opulent feel, so if your brand calls for a dark design, go for it. You’ll just have to pay attention to your lighting during the photoshoot to illuminate your product and its shape, like in this bracelet product shot by Seekers.
Whatever background color you choose, you want shoppers to see your products clearly. If the background overshadows the product or makes it difficult to see, that’s a clear sign to try something different.
Finding the right balance comes down to experimentation. Remember, you can always change the background color in post-production or use a color change service if the photo doesn’t turn out how you envisioned.
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While product color has perhaps the largest impact on which color background you should use, you might also have other subjects in the frame to consider.
If you create lifestyle or styled product shots, you’ll need props. Same as picking a background color or pattern, choose props that will complement your product rather than distract from it.
You might want to decorate the shot with props highlighting your brand’s message. For example, independent organic skincare brand Harvest included cozy wool socks, a towel, and a rustic wood backdrop in its foot salve product shot. The brand focuses on natural ingredients, hand-crafted products, and simple packaging, which shows in its prop choice.
Another method is including natural ingredients as your props if you sell health, beauty, food, or drink products. Ethique does this playfully with bright colors and unique prop placement for its body care collection. Each photo features the main product ingredients, such as a slice of lime with ginger or a spoonful of matcha.
Showing your products in use with the help of models is a great way to give shoppers more context about your product. For clothing, footwear, accessories and jewelry, it’s a traditional way of showing how the product looks when worn, like on the Wild Fawn Jewelry online store. But you can use models for other types of products, too.
Spend time with your team and photographer, and consider how your model’s hairstyle, clothing, and skin tone work with your background color to make your products shine. Establish who your models are in advance and which background colors you hope to use. Working with a stylist can also help ensure your models and products complement one another.
Remember, models play an important role in highlighting your products. But in most cases, they shouldn’t be the main focus. For example, WILD SAGE + Co included a model for its beeswax candle shot, but the model’s pose and clothing don’t detract from the main focus of the image—the product.
When you want to add some color to the background, consider how those colors may affect online shoppers. Are they complementary to the colors of your product and brand? Will they persuade shoppers to buy? Do they resonate with your brand?
Emotions associated with colors will vary across cultures, so it’s not a universal method. But you might still get inspired by traditional color associations as a starting point. For example, blue can invoke feelings of serenity and logic, while green—freshness, health, and nature.
While color is important, the truth is, there’s no best color for background. The colors you choose depend on your goal and what you’re trying to convey.
To get the most from your product photos, don’t forget that they need to go well with your brand colors. The last thing you want is to have a handful of quality photos that don’t match your website or brand color theme. This is why planning your shoot beforehand is so important.
With 54% of shoppers choosing online shopping for better value, there are many different types of devices accessing your online store. Even if shoppers are in a physical store, as many as 92% still check out products on their phones first. From computers and tablets to various smartphones—that’s a long list of differently sized gadgets.
First, review how your images look on different screens—are they sized appropriately and visible even on smaller phones? As many as 44% of shoppers are expected to use smartphones in 2025, so ensure quality photos with cropped unnecessary details. Most browsers have built-in emulators to check sites on different screen dimensions.
Second, consider varying screen brightness and contrast levels. This means products need to stand out against busy backgrounds—or those that are too similar to your product tones—without colors blending together.
If you’re looking for quick recommendations on picking the right color for your product shots, here are some tips and creative background ideas:
White is the most common background color for online listings by default, and for a good reason. It works well with most color combinations and doesn't require heavy edits.
White is a safe bet and works for many scenarios:
The closest to a standard white background, neutrals like off-white, gray—from light to dark— beige or brown can highlight your products online.
Neutral works well for different product ranges and scenarios because it:
If you’re going for a more dramatic, elegant look—look no further than black for the background color.
A black background:
Whether you want high-impact pops of color or soft pastel tones, strategic use of color backdrops can take your photos to the next level.
Here are some ideas on how to use colorful product photo backgrounds:
Want something more unique than just a solid background color? Natural materials can help you create eye-catching product shots. From warmer materials like wood, terracotta, and cork to cooler, sophisticated ones like slate, stone, marble, and sand, there’s plenty of room for choice.
If your brand sells products that invoke themes like nature, coziness, and the outdoors, consider wood, moss, leaves, pinecones, or feathers. For minimalist, modern aesthetics, try marble, stone or concrete backdrops. Rustic, artisan goods pop against tiles, burlap, or linen, like this wooden soap dish from Jungle Culture.
One of the most powerful aspects of post-production is the ability to change the background color you used during your shoot. Sometimes you just won't have the perfect colored material when shooting—that's okay!
If you can't find the colors you need, you can always add the color afterwards by following our Photoshop tutorial. But for next-level results, our experienced photo editors are ready to help whether you want a simple, white background or a colorful one.
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Consider your product type and colors, brand, and the mood you want to convey when choosing background colors. Aligning background colors with your brand personality will help you create a cohesive look.
White is a versatile background for most ecommerce websites, but the best background color will depend on factors, such as your product type, colors, and brand identity. Strategically using color will help draw attention, set the mood, and make details pop.
White backgrounds showcase products without being distracting, creating a clean, minimalist look that works for most products and marketplaces. However, colored or textured backdrops can also highlight products uniquely.
For appetizing food photography, complementary or clean, solid color backgrounds like white, black, and gray work best to avoid taking attention away from the food. Natural elements like wood boards or tablecloths also help enhance the photo.
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]]>Smoke and fog fog in photography can add dramatic and moody effects, bringing intrigue to product shots for things like jewelry, kitchenware, food, electronics, and footwear. You can even use fog and smoke to bring an atmospheric edge to shots of models advertising clothing, makeup, or anything else.
Harnessing these elements may seem challenging at first, but there are a few ways you can create foggy scenes with a mix of specialty products and post-processing methods.
Let’s break this down into the two main phases of a shoot:
If you’ve ever wondered about what’s behind the spectacle of smoky dishes or cocktails in a restaurant, dry ice is likely the secret ingredient. It’s relatively inexpensive, widely distributed, and predictable regarding longevity. It also creates a thick, photo-worthy fog.
Keep in mind, dry ice can burn your skin just like frostbite if you’re not careful. It can cause instant injury, so always use protective gloves when handling dry ice.
One more note: Because dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide, you need to be in a well-ventilated area. This prevents gas buildup that could cause suffocation. In a restaurant or bar, exposure to it is brief, but for product shoots, extended time around dry ice fog means you need to take precautions.
You can find dry ice at party suppliers, ice distributors, and many grocery stores.
Here are some tips and ideas for using dry ice in your product photos:
Smoke bombs have become popular accents for gender reveals and weddings. But they can also infuse color and drama into model editorials or car and motorcycle product shots.
Think about the product you’re promoting and pick smoke bombs in colors that bring eye-catching contrast, or go for a complementary color scheme that suits your brand. There’s plenty of room for creativity.
When planning your shoot, aim for large, well-ventilated or outdoor areas, ideally with some natural protection from high winds. Think of large warehouses or other structural buildings, woodland, and empty tunnels. You can also get great photos in a natural clearing like a desert or on the beach if there are no heavy winds.
Amazon and Etsy sell smoke bombs, as do specialty shops that sell fireworks and flares. It’s a good idea to get a few extra smoke bombs in case of wind or if you want to experiment with different movements.
To get the most out of smoke bombs for your product shots:
Remember: No two shots will be the same because wind direction and speed, as well as the movement of your models, will change the intensity and shape of colorful clouds.
If you want simple and subtle fog effect for your product shots, a fog machine might be what you need. You can pick from small, portable fog machines that fit in your hand, or heavy-duty ones with lots of features. There are options for every budget.
Fog machines create a realistic fog that resembles smoke, but the downside is the initial investment. You’ll also need to purchase additional fluid to top it up. If you’re crafty, you can even make a DIY one. However, once you have the machine and the fluid, you’ll be making fog for a long time to come.
Photo by Anete Lusina
Much like smoke, you’ll notice this fog rises, so it might disperse pretty quickly. For a successful shoot with your fog machine, first set up your scene and composition. Get your lighting, white balance, and exposure pretty close to correct.
For the fog to show in the photo, make sure your background is slightly darker, like in the example below. With just a small fog machine, you can soon create cozy, warm scenes even if the food or drink has gone cold.
Depending on the type of fog look you’re going for, you may only have a short window for shooting, so get your setup ready before turning on the fog machine.
This fog method involves an unusual mix of products, but the end result can be magazine-worthy. Borrowed from the film industry, this unique smoke method creates vivid, cloud-effect shapes. The downside? It requires quite a bit of preparation and shooting space.
You can use it for solid products that do well underwater, like glass or plastic containers for food, drink, or beauty products. Follow this tutorial to set it up.
Put these items on your shopping list:
If you only need a subtle fog effect, you can get a can of fog. It’s as simple as grabbing an aerosol can and spraying it in the room you’re shooting. The spray can releases a fine mist of particles into the air, creating a hazy or steamy effect that lasts quite some time.
It’s a quick, safe, and simple way to add a cinematic and ethereal feel to your photos, whether you’re photographing models or products. The best part is it’s compact, so there’s no lengthy preparation. Indoors, you’ll have more time to work with the fog before it disappears, but you can use it outdoors, too—just make sure you stock up with a few cans.
Light is your friend when working with fog in a can. Whether you use windows or artificial light, fog in a can will diffuse the light, making it softer and flattering. Contrasting the background will help it show more prominently in photos, but it’s not a must—you can still add layers of atmosphere to most backgrounds.
There are a few different approaches to how to add fog to a photo in Photoshop, but this is probably the quickest way to add cloudy puffs of fog to your image because it employs a filter already in Photoshop.
First, complete your usual photo edits. When you’re done with white balance, exposure, contrast, and other adjustments and creative edits, create a new layer in Photoshop and move that layer to sit on top of other layers in your image.
To create a new layer in Photoshop, go to Layer > New > Layer… from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
You can name the layer “Fog” if you like—this makes it easier to see which layer you’re working on.
Next, change the foreground color to white and your background color to black in your Toolbar.
With the Fog layer selected, go to Filter > Render Clouds. Your layer will appear as a cloud pattern all over.
Next, go to your Layers panel and look for the small dropdown menu that controls the Blending Mode (it will say “Normal”). Make sure your Fog layer is still selected. Then, from the dropdown menu, choose Screen. This way, only the white portion of the rendered clouds will be visible in your image.
In the next few steps, we’ll use the blur functions to make the clouds more diffused in certain portions of the photo. Use the Elliptical Marquee Tool in the Toolbar to draw a broad ellipse around the object in your photo that is the source of the fog you're creating. In this example photo, steam would be coming from the coffee cup, so we’ll draw a marquee around the cup.
Next, choose Select > Inverse or type SHIFT+CTRL+I (SHIFT+COMMAND+I on a Mac) to select the inverse.
Once you have the inverse created, choose Select > Modify > Feather… from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
In the pop-up window, choose a large number, such as 200, to indicate the feather radius.
With the Fog layer still selected, choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur… from the dropdown menu and set the blur radius to somewhere between 20 and 45.
Next, distort the fog effect to make it look as if steam is wafting from the mug. With the Fog layer still selected, choose Edit > Transform > Warp from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
Using your cursor, drag portions of the warp field to create a wafting effect around the source of the fog or steam. This also helps to introduce randomness into the fog pattern.
Finally, you need to remove most of the visible Fog layer. In this case, you just want a bit of steam to waft out of the mug.
Create a layer mask in the Fog layer by clicking the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel (it looks like a black rectangle with a gray circle inside of it). A Layer Mask will appear within your Fog layer.
This next step requires you to use your artistic skill and judgment. Choose the Brush tool and select a soft round brush (your brush’s hardness should be set to 0%). Change the foreground color to white, then paint over and around your subject to mask the portions of your image where you don’t want the fog effects to show.
In the example image, this means we’ll be “painting” a mask over almost all of the image except the areas just around the top and sides of the mug.
Want to add more? Create a new Layer. Then, select the Brush tool and choose a spatter brush from the Brushes panel.
In the new layer, paint in areas where you wish to see more fog, steam, or smoke. Then, apply a blur to the layer by choosing Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur…
If you want to learn how to create your own custom fog brush or add light rays, take a look at this tutorial.
If you want a simple foggy look, you can use Lightroom without using advanced Photoshop techniques.
First, open your image in Lightroom, click on the Masking panel, and select Brush.
Adjust your brush size using the [ and ] keys and paint over the parts of your image you want to cover in fog. Click O to see which parts of your photo you’ve already covered, and use the Brush panel to adjust its size, feather, flow, and density.
Then, scroll down in the panel to your right to find the Dehaze slider and move it to the left. The image areas you covered with the brush will appear softer and lighter.
You can also add several layers by clicking Create New Mask in the Masks panel and selecting Brush again. Doing so gives you the precision to paint over specific parts of the photo you may want to adjust using not just the Dehaze slider but also others like Brightness and Clarity.
Similar to using brushes in Photoshop, you can download free and paid smoke and fog effect overlays. You can find them by searching on Google, Etsy, stock websites, and marketplaces like Creative Market.
Apply them on a separate layer over your photo and experiment with different blending methods and opacity levels. Then, fine tune using layer masks for extra precision. You’ll find most creators sell bundles of different overlays, so you’ll have plenty of different ones to choose from.
If you’ve captured a great image with your smartphone and you want to add a little mystery, but you don’t want to import it into Photoshop, you can use an app. Check out the following:
Now that you know a couple of methods to create fog, here are a few general tips to remember no matter which tutorials or methods you choose.
Here are some DOs:
And here are some DON’Ts:
You may wonder why pick such a temperamental visual for your product shots. After all, you can’t exactly capture or contain it. Within seconds, it will disappear before your eyes.
But when you see the result, you may get convinced it’s worth giving it a shot. Consider the below photo by Noughty, showcasing the brand’s premium non-alcoholic wine. Now picture the same two bottles on a simple wooden tabletop. It wouldn’t give the same level of drama, mood, and vibrancy without the soft pastel clouds.
Fog can also add a mystical quality and a storytelling element to your images. If you’re shooting something like crystal balls or healing gems, this can be an obvious fit—like in the example below. But even if your subject is less than magical, fog can still lend a dreamy or moody quality.
Additionally, the products you photograph are 3D, but the photos themselves are 2D. Fog can give your flat, distorted composition much-needed depth and dimension, similar to shadows.
Below are just a few ideas where a fog effect can add visual interest to your product photos:
From an atmospheric perspective, fog, mist, and smoke are different. Mist is tiny water droplets suspended in the air. It's usually light and mostly transparent and evaporates quickly.
Fog is also composed of tiny water droplets, but it’s denser and heavier, so the “clouds” of fog last longer. Smoke is a collection of small, solid particulates emitted when something burns, like in the product lifestyle shot below.
From a photographic perspective, they’re different, too. Mist doesn’t give quite the effect that fog does, and it’s harder to recreate it in the studio.
Fog tends to stay low and disperse horizontally, evaporating at the edges. Smoke, on the other hand, travels upward from its source—it’s more difficult to wrap around a subject because of this. You can use smoke in photos, but because of how it travels, it’s less predictable than fog.
There are a few ways you can add fog to your images. Choose the right one for your situation or play around and test them all!
Fog and smoke effects can elevate even the simplest product photos—you can create ethereal, moody, and eye-catching product shots that stand out against the rest. In the world of ecommerce, that’s a bonus.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different fog techniques until you find the right atmosphere for your product. And if you need a hand editing them to perfection, our skilled retouchers are ready to help.
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You can add fog effects to photos by using dry ice, fog machines, smoke bombs, or photo editing apps like Photoshop and Lens Distortions. Each method creates a unique fog look, so you can get creative with combining some of the techniques.
Photoshop lets you add fake fog using different methods. You can apply fog overlays and adjust blending mode and opacity. You can also use the Clouds filter to create a fog pattern, then distort and mask it. Or customize brushes to paint in unique fog effects.
To add fog to a photo in Lightroom, use the Adjustment Brush to paint over areas where you want to add fog. Then, move the Dehaze slider to the left and adjust it to your liking. Try also decreasing the Texture or Clarity slider to soften the fog.
You can make a fog effect in photos using dry ice, fog machines, smoke bombs, aerosol fog spray, or editing apps like Photoshop and Lightroom. Using overlays and custom brushes, you can add a realistic-looking fog effect to your photos.
To make an image look hazy in Photoshop, add a Curves adjustment layer and lower the midpoint while raising the outer points. Then, apply Gaussian Blur, set blending to Soft Light, and reduce opacity. You can also download and add haze overlays to blend them with your photo.
]]>This particular ghost mannequin application also allows you to set your image on any color background.
For this ghost mannequin tutorial, we’ll use the following photos for our garment front and interior, and show you how to use the ghost mannequin technique to merge them together.
Scroll down below for the full written tutorial.
Open the image of the garment shot on a mannequin or model in Photoshop and double-click on the Background layer to make the layer editable. Rename the layer “Front.”
Create a new layer and place it behind the Front layer. Name the layer “Background.” Then, fill the new Background layer with 100% black by typing SHIFT+F5 (FN+SHIFT+F5 on a Mac laptop) and choosing Black next to Contents.
Note: If you’re working with a black garment, set the background color to 100% white.
Creating a black background will help you see your selection accurately as you create it. We’ll change this background color later as needed.
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Make sure the Front layer in your Layers panel is selected.
Select the Magic Wand tool from Photoshop’s toolbar or press W on your keyboard.
If you don’t see the Magic Wand tool, it may be hiding behind the Object Selection tool or the Quick Selection tool. Click and hold on whichever of these selection tools is visible to reveal and select the Magic Wand tool.
With the Magic Wand tool selected, you’ll see two buttons at the top of the application window in the options bar: Select Subject and Select and Mask... Click on Select and Mask...
If you get an error message saying nothing could be selected, make sure you’re on the Front layer.
A Preview Window will appear, and what you see in that window depends on the View Mode selected under Properties on the right side of the screen.
Make sure View is set to On Layers (Y).
Click on the Select Subject button at the top of the screen.
Photoshop will attempt to figure out the subject of your photograph and then create a selection accordingly. If your original photograph has a solid background that’s a different color from your garment, this selection will be close to perfect.
On the left-hand side of the Preview Window are tools you can use to help you work with the selection.
If you need to refine the selection (such as the edge on the left-hand side of the dress in the image above), you can paint along the edge of the selection using the Refine Edge Brush tool or the Brush tool on the left-hand side of the Preview Window.
See the tutorial on the Magic Wand tool for a detailed explanation of Select and Mask...
The next step is to remove the clothing from the mannequin in Photoshop.
Select the Quick Selection tool, then choose Subtract from the options bar at the top of the Preview Window. Add and Subtract look like dashed ellipses surrounding “plus” (+) and “minus” (-) signs.
Select areas of the mannequin that are still showing by clicking on them in the Preview Window. These areas will disappear from view as you click on them. If you accidentally remove part of the garment as well, type CTRL+Z (COMMAND+Z on a Mac) to undo, and then reduce the “Size” option next to the selection tool.
The selection doesn’t need to be perfect, but it does need to be refined enough for you to feel confident removing any additional pixels from the image using your Eraser tool.
On the right-hand side of the Preview Window, move the slider for Shift Edge to the left, about 30%. This will move the selection inward slightly, helping remove any halo effects from the selection.
Click OK.
In your Front layer, click on the mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to mask out the subject’s background. Then, select the mask icon next to the Front layer icon.
Choose the Eraser tool from the Toolbar and make sure the foreground color is set to white and the background color is set to black.
Erase out any portions of the mannequin that are still visible.
With the image we’re using, the model’s arms cover part of her skirt. We’ll need to use the Clone Stamp tool to “paint back” portions of her skirt.
To learn more about the Clone Stamp tool, check out this article on Photoshop tools.
After “repairing” sections of the skirt covered by the model’s arms, you’re ready for the second stage of the ghost mannequin Photoshop tutorial.
It’s time to break out that second image—the one that shows the interior of your garment (such as the neck).
Repeat Steps 2 and 3 with the interior photograph so you have a selection of the garment itself, and then create the layer mask.
Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, select the neck area of the garment. Type SHIFT+CTRL+C (SHIFT+COMMAND+C on a Mac) to copy the selection and the mask.
In your Front image, select the Background layer and type CTRL+V (COMMAND+V on a Mac) to paste the selection. Name the layer “Neck.”
Type CTRL+T (COMMAND+T on a Mac) to scale or rotate your neck layer so the back of the neck lines up with the front of the neck and shoulders.
Repeat the process with any other portions of the garment where the back of the garment should show.
This is the step that separates a good Photoshop ghost mannequin from a great Photoshop ghost mannequin.
Remember, the photo you had that you grabbed your garment’s interior from lay flat, but you want those portions to look just as filled out as the front of your garment. You can use the Warp transform tool to do the trick.
Make sure you have the layer selected that you want to warp (we’ll start with the neck in this example). Choose Edit > Transform > Warp to enable the Warp tool.
Pull up on the center of the neck with the Warp anchors to form a curve, as an actual neck would form. You can also use the tool to adjust any other discrepancies you see.
Once you’ve adjusted the curve of the garment, use the Eraser tool to gently remove any areas that don’t line up completely with the top edge of the neck.
Repeat the process with other areas of the garment where the interior shows.
In order to finalize the illusion that this photo was taken on an invisible mannequin, you need to add drop shadows to the interior portions of the garment.
Select the Neck layer in the Layers panel. Choose the Burn tool from the Toolbar. If you don’t see the Burn tool, it might be hiding behind the Dodge tool or the Sponge tool.
Once the Burn tool is selected, you have several options in the Options bar for what you want to darken—highlights, midtones, or shadows. Use your judgment over which of these options best suits the color of your garment. Then, “paint” with the burn tool over the areas of your garment’s neck that would be in shadow.
Repeat the Burn tool adjustments on any other layers where interior portions show.
You’re almost done! Go back to your Background layer and change its color to white or whatever other color you prefer. Since you used black when you created your selection, you can be confident that your ghost mannequin will look good in front of any color.
The better the source material, the easier it’ll be to create your ghost mannequin in Photoshop. While some sellers have actual invisible mannequins to use for their product photography, many rely on regular mannequins or models and the technique described in this tutorial.
To ensure you have the best photos to work from, do the following during your photo shoot:
Shoot clothing items on a symmetrical mannequin, arms pointing down.
In an ideal world, you’d have complete control over your clothing photography. However, you can still create an invisible mannequin effect in Photoshop with less than perfect source materials.
Not enough time to figure it all out yourself? Send your photos to us, and we'll whip up a professionally edited photo with a ghost mannequin in no time — and for less than 50 cents an image.
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You can use the ghost mannequin effect on any garment that has been photographed on a model or a mannequin. Use the ghost mannequin effect to showcase garments without the distraction of a model or a visible mannequin in your ecommerce photos.
Using a ghost mannequin can help your customers understand what a garment will look like when it’s being worn. Ghost mannequins provide a more accurate understanding of how a garment will fit than garments photographed on a hanger.
The mannequin effect in Photoshop is a technique that allows you to remove all visible signs of a person or a physical mannequin from your photo using a series of Photoshop tools. The end result looks like the garment is being worn by someone invisible, such as a ghost.
An invisible mannequin is the same as a ghost mannequin. Invisible mannequin photography gives the illusion of a garment being worn and shows how the garment will fit a person. However, in an invisible mannequin ecommerce photo, the model or mannequin is rendered fully invisible.
For ecommerce brands wanting to stand out in crowded product searches, an opportunity lies in focusing on visual search optimization. As image searches gain momentum, shoppers are looking beyond keywords to find products.
Let’s take a look at how you can optimize your content for visual search and get your products in front of customers.
Visual search optimization is the process of optimizing digital content to enhance its visibility and relevance in visual search results. Visual search involves using images or videos as queries instead of text. Users can upload an image or take a photo to search for similar or related visual content.
A visual search is a query that is made with or about images. You might take a picture or screenshot of a product and use it to search for similar products online. When you use visual search, technology analyzes visual patterns to find similar images and return them to you.
In contrast, image search helps users find information using text, like typing in a Google Search “black boots for women” or using voice search to find relevant results.
Before you can understand how to optimize your site, you need to know how consumers use visual search. This starts with putting yourself in the consumers’ shoes and considering the context and intent of their visual search.
For example, are your customers searching for gift ideas, solving a problem, or looking to buy? How do they like to shop online? Understanding these motivations allows you to meet their needs better with visuals and photo descriptions that align with their intent.
To learn more about your customer behavior, you can study your site’s and social channels’ analytics to see how your audience interacts with visuals and what they click on. Pay attention to any effective competitor visuals, too. What aesthetics and multimedia do users respond to? Reverse engineer what resonates.
You can also send post-purchase surveys, monitor social conversations about your brand and products, use focus groups if resources allow, and keep up with visual search trends from Pinterest, for example. Using Pinterest Trends, you can change the region and the search period, select interests for trends within specific niches, add demographics filters and keywords, and more.
Although these trends constantly change, the top Pinterest searches and categories at the start of 2024 were:
Using more than one product photo to represent your merchandise isn’t just good for the user experience, it’s also good for visual SEO. Google has repeatedly said it prioritizes the user experience when determining rankings. Plus, you can use different keyword variations for each of your image files.
Check out Maik in the example below. The ethical sock brand shows a mix of white background images with contextual settings and people photos. The variety of images lets the brand target unique visual search terms that can appear in varying Google searches and visual browsing queries, like “colorful socks with jeans” and “animal-themed socks.”
High-quality product photography benefits more than just on-site users. It also gives you an edge in visual search results. When images are crisp and detailed, shoppers are more likely to click on them over low-quality competitor images.
For example, when users browse visual search results or image-based platforms like Google image search, clear, appealing photos stand out. You only have a small space alongside other brands in those results.
As seen in the example search below for children’s bedroom ornaments, top-ranking images allow shoppers to clearly see each product. With multiple thumbnail options competing for attention, ensure your product images are high-quality and clearly show the product to entice clicks.
Be aware that low-quality images can be as bad as having no images at all because it can lead to disappointment and show a lack of care.
Your sitemap is essentially a “map” of your website—it houses information about the content on your site and the relation between those elements, such as text and images. Search engines use this file to crawl your website and learn more information about it. It helps search engines understand what is on your site.
If you create an image sitemap, you’ll give crawlers more information about the photos—and make them more primed to appear in searches. You can learn more about sitemaps and how to submit them on Google Search Central.
Google released an Image Search update back in 2017 to include small badges on search results thumbnails. These badges let users know what they’ll see when they click on the image, such as a recipe, a product in an online store, or a video.
To this day, you can see these badges in search results, and Google Images and Google Lens also use them. Follow Google’s guide to add this structured data to your product pages.
Google’s image optimization guidelines include recommended file formats. They say PNG and JPEG files are best for still images, and WebP and AVIF files are best for animation.
A big part of SEO is having a quick-loading site—and large images can slow load speeds. Compress your images so the file size is smaller, without using image quality
You might also consider lazy loading to reduce the page load time, but it requires some technical knowledge to set up.
Uploading a product image titled “Photo_123” will make it difficult for search engines to understand what’s in the photo and when it’s relevant to people’s search queries. Instead, be descriptive about the subject matter.
For example, if you’re selling a red women's coat, you could give it a file name, “Red-women-winter-coat,” and also include your brand name.
When it comes to alt tags, remember that they help visually impaired users with screen readers understand what’s in the image. Alt tags also display when your images fail to load on the site, which could happen when the user has a bad internet connection.
Using the example above, you could add an alt tag, “A dark-haired woman in a long, red coat and black boots, sat on a park bench.” Think how you would describe the image to someone who can’t see it. And make sure not to add too many keywords in your alt tags because Google may consider it spam.
A multimedia approach is best, especially if you’re optimizing for visual search. Think product videos and 360-degree photos that bring static images to life. This will not only help you stand out in search, but also in the eyes of the customer.
Matches has high-quality videos and close-up shots to enhance the visual search and user experience. The different media options help shoppers see the product from several angles.
Even though it’s not mainstream yet, creating your own visual search experience can help get ahead of the curve. Implementing it now gives you time to work out the issues before it becomes widely adopted. This way, your competitors will deal with technical issues while you’ve already hit your groove.
How do you build your own custom application with visual search features? You’ll find numerous visual search providers offer this service, such as Snap Vision, Intelistyle, Clarifai, and Syte among others.
Your own visual search can help shoppers find relevant results faster. It may even inspire them to add complementing products to finish the full look. As a bonus, you’ll also get even more data and insights on your customer behavior, adding to marketing opportunities.
Some brands are taking visual search into their own hands now, too. ASOS Style Match, for example, lets its app users upload or take a photo of an outfit, and the store will find similar product recommendations. It’s a great cross-sell and bundling opportunity.
Ever notice how some Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) have a “People also ask” box with dropdown questions related to your query? It looks like this:
Sometimes, they include images. You can use images to optimize for those highly coveted Google Snippets. Start by researching what type of images currently appear for your search query and add or replace them with a high-quality image that better captures the query.
Opt for photos with your product centered and move the image to the top of your page. Don’t forget to also add appropriate image titles and alt text.
For customers, visual search is a simple, interactive way of browsing products that closely match what they’re looking for. For ecommerce brands, it’s an untapped opportunity to have their product images appear in the searches.
But that’s just the basics. Visual search tools continue to get more advanced as technology improves. Social media platforms, especially image-driven ones like Pinterest and Snapchat, have also launched their own versions of visual search. The list of visual search platforms only continues to grow—here are a few popular ones you might want to note:
The Google Lens app, for example, is a seriously improved version of a basic image search. You can find recipes or directions, add events to your calendar, and translate words from a photo. Google Lens also allows users to find where to buy products online. They snap or upload a shot of the coveted piece, and Google will tell them where to get it.
Over 12 billion monthly searches encompass a wide range of information, from identifying plants to translating signs. In 2022, Google launched Multisearch, which combines text and image search, making it easier to find variations of similar products.
Microsoft’s search engine hit 100 million active users in 2023, so while not in the same league as Google, it’s still notable for its visual search feature. It works in a similar way—users can upload or take photos or paste image URLs to find similar search results.
Users can take photos of an object or select parts of pins to find other related pins with Pinterest Lens. For example, by highlighting just the shoes of an outfit image, you can find pins related to the selected footwear. With more than 465 million monthly users going on Pinterest to find products, it’s definitely one to watch.
This platform is all about inspiring its users. So, if your product images can be the source of a new home project or outfit idea, you can gain their attention before they go to a competitor.
Pinterest also publishes yearly predictions for which searches will trend. The predictions are based on their user searches, so it’s a good resource for ecommerce brands planning in advance.
Unsurprisingly, the world’s largest marketplace has also capitalized on visual search. Using the Amazon app, users have different ways to shop. They can use the Shop the Look feature to upload their own photo or browse public images by other users to find products, take a photo of an object, or scan a barcode.
Launched back in 2017, eBay’s visual search feature lets mobile users snap a photo of a product, upload an image or screenshot, or scan a barcode to find similar listings. eBay had 135 million active users in 2022, so any ecommerce brands selling there shouldn’t sleep on optimizing images for the app’s visual search.
Similar to Google Lens, Scan by Snapchat users can interact with almost anything using visual search. One of the features includes finding related products in partnership with Amazon so users can shop while using their favorite social media app.
Visual SEO isn’t just a marketing buzzword we’ll forget about when the next one comes along. It’s important to incorporate it into your SEO strategy alongside text-based searches so you can start creating a better customer experience.. As Google, social networks, Amazon, and other online platforms continue to bolster their visual search experience, the tech isn’t going anywhere soon.
A good search function is essential for 9 out of 10 U.S. consumers. That means if your store website or product images aren't updated with SEO in mind, shoppers may soon abandon their carts. This is because it’ll take them too long to find exactly what they’re looking for. Or they may not find your product in search results at all.
With 43% of consumers aged 16 to 64 using the Internet regularly for researching products and brands, it’s even more important for smaller or lesser-known ecommerce brands to make sure their visual SEO strategy is on point or, at the very least, gets regularly updated.
For example, Australian furniture retailer King Living saw a 15% increase in clicks and overall revenue after it updated its site and replaced previously text-heavy content with product images. The brand found visuals more effectively communicating product information than just text descriptions.
Besides helping users find products, SEO-optimized images improve website usability, also making it more mobile-friendly and load faster. Smartphones account for 74% of online purchases, so paying attention to the mobile experience is well worth it.
The benefits of visual searches go beyond hitting marketing goals. Those who may face a language barrier or can’t put what they’re looking for into words can use visual search technology to help find good quality information and answers in their daily life.
Setting up an effective visual SEO strategy takes time and effort, but the payoff for your ecommerce business can be huge. By optimizing your product images and site for visual search, you make it easier for interested customers to find you and explore your product range.
But visual SEO is just one part of a solid marketing plan. Together with a strategy for text-based searches, faster website speed, and a great mobile experience, you’ll be well on your way to more sales and customer engagement.
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Visual search uses photos or screenshots instead of text to find relevant information or products. Users can upload or share an image using technologies like Google Lens, which will look for matching visual attributes instead of keywords.
Optimize your images for visual search using descriptive filenames and relevant alt text. Ensure the image is high-quality, shows the product in focus, and the file is compressed to avoid exceeding recommended file sizes based on platform requirements.
Optimize visual site content with high-quality, high-resolution product photos and videos. If appropriate, include multiple angles, supporting lifestyle imagery, zoom functionality, and other multimedia elements like 360-spin images.
Examples of visual search include taking a photo of a plant on your phone and searching Google Lens to find information about it, using Pinterest Lens on a part of a pin to find matching objects, or snapping an outfit with Amazon's app to find buying options.
Use a combination of visual and text-based search improvements. For example, use relevant keywords in metadata, text and image content, and URLs. Regularly create fresh, high-quality content to target search content, and refresh existing content.
The best image size for SEO depends on how you intend to use the image and any marketplace requirements. For a standard website, use a hero image with 1280x720 pixels, a blog image with 1200x630 pixels, and a thumbnail image with 150x150 pixels. Try to ensure file sizes are below 100 kB.
]]>The process of smoothing wrinkles on fabric and clothing in Photoshop requires subtlety and skill to prevent your final photo from looking flat and overtouched. Therefore, you should always retouch wrinkles by hand rather than relying on AI to do it for you. However, when you’re working with many photos a day, you need to have methods you can use quickly.
This Photoshop tutorial covers three different methods for smoothing wrinkles on fabric and clothing: the healing brush tool, the patch tool, and the frequency separation method. The best method depends on the photo and your needs.
We’ll use the following product photo—the wrinkles on the model’s pants are distracting. We’ll use Photoshop to smooth out these wrinkles. You can click the image below to open it in a new tab and save it to your computer if you want to follow along.
Scroll down below the video for the full written tutorial.
The Healing Brush method is the least automated method for removing wrinkles, meaning it might take the longest but it typically leads to the best results. If you only have a few wrinkles on a solid color to remove, the Healing Brush tool can do the job quickly.
Select the Healing Brush Tool from the Toolbar on the left column of the application window. If you don’t see it, the Healing Brush Tool might be hiding behind the Spot Healing Brush Tool or the Patch Tool.
In the Options bar at the top of your application window, set your brush size to about twice the size of the deepest wrinkle you want to remove. Set Hardness to 0% and Spacing to about 20%. Make sure the Source is set to Sampled and the Sample is set to Current Layer.
Take your Healing Brush tool and “sample” an area of the fabric where it’s not wrinkled by hovering the mouse over that area, typing the ALT key (OPTION on a Mac) and clicking the left mouse button. Then, “paint” over the wrinkle as if you were using the brush tool. You’ll see a plus sign symbol (+) over the area of the image you’re sampling from, and a circle over the area you’re fixing with that sample.
Continuously grab new samples as you work so the smoothed fabric looks natural and not flat. In the photo below, we smoothed one leg but not the other so you can see the difference.
If you’re only smoothing one or two wrinkles, the Healing Brush Tool can be a great option. But if you have a lot of wrinkles you need to remove, this tool can become very time-consuming. If that’s the case, you should consider using the Patch Tool.
The Patch Tool takes whole “patches” of pixels from one area of your image and merges them with another portion of your image. Use the Patch Tool when you have many wrinkles over a large area to fix, especially if the wrinkles are crisp and defined.
To begin, grab your Patch Tool from the Toolbar. It might be hiding behind the Healing Brush Tool or the Spot Healing Brush Tool.
Once you’ve selected the Patch Tool, you’ll see some settings for it in the Options bar at the top of the application window.
For this exercise, set the Patch to Normal and also select Destination (instead of Source). The Diffusion option gives you the ability to determine how much the edges of your patch will blur with the original pixels. You can play with this setting to see what works best for the image you’re editing.
With the Patch Tool, draw a selection around an area of your garment where it’s not wrinkled. Then, holding down the mouse button, move that selection over an area you want to smooth.
The patch of smooth material will replace the patch of wrinkled material in your image.
The patch tool does something similar to the Clone Stamp Tool, but in larger areas. It’s a very simple tool to use. Knowing how much of an area to select, and how much diffusion to apply, comes with practice and can change from fabric to fabric.
Once you’ve “patched” your wrinkles, you can use the Healing Brush Tool to blend in the edges of the patch if necessary.
In the image below, you can see how a combination of the Patch Tool and Healing Brush Tool can help patch the wrinkles in the model’s pant leg. The whole process took just a few minutes.
The Frequency Separation method requires more setup than the other two wrinkle smoothing methods described in this tutorial. But once you set up your document for frequency separation, you’ll find this is a very quick and easy process.
The Frequency Separation method is good to use when you need to smooth wrinkles throughout the entire garment. With this method, you separate the color from the texture of the clothing, allowing you to smooth wrinkles quickly without losing the fabric’s texture and shading.
To begin, duplicate your Background layer three times. You duplicate a layer by choosing Duplicate Layer from the Layer panel’s dropdown menu—this looks like four tiny horizontal lines—in the upper right corner of the panel.
If you like using Photoshop shortcuts on your keyboard, you can type CTRL + J (COMMAND + J on a Mac) to duplicate a layer.
Name your new layers Color and Edges, respectively.
Make the Edges layer invisible by clicking the eye icon next to the layer.
With the Color layer selected, choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
In the dialog box that appears, move the slider to the right until most of the wrinkles in your image are blurred out.
Click OK.
Next, choose your Edges layer and toggle on the eye icon to make that layer visible again.
Go to Image > Apply Image from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
In the dialog box that appears, choose your Color layer from the Layer: dropdown menu. Set your Blending Mode to Subtract, set Scale to 2, and Offset to 128. Click OK.
Now, back in your Layers panel, set your Blending Mode for your Edges layer to Linear Light.
If you’re not sure how to change your Layer blending mode, it’s the dropdown menu just to the left of your Opacity setting at the top of your Layers panel.
Once these layers are set up correctly, you’re ready to begin actually smoothing the wrinkles in your image’s clothing or fabric.
To begin smoothing, make sure you’re in your Edges layer. Choose the Lasso Tool from the Toolbar. If you don’t see the Lasso Tool, it might be hiding behind the Polygonal Lasso Tool or the Magnetic Lasso Tool.
In the Options bar at the top of the screen, adjust the selection Feather to a number between 20 and 40—you can play with this number to see what works best for you depending on the image you’re working with. Select a wrinkle or an area of wrinkles you want to smooth out using the Lasso Tool.
Next, choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
Note: You may see “Gaussian Blur” as the top option in the Filter dropdown menu. Do not select that, as its settings will be the same as the last time you used it. Be sure you select “Gaussian Blur…” from the Blur sub-menu.
A dialog box will appear. Move the Blur slider until the wrinkles dissipate.
Repeat the process as necessary until you’ve obtained the smooth, wrinkle-free look you’re after.
Smoothing wrinkles in clothing or fabric is a subtle art that really must be done by hand in order to get a realistic result. Once you master the tools and techniques outlined above, you’ll be able to smooth wrinkles in your product images in a matter of minutes.
Not enough time to master these techniques yourself? You don’t have to. We can take care of your trickiest or simplest wrinkles, be it apparel, furniture, or any other product. No AI or shortcuts here—every edit is carefully done by hand.
[cta image="about-work.svg" text="Polish up your product shots with pro retouching from 79¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/photo-retouching"]]]>Isolating a subject allows you to repurpose your product photo and use it on any other background to fit your ecommerce or marketing needs.
Clipping path and image masking are two techniques that help achieve this. But what are the differences between the two? Let's look at the breakdown for clipping path vs. masking and which tasks each photo editing technique is best suited for.
The main difference between clipping path and image masking is the technique you use to remove the background from an image.
More complex images require image masking. It’s technically possible to remove the background from complicated images with clipping path, but the result isn’t as appealing as it would’ve been with image masking.
As you can tell in the image above, the photo edited with clipping path looks unnatural. That’s because the hard edges of a clipping path are visible. On the other hand, image masking handles hair very well for a seamless finish.
For more straightforward products, like Sana Jardin’s perfume bottle below, the brand likely used a clipping path. The result of shooting this shiny product? A sleek, clean-cut perfume bottle with a reflection shadow that adds a touch of luxury.
And to get the natural—but not messy—outline, the photo editor probably used image masking to remove the background of this Crown Affair scrunchie photo. Note the use of drop shadow as well. Adding a subtle shadow to products creates a 3D look and helps them stand out, especially against a clean white background.
You can use both techniques in a single image: clipping path for straight, hard edges and masking for the softer or more complex areas. If a photo calls for both image editing techniques, your best bet is to use a clipping path first and then follow up with masking for the finer details.
For example, this play gym from Lovevery was likely edited using a clipping path and masking.
The stronger lines of the toy’s frame could easily be edited with clipping paths, but masking would be more appropriate for the softer material bottom and baby’s hair.
[cta text="Turn that frown upside down: learn how to make someone smile in Photoshop" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/how-to-make-someone-smile-in-photoshop"]Like image masking, clipping path is an image editing technique that allows you to remove the background from an image. You can create a clipping path using the Pen tool in Adobe Photoshop and then selecting paths that form a closed vector shape to separate a part of the image. Everything inside the path will be selected, and anything outside will be left over.
Clipping path is generally used when the subject of the image has straightforward edges—think boxes, electronics, simple accessories or garments, ornaments, etc.
Still, clipping paths require an experienced, accurate hand. A poorly drawn clipping path can result in images that don’t look real or natural, and consumers easily notice even the smallest mistakes. Sloppy images don’t make a great impression, and that’s typically reflected in sales.
You want your product photos to stand out—in a good way—so you definitely want to consider working with a professional for these types of edits. To give you an idea of the level of detail involved, we zoom into images sometimes as much as 200% to get as close to the edge as possible.
[cta text="Path hand-drawn clipping paths start at 39¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/clipping-path"]Clipping paths aren’t too complicated, but there are a few different types of clipping paths:
A single-layer clipping path is a simple path created on one layer with the Pen tool in Photoshop. This is useful when you need to remove or change the background for subjects with straight, simple edges, like in the examples below.
Multi-layer clipping paths are created with the Pen tool in Photoshop to extract multiple parts of an image. This is an advanced type of clipping path used to separate each part of a photo and is particularly useful for retouchers, especially to color correct sections of the image.
In the example below, we created a separate clipping path for each shoe and shoelaces. This allows not only to remove the background, but also to change the color of each shoe without altering the shoelaces.
Photoshop isn’t the only software or app you can use to create clipping masks. Adobe Illustrator also has its own path and mask tools. Referred to as Clipping Masks in Illustrator, this tool allows you to cut out portions of an image into a specific shape.
Image masking is another method of image background removal. This technique involves a variety of tools in Photoshop, such as Background Eraser tool, Magic Eraser tool, and color separation technique.
Masking is a non-destructive way to adjust a part of your image while leaving the rest untouched. For photo editors, that means more control over where and how the image adjustments take place because masks are applied on layers. Masking is typically used for images that contain more complex lines, like hair, fur, etc.
What if you're in a hurry or don't have access to a professional retoucher? Artificial intelligence (AI) photo editors and AI masking features in Photoshop can help you quickly remove the background without any editing experience.
The downside is the result won't be as high-quality as hand-edited background removal using clipping paths or masks, especially for complex subjects. But for some marketing visuals, you might find it’s just enough. If you’re curious about the differences between AI and professional retoucher edits, take a look at this AI background removal comparison.
Perhaps you wonder why it may be necessary to remove the background. After all, can't the photographer simply shoot a great product photo that’s publish-ready? There are a few reasons why you may want to consider isolating a subject in a photo:
When it comes to background removal, neither method is superior in a clipping path vs. masking comparison. Both clipping path and masking edits have their place in photo retouching, especially for the wide variety of images needed for ecommerce photos. And both require a practiced hand to execute well.
Interested in professional, affordable photo edits? The Path team does all edits by hand and offers 24/7 support.
[cta image="about-work.svg" text="Let us look after your clipping paths and masks, so you can get back to the fun stuff. Try Path free." button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/a/portal/free_trial/new"]]]>So, we were curious, are AI background removal tools all they’re cracked up to be? Or do we still need human finesse and creativity in this part of the photo editing process? Let’s see how background removal by hand vs. AI background removal compare.
Background removal by hand involves photo editing software, with Adobe Photoshop being the go-to choice for many. When removing backgrounds in Photoshop by hand, you’ll typically use a combination of tools and techniques, including clipping paths, image masking, the Brush tool, Magic Eraser, and more.
AI background removal, on the other hand, involves technology outside of Photoshop. The technology automatically detects the background and the foreground and then isolates each from one another, creating a cropped out image on a transparent or white background. It relies on machine learning to accomplish this process.
Note: Our virtual photo editing team at Path edits every photo by hand—no AI or automations here. We carefully zoom in up to 500x to make sure every last detail is captured. You need those details to convert customers! Especially when they zoom in on your product photos.
Here is an example of an image we removed the background from. You can see the original, some versions edited with AI, and then the image the Path team edited by hand.
Notice how the AI-edited images differ here—they both cut out the dog’s tail and one of them actually cut out a portion of the dog’s leg! As you can see, if you sell pet products or feature animals in your photos, you might want to pay extra attention to how AI background removal tools treat edges with hair.
Even humans and clothing can pose challenges for AI background removers, as illustrated in these product photos. Be extra careful if you have models with curly hair or products with fuzzy edges like sweaters.
We can’t say AI-edited images are a total flop. AI background removal does have its advantages, though it’s tough to say whether they outweigh the drawbacks. Let’s take a look:
Requires manual quality check. AI background removal isn’t as simple as uploading and downloading. You still need to check the quality of the image, since there’s no one doing that for you.
Sure, we’re biased. But for good reason. Removing backgrounds by hand helps you get every pixel perfectly edited.
[cta text="Save a ton of time with pro background removal from 39¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/background-removal"]
[cta text="Save a ton of time with pro background removal from 39¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/background-removal"]
From a simple white background to the most complex clipping paths, it’s important your product photos are perfect down to the last pixel. But with photo editing, a quick product shoot can easily turn into a week or more of retouching and formatting your images. Let us look after the edits, so you can get back to the work that needs you.
[cta text="Save a ton of time with pro background removal from 39¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/background-removal"]
The best way to remove the background of a photo is to do it in Photoshop or outsource the job to a photo editing studio.
Remove BG has a maximum image file size of 12 MB, while removal AI allows images of any file size.
The best AI to remove background from a photo is none at all—it’s best to do it by hand or outsource to a photo editing studio that does edits by hand.
Go to PathEdits.com and order background removal for the photos you need edited. You can visit the site on your iPhone or computer.
]]>Unlike apparel, the products are small. Their shine, shimmer, and color saturation might translate poorly from in-person to on-screen. That’s where photo editing comes in.
With some simple tweaks, you can enhance makeup product photos to showcase each item at its digital best. Whether you’re shooting products yourself or working with a photographer, we’ll walk through some editing techniques to make colors pop, fix reflections, and retouch surfaces for a spotless and ecommerce-ready look that converts.
Like other commercial photography, mastering makeup product photography can take years. But that’s not to say you can’t create product images that make your products stand out and drive sales. Putting a few shooting and editing tips into practice can make a big difference, even on a small budget or with a DIY approach.
And while photo editing certainly can do some magic, you’ll almost always get the best results if you have a decent original shot to work with. Considering that, you’ll want to keep some shooting tips in mind to make sure your edits go smoothly.
It’s always important to work with clean products, and makeup in particular. This includes the exterior and the actual makeup product itself.
You can expect sticky, shiny, and liquid products to attract dust, hair, and dirt, so make sure your shooting space is as clean as possible too. Use cotton gloves to avoid leaving marks or sweat on products when you style your shots.
Shooting items with matte surfaces will be easier because they reflect less light. However, many makeup products come packaged in reflective materials like plastic, metal, and glass.
To reduce unwanted reflections and camera glare when photographing these products, try these tips:
A great example of capturing challenging products in a pleasing way is beauty brand Minori. Its product bundle includes both matte and reflective packaging, but none of the surfaces have distracting reflections in the photo.
Product swatches are small amounts of a makeup product like lipstick or eyeshadow. They’re common in makeup product photography because they show the true color, texture, and pigmentation of the product. Swatches make it easier for shoppers to compare different products or shades of the same product.
You can photograph swatches on a plain background, such as paper or cardboard. Your background doesn’t necessarily need to be white. For example, Annabelle Minerals uses a heavily layered swatch for its blush on a light peach background.
Showing swatches on the model’s skin, such as on the inner forearm, displays how the product looks on different skin tones, like on the lip and cheek rouge listing from Pure Anada.
For solid products, like pencils, crayons, and eyeliners, you can get creative by drawing lines in varying intensities on a plain background, like The Detox Market which showcases Ere Perez’s lip crayon swatches.
Adding to the variety of your product shots are close-ups. Shooting a product in its full size and cropping it later won’t result in the same look and image quality as shooting it up close. Reason being that an intentional close-up will ensure the product is perfectly in focus, producing sharp details.
That’s not to say you need to use a close-up image straight from the camera. You’ll likely consider cropping the photo to emphasize the product and remove any distractions, like in Elate Beauty’s brow and liner brush product listing below.
Including your brand’s props and product styling during the shoot will help you avoid complex editing later on. For example, Pure Anada uses foliage elements in every eye shadow listing.
To recreate this in post-processing would require advanced skill, especially to make your props look realistic. So, if you already know props are a must-have for your shots, use them during the shoot if possible.
While there are some things you can do during the shoot to help you create a beautiful product photo, images straight from the camera are rarely publish-ready. This means editing is a necessary part of preparing your photos for use in ecommerce, on social media, and elsewhere online.
The purpose of editing for ecommerce and marketing is to enhance your products while keeping their true appearance intact for buyers. Read on for some of our tips for taking your product shots from “blah” to “wow.”
Background removal eliminates any distractions around the product—regardless of where you shot it—turning the cut out product into a flexible asset you can repurpose.
A popular method for product shots is adding a white background. Marketplaces like Amazon require sellers to use it for all products, but doing so brings visual consistency to any online store. You can also use the product with other backgrounds, including transparent, combine several products to create item groups, and much more.
Accurately describing your products is just one part of giving customers all the information before a purchase. Photos also need to match what they’ll receive in their order. With over 64% of product returns happening because the item didn’t match what’s on the listing, it’s a simple fix that will save you from unhappy customers and money spent on refunds.
How do you put this into practice? Focus on minimal edits. Matching makeup products to the skin is already difficult, but accurate colors in photographs make it easier for online shoppers. Also, ensure image white balance is neutral—you can read more about it in this product editing guide.
You may notice some smudges, spots, or marks on your photos that you missed during the shoot. They may be on your products, in the background, or on the model’s skin or clothing, as in the example below.
But all it takes is a spot removal using Photoshop:
If your shots need more advanced editing or you’re tasked with a large volume of images to fix, you can outsource it to a team of experienced editors.
We mentioned removing the background for your products, but did you know you can create completely new images using lifestyle composites? The method involves taking a cut-out product and placing it on a contextual stock photo, like a makeup kit added to an image of a bathroom cabinet.
Lifestyle composites can save you time and money otherwise spent on organizing a new photoshoot. However, for the composite to look natural, you have to pay particular attention to:
Lifestyle composites can be complex to create. However, you can outsource to photography studios that specialize in them.
Like lifestyle composites, background-free product shots are perfect for creative marketing assets like collages. The difference is, collages don’t require advanced photo editing skills. You can easily create them in apps like Canva.
Using your brand’s colors and typography, you can design a simple collage like on Elate Beauty’s Instagram page. You can reuse your background-free product shots in so many different ways without ever having to repeat a design.
Product infographics combine photography and graphic design elements to offer a playful and informative way to present product information. If you want a creative way to share your product benefits or ingredients without using walls of text, that’s where infographics come in. All you need is to pick a background, add a product with a transparent background, and include text.
Graphics like these are also popular in marketplaces like Amazon. Vegan beauty brand Ecco Bella uses an infographic in its own online store. In just a few seconds, infographics give buyers a convenient way to learn about products before reading descriptions.
Some marketing visuals may call for logo-free product shots. You can remove the product label or logo using Spot Healing Brush or Clone Stamp in Photoshop—the same Photoshop tools used for removing blemishes.
On the flip side, if your logo has changed since the photoshoot or if the product sample used in the shoot didn’t have the logo-facing side towards the camera, you may want to add it.
Similar to creating a lifestyle composite, you’ll have to ensure the logo or label matches the surface you place it on. For example, if you’re adding it to a glass jar, you’ll have to bend or skew the logo for it to align with the shape and look natural. You can follow this video tutorial to learn how to create this effect.
White background ecommerce shots may be fit for online stores and marketplaces, but they can also look flat if that’s all you use. To fix that, adding a shadow, like a subtle drop shadow, will help your products stand out from the background and look more realistic.
If your products come in different colors, you can create color variants of the same product. The result will be a uniform look in your store, apart from the color changes in each photo. You’ll also save time setting up a shoot whenever new color variants come in stock.
One method to do this in Photoshop involves adjusting the hue of a particular color in your product photo:
For more complex color changes, you can repeat the steps above several times—targeting a different part of the image each time—or outsource to professional photo editors.
As we mentioned earlier, close-up shots often still need manual cropping in Photoshop or any other photo editing app—this helps eliminate unnecessary details in the shot and takes focus straight to the product. Square crop is particularly effective for centering your product and filling the frame to grab attention, like in the example below by beauty and skincare brand Tower 28.
Photoshop’s Crop tool has built-in ratio templates and a grid to create pixel-perfect crops every time. First, select the Crop tool in your sidebar. Then, click the dropdown in the top menu and select 1:1 (Square).
You’ll see a crop grid overlaying your image. You can adjust it by moving the image or cropping it further to fit your photo. The middle square helps you find the center of each photo if you want your product to be in the middle.
Cropping and centering each product creates alignment in your online store, particularly when viewing all product ranges together. It helps guide the shopper to compare products rather than get distracted by odd, uneven framing.
Clean beauty brand Tower 28 has different types of products in its store, but all listings look central. How do you achieve this?
If you know the image dimensions used for displaying products in your online store, you can use those same dimensions to create visual consistency—centering each product in the frame evenly, even if the actual products are different sizes in real life.
You can also find the image size your store is using by right-clicking on any existing product image and choosing Save image as... to download it. Open the downloaded file and look at the image properties for the pixel dimensions. Make a note of this size.
For example, we’ll use 600 pixels as width and 700 pixels as height.
Now every time you crop photos for your store, you can use the same crop template. Use the crop grid to help you center your products. This way, regardless of product size, you’ll be able to center them each time and create an appealing, uniform look for your store.
The beauty ecommerce market continues to thrive, with order volume up 10% in 2022 alone. To stand out from the competition, you need product shots that look professional and give shoppers what they want before clicking “buy.”
With some simple editing techniques, you can elevate your product photography even on a DIY budget. But if you need something more advanced or want to save time and effort, our team of professional editors is ready to help refine your shots and let your products shine.
[cta image="about-work.svg" text="Let us look after your image edits, so you can get back to the fun stuff. Try Path free." button="Learn more" link="https://dashboard.pathedits.com/free_trial/new"]]]>With the right approach to photo editing, you can enhance your apparel shots to look their best. Whether you edit the images yourself or outsource them to professional editors, we’ll show you what to look for so your clothing shots are ecommerce-ready.
Post-processing is essential even with perfectly styled garments and the right lighting. Photos fresh from the camera rarely do the products justice.
Small editing tweaks can make a big difference for online shoppers. Seeing a realistic depiction of the clothing they’re buying means they can find items that look great and fit well.
Some common edits brands need to make to apparel photos include:
It all comes down to making your clothing products appealing and professional with crisp, clean photos that fit your brand.
For ecommerce sellers, pure white backdrops are a must-have, with top ecommerce sites like Amazon and eBay requiring white backgrounds for product photos. But even beyond seller requirements, a clean white backdrop helps garments pop like in the example below, whether you’ve shot a model photo or the garment alone.
Removing the background also opens up creative options, allowing you to repurpose product images in different ways. For example, you can add a transparent, colorful, branded, or lifestyle background.
[cta text="How to create a white background in Photoshop" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/how-to-create-a-white-background-in-photoshop-tutorial"]
Once you’ve cut out the background, you can leave it on a white background or create another copy with a transparent background. Clothing with transparent backgrounds will work on websites with a custom color scheme, so your product shots can match it.
Alternatively, you can choose a slightly darker shade of white, like the sustainable fashion brand People Tree. By doing this, individual listings stand out against the background of a white online store.
Do your cut-out clothing photos look a little lifeless on a plain white background? Adding a subtle shadow can create a more appealing and natural look that’s still fit for ecommerce marketplace requirements, like the example below.
Adding a shadow in post-production lets you control its direction, regardless of the lighting conditions during the shoot. That way, you can fully focus on ensuring the garment is composed and lit correctly during the shoot and add a shadow later during post-production.
If there’s one thing that makes a clothing photo look unprofessional, it’s wrinkled garments. No matter how much steaming or ironing you’ve done, there’s almost always an inevitable wrinkle or crease. Make sure your photos are wrinkle-free before uploading them to your online store.
You can fix fabric wrinkles during post-processing in Photoshop using a couple simple methods:
Stains, dust, hair, and other imperfections on clothing aren’t always avoidable. For example, sweat and liquid drops may add realism to some photos, but the result may not be appealing for customers.
Below, the unedited photo on the left shows stains in authentic context. To enhance the t-shirt's look for ecommerce, we edited the version on the right, removing damp marks while maintaining the outdoorsy feel.
Fixes like these are straightforward in most cases. As mentioned above, you can use Spot Healing Brush or Clone Stamp, depending on the size and type of imperfection you need to remove.
You can also try the Patch Tool, like in this YouTube tutorial. Using this method works well for fixing larger imperfections and for more control over the resulting texture or pattern of your garment.
Natural light can make your studio setup and clothing appear different in the images than when you shot them. The camera picks up colors you might not even notice with your naked eye. As an example, the photo might end up with a light cast from other sources around your studio, a more blue hue if you shot during daylight, or a warm yellow hue if you shot at golden hour.
All of these factors will contribute to showing an inaccurate garment color.
To fix it, head into Adobe Lightroom. First, make sure your photo is bright enough using the Exposure slider to select a suitable brightness. Then, adjust the color temperature and tint to a neutral result. You can do it using the following methods:
Adding some lifestyle context to your product images can spice them up. You can hire models and locations for a photoshoot, but this can be expensive if you only want a few lifestyle shots. The answer? Lifestyle composites.
Lifestyle composites involve photographing a product or a subject—or using a product shot you already have—and removing the background. Then, you can either pick a stock photo as the new background or shoot one yourself. The goal is to create a faster, more affordable lifestyle photo using post-processing instead of organizing and budgeting for a photoshoot.
Editing these photos typically requires more advanced skills, but you can outsource it. To get started, prepare a simple product photo, for example, a model wearing one of the garments. In the next step, you or the editor will remove the background—if it hasn’t been done already—and add a stock photo of a suitable location as the new backdrop.
Many product photography studios, like POW Product Photography, offer this advanced service.
When you blend the images together, ensure the product has natural shadows, is cut out and sized correctly to fit your background image, and seamlessly blends in.
For a natural result, you may need to adjust colors on either image so they fit together because lighting setup will be different for both. Doing so will help avoid your composite looking like an artificial cut-out.
The best part about composites is you can repurpose the same product shot with different backgrounds as many times as you need.
Clothing labels and tags that stick out can be distracting. Alternatively, you may want to add or alter the existing brand tag on a clothing item you have already photographed.
An image like the one on the left might work well on social media when you share it to increase brand awareness. However, if you wish to use the photo as an online store listing, you might want to remove the background and the brand tag. As a result, customers can pay attention to the color and texture of the garment’s fabric rather than be distracted by the brand’s label.
You can remove the tag using a mixture of the methods we mentioned for removing wrinkles and spots. The goal is to replace the label area with a realistic-looking part of the garment.
To add a label, photograph it first. Then you can cut it out, copy it onto the product photo, and resize and transform its perspective to match the garment in the photo. If you’re adding your brand logo directly to the garment, follow this blend effect tutorial for a natural result.
If you’ve already shot a garment with a tag, you can just add the brand logo to it. In this example, we used a t-shirt with a plain label tag and added our logo. Don’t forget to match the perspective by skewing the logo if the tag isn’t facing the camera head-on.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the right setup to hang your clothing items during the shoot. You can photograph the pieces while holding them, and remove any hangers and arms afterwards, like in the example below. It works similarly to removing imperfections.
In this case, work with larger parts of the image first to remove the hanger and any hands. To remove any remaining hanger parts around the garment, such as around the neckline of a jacket, you’ll need to zoom in for precision and use the same tools for removing blemishes and wrinkles.
You might want to consider creating a ghost mannequin shot if simply removing the hanger isn’t enough and makes garments look too flat. With this technique, the clothing appears to float on an invisible model or mannequin while maintaining its shape.
As the clothes appear worn by someone, it looks more realistic and appealing than a photo of clothing on a hanger. You’ll need to re-shoot your garments for this, but you only need a few photos, and anyone who fits your garments can model them.
Generally speaking, though, invisible mannequin shots are planned, as they require shots both with a mannequin or person and without. Keep this in mind as you’re shooting your apparel photos.
Follow this ghost mannequin photo guide to find out how to use ghost mannequin images for your brand. You can also outsource your ghost mannequin edits to our professional editors and get your images back in as little as six hours. We also offer perks for bulk orders.
You may worry about reshooting your collection from scratch when you have a new color piece in stock. But, if you’ve photographed the garment, you can change the color in post-production to match what’s in stock. This will save you time organizing your shoot and give you the flexibility to adjust shop listings whenever a new color becomes available.
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It’s difficult to get every model photo to look exactly the same, especially if you shoot with diverse talent. But a simple way to create an attractive ecommerce store with a coherent look is aligning or cropping all of your main listing photos. This way, when customers visit your shop, they’ll see items of similar type presented the same way.
One outdoor gear brand dedicated to sustainability, Cotopaxi, puts this idea into practice with its online storefront. All models are central in the main product listing photo, leaving similar spacing between the top of the photo and the model’s head.
This approach allows for flexibility in model posing while still keeping overall uniformity across the photos. Not every model will have the same body type or proportions, so making sure there’s even spacing at the top of the image and the model is central still creates a unified look.
Similarly, Cotopaxi applies this method to displaying bottoms. Rather than including a full body shot, every listing leaves a similar distance between the model’s feet and the bottom of the picture, allowing just enough to see a small part of the model’s top.
In addition to your main listing photos, customers may want to see your garments up close. When you’re shooting, plan to take full-body and close-up shots so you have a variety of images to choose from. For maximum impact, you’ll likely still crop the close-ups during post-production.
Zoomed-in crops let customers inspect the finer details of your garments, such as the stitching, fabric quality, buttons and zippers. It’s like shopping in person. If you try on a jacket, for example, you’ll probably notice its pockets, lining, and cuff in addition to its overall fit and look.
Rapanui, a sustainable, organic cotton clothing brand, uses crop shots to highlight fine details on its garments. Combined with full-length white background shots, shoppers have enough visual information to decide whether to purchase the item.
Eye-catching and professional clothing photos are key to hooking customers. Imagine shopping for clothing online without full garment views or close-up details—you’d likely click away. But creating compelling images doesn’t require a large studio or team.
Thoughtful editing can make the difference between losing shoppers and convincing them your clothing is a must-have. Still unsure about spending too much time editing photos yourself? Our team of experts can help with your photo editing needs.
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]]>This is especially true when it comes to ecommerce product photography that can seem creatively limiting.
Curious about post-processing and how you can use it to improve your business? Get a refresher on the definition of photo editing and learn about what a photo editor is and how to incorporate photo editing into your business.
Photo editing is the act of image enhancement and manipulation. This process is usually done with a digital photo editing software. Photo editing can involve basic tweaks like when you crop and resize images or adjust saturation. It also includes advanced techniques like swapping faces or photo retouching to get rid of distracting elements or unwanted objects.
Some image editing techniques are done manually, while others are conducted through automated photo editing tools and software. Most edits to digital photography involve some one or a few photo editing programs. Some edits are even done offline on actual photographs, posters, or other printed collateral without any image editing software.
Other terms for photo editing include:
Editing helps you fine tune and get the best image possible, as close to what you imagined when you took the photo (or better perhaps). Niche photographers can hone and emphasize their personal style. And for businesses, editing helps cement branding and optimize for business goals.
Photo editing is particularly important for ecommerce companies. Image quality directly affects people’s opinion of the product and sales numbers. Studies have confirmed that high-quality images outperform stock photos and poorer quality imagery—and increasing the number of high-quality images helps build trust with consumers and increases conversion rates.
There are many ways to edit a photo—some simple and others more complicated.
Many people can figure out simple photo editing techniques on their own—though this does require time and patience. More complex adjustments may require using dedicated programs with specific photo editing features or hiring a trained professional editor.
Two methods of digital photo editing are pixel editing and parametric image editing. Let’s look at their definitions:
Pixel editing, or pixel-level editing, is when you alter an image at the pixel level. Because you’re altering the pixels themselves, this also permanently changes the image file. That’s why pixel editing is considered a destructive form of photo editing because it’s not as easy to undo the changes and restore the original file.
Pixel editing allows you to make extremely detailed edits and accomplish certain functions that parametric image editing can’t (like CMYK color modes, for example).
Parametric image editing (PIE) doesn’t change the pixels of the image. Instead, these edits are recorded as a set of steps to follow to accomplish the final look. Thus, it’s a non-destructive mode of photo editing. However, PIE doesn’t always allow for all types of edits.
Many in the industry recommend starting with PIE, and then using pixel editing to refine the final details.
There are so many ways to edit photos, and everyone has a unique approach. You might see examples of photo editing on social media or YouTube.
Here are some examples of photo edits the team at Path have fulfilled for ecommerce brands all over the world:
You can also check out tutorials to see photo editing examples and learn how to do them step-by-step. Here are a few tutorials that walk you through the photo editing process on your own:
Product images will almost always require or benefit from post-processing. One of the main things you want to be mindful of is consistency, especially if you’re working on multiple products for the same company or are providing several types of photos of the same product.
Visuals help market brands and sell products, but you should also think about where the image will be used. Is it for an advertisement, ecommerce page, social media, or a print catalog? A white background shot will call for much different edits than an image for a Facebook ad. Likely, you’ll be able to get more creative with advertising imagery.
Here are some of the most common types of edits for product photography:
If you’re ready to learn how to edit your own photos, check out this handy collection of Photoshop tutorials. Here are a few to get started with:
A person who edits images can either be self-employed, contracted by an outsourced company or agency, or someone who works in-house. There are many possible job titles for a photo editor, including digital photo editor, graphic designer or art director, among others.
Typically, photo editors specialize in specific industries, much like photographers. For example, real estate, editorial, and product photography all come with their own set of trends and intricacies. Editors that focus on ecommerce images know just how to make products pop.
Our virtual photo editing studio is made of more than 300 trained professional photo editors who specialize in ecommerce product photography.
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Learning new photo editing techniques can be an enjoyable way to break up your day and add to your industry knowledge, but editing photos can be time-consuming, especially if photography is your specialty. If you need fast, affordable, high-quality photo-editing services, the professionals at Path are here to help.
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Yes, you can edit a photo for free. You can use free photo editing tools and do it yourself. You can also use free AI photo editing tools, but these edits require careful quality checks. Or, send your first two photos to Path to get them edited for free.
Edit photos like a pro by learning basic and advanced Photoshop techniques, outsourcing the tedious edits, and optimizing for the right use and context.
The meaning of photo editing is the process of manipulating and enhancing a photo. Photo editing can involve basic tweaks like cropping, resizing, and applying artistic filters. It also includes advanced manipulations like retouching and removing unwanted elements and distractions.
A photo editor can save you time and stress because they have the skills necessary to accomplish tedious, time-consuming, or complicated editing tasks for you.
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]]>With patience and finesse, you can add natural-looking drop shadows in Photoshop to your product photos. This photo editing process takes time, skill, and an understanding of how shadows work.
To learn how to add a shadow in Photoshop to your product photos, watch the video below—and then scroll down to follow along via written tutorial.
Before you begin to draw or create your shadow in Photoshop, it’s helpful to understand how shadows work. Objects have two types of shadows:
Both types of shadows are determined by the direction of, distance from, and number of light sources. You can use form shadows on your object to see how a realistic cast shadow might appear. Cast shadows become lighter and blurrier as they get further from the object.
In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn how to add a natural shadow in Photoshop using a combination of the Drop Shadow Layer Style, transform tools, the gradient tool, blurs, layer masks, and alpha channels.
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Creating a realistic shadow is a much more complicated and rewarding process than just applying a drop shadow to an object. Drop shadows by themselves are roughly the same size and dimension as the object. Rarely in real life would you encounter a shadow that looks just like an unmodified drop shadow. Adjusting your shadow into a three-dimensional cast shadow using the method described in this tutorial is essential to making your shadow look natural.
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Open the photo you plan to modify. Once you’re in the new file, open your Layers panel by going to Window > Layers. Select the object in your photo.
Copy your selection and paste it into a new layer. Doing this will allow you to work with your product image without destroying the original photo.
Give your new layer a name that indicates the background has been removed (or “isolated”) to avoid confusion with other layers as you create your shadows.
Click on the eye icon next to your Background layer to make the background invisible. This way, you’ll only be able to see your object against a transparent background.
In your Layers panel, select your hidden background layer. Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color…. A dialog box will appear asking you to name the new layer. Let’s call it “solid white.”
Click OK.
Now the Color Picker window will appear on your screen. Move your cursor all the way to the upper left-hand corner of the color field to select white. Or, in the hexadecimal color value at the bottom of the dialog box (next to the # symbol), type “ffffff.” This will give you a pure white color.
Click OK.
You should have a layer of white covering your entire image.
In your Layers panel, grab your new white Fill layer and drag it underneath your “isolated” layer.
Shadows have color, and you can look at form shadows on your object to determine what the color of your cast shadow should be.
Find a form shadow within your object, and use your Eyedropper Tool to select that shadow.
The selected color will appear as your foreground color at the bottom of your Toolbar. Double click on the new foreground color to bring up the Color Picker adjustment dialog box.
Adjust your selected color to be a bit darker and less saturated by moving the selection down and to the left of the color field. Click OK.
With your isolated object layer selected, click on the fx button at the bottom of your layers panel and select Drop Shadow.
The Drop Shadow dialog box will pop up. Create a drop shadow by setting your shadow color to your foreground color. Don’t worry about the opacity, distance, spread, and size levels yet—you can adjust all of that later—but you can use the values in the screenshot below as a starting point.
Once you’re satisfied with your Drop Shadow settings, click OK.
Go to Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer to separate your drop shadow from its layer. This will allow you to modify the shadow independent of the object. A warning dialog box might pop up when you go to create the layer; if that’s the case, just click OK.
In your Layers panel, select the newly created drop shadow layer.
Go to Edit > Transform > Distort to pull your drop shadow down to the floor.
Artistic knowledge comes in handy here—consider where the form shadows are on your object to determine which direction the cast shadow should fall naturally, and think about the vanishing point of your image to determine just how far you should distort the shadow.
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Our shadow is starting to look realistic, but remember that in real life, shadows become blurrier and lighter the further they get from the object. Using an alpha channel is an easy way to control the areas of the shadow that need to blur and lighten.
To create an alpha channel, go to Window > Channels to open your Channels Panel. Click on the Panel menu to select New Channel.
A New Channel dialog box will pop up. You can keep the name as its default, Alpha 1. Under Color Indicates, make sure the Selected Areas radio button is chosen.
In your Channels Panel, select your new Alpha 1 channel just as you would select a layer. Make sure the visibility (eye icon to the left of the channel name) is toggled on for all channels.
Select the Gradient Tool from the Toolbar. At the bottom of the Toolbar, make sure the foreground is set to black and the background is set to white.
In the Options Bar at the top of your application window, make sure the gradient is set to black-to-white, and the gradient type is linear.
Once your gradient settings are correct, set your cursor at the furthest point of your shadow (or beyond) and draw the gradient toward the part of the shadow that’s closest to the object.
The selection will be visible as a red gradient overlaying your image.
Once you’ve created your gradient in your alpha channel, you’ll see a red gradient on top of your image, indicating how the mask within the channel interacts with your image. You can toggle the eye icon next to Alpha 1 to make the red gradient invisible so it’s not distracting.
Click on the top channel in your Channels panel (either RGB or CMYK, depending on your image’s color mode) to select your color channels and deselect your alpha channel.
Go to your Layers panel to make sure you still have your drop shadow layer selected.
Go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur. A dialog box will show up giving you significant controls over your blur.
Make sure the box next to Preview is checked. Under Depth Map, select Alpha 1 from the Source dropdown menu.
Keep the Blur Focal Distance at 0, and check the box next to Invert.
Slide the Radius to a high number (in this example, it’s set to 72). Leave all other values at their defaults. Click OK.
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Go to Select > Load Selection. Choose Alpha 1 from the Channel dropdown options and make sure the radio button next to New Selection is checked.
Click OK.
Now you’ll see a selection approximating the darkest areas of the gradient you created in your alpha channel.
Select inverse by going to Select > Select Inverse, or by using the Photoshop keyboard shortcut for the action by typing SHIFT + CONTROL + I (SHIFT + COMMAND + I on a Mac).
In your Layers panel, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the panel. When the mask is applied, the shadow will appear to “fade” as it recedes into the distance. Notice the thumbnail for the layer mask matches the thumbnail next to Alpha 1.
You should see your shadow recede into the background as it gets “farther” away from the object.
If you’re looking for a subtler shadow, reduce the opacity of your Drop Shadow layer.
Finally, make sure no portions of your shadow appear on the wrong side of your product or object. So, in the example in this tutorial, there should be no instances of the shadow that appear in front of the bicycle since the light source pushes the cast shadow behind it. Using the Eraser Tool, carefully remove shadows that don’t belong.
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There are many reasons and ways to use drop shadows in product photos. When you display a product against a white background, adding a natural shadow helps your product pop against the background and creates a more realistic, professional-looking photo.
Furniture in particular lends itself to the natural drop shadow technique, adding dimension and depth to your product photos without the technical lighting aspects that occur during the shoot. Here’s an example from The Mood Store, where you can see natural shadows added to several images:
Famous Footwear does the same for its main product images, which are uniform in layout, background, and overall aesthetic.
Adding natural shadows to each of your images in Photoshop is an important step to editing your product photos for the most sales. But it’s a time-consuming and detailed process—if you don’t have someone from your team dedicated to product photos, it can quickly become a distracting task.
You can outsource your natural shadows, and all your drop shadows, to Path—your virtual photo editing studio ready for you 24/7—so you can spend time on the more important parts of business and life.
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The easiest way to add a shadow in Photoshop is to add a Drop Shadow effect to the layer containing your isolated object.
One of the easiest ways to create a very subtle shadow in Photoshop is to create a small, feathered ellipse of color under your object. This method works well for solid, simple shapes that you want to appear “floating” in a white space with a shadow beneath them.
Drop shadow is a layer effect you can apply to any layer in Photoshop by selecting the layer and choosing Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow… from the menu at the top of the application window. While drop shadows can be manipulated into realistic-looking shadows, simple, unaltered drop shadows make the object look flat, as if it were a piece of paper casting a shadow on another piece of paper underneath.
]]>But if they come across a listing with a poorly edited product photo, it could make or break their purchase decision. They might be distracted by the glare of plastic product wrapping, spot a necklace with visible scratches, or a kitchenware set with photographer reflections on the metal surface. Those products will stick out like a sore thumb for all the wrong reasons.
Many products have challenging shiny, reflective, or transparent surfaces, so it helps to know how to shoot and edit them for a professional result. Look at some of our tips and tricks to help you create high-quality product photos that lead to sales—even on a DIY budget.
Not sure which products can create unwanted reflections? There are actually more than you might think. Shiny, reflective, or transparent products might include:
There’s no doubt that shiny, reflective, and transparent products can be tricky to photograph and edit. But there’s more—some products also have unique shapes, which makes photographing and editing even more challenging.
For example, long-lasting product retailer Buy Me Once has a listing for a stainless steel garlic press.
Even though the garlic press is reflective and has a complex, uneven shape, the photo shows no unwanted reflections, and you won’t find any scratches or fingerprint smudges on the metal. The product photo may look simple, but creating a picture-perfect finish like this takes careful consideration.
A few things to keep in mind when shooting and editing photos that feature shiny or reflective products are:
Sometimes you want reflective lighting. There are instances where adding shine can enhance the image. Look at clean cosmetics brand RMS Beauty. Light reflects on the cream in the brand’s product photo, emphasizing its texture. It’s appealing because all product details are still visible, despite the added shine.
Similarly, an intentional sheen can add a sense of freshness to food and drink products, like in the example below from London Fermentary, a fermentation specialist. The effect is subtle but adds dimension and vibrancy to the glass bottles, as does the reflection on the white surface.
Look at some image samples online before you shoot your products to have a better idea of what the outcome will be. It will help you prepare and set up your composition and lighting equipment.
First, organize your studio space and have the right tools handy to avoid complex photo editing later on. Some things to look out for include:
Start with a clutter-free setup for your product photo session.
Only allow the people you need on the set. Otherwise, they may unintentionally block light, appear in product surface reflections, or even add light reflections of themselves. For example, if someone is wearing a watch or using their smartphone.
Remove or turn off any other light sources in the room. You might also need to block natural window light if you work with studio lights and want precise control over your light sources.
Make sure your products are clean after styling and positioning them. Shiny surfaces like glass or metal will quickly pick up fingerprints, and dust will be easily visible in your photos. Microfiber cloths are handy for this.
You can also use a pair of cotton, microfiber, or latex gloves to handle your products and keep them stain-free. For electronic components, use anti-static gloves to avoid built-up static charges.
Does your product come in cellophane or other similar transparent packaging? Consider taking it off for the photoshoot so shoppers can see the product without obtrusive material getting in the way.
For example, if you sell gift baskets, you should take pictures after you assemble them but before you wrap them in cellophane—the shiny material can make your products look less sharp in a photo.
You can do it like the eco-friendly product retailer Peace With The Wild. It has two photos of its grapefruit bath bomb. One shows the product up close (with added styling using petals), and the other photo displays the bath bomb in its transparent, branded packaging.
You don’t need an expensive studio setup to create professional photos that look great online. DIY your lighting setup with some of these basics in your photo kit:
With your studio kit ready, it’s time to start planning your equipment setup and compositions.
The main thing to remember is that it takes patience to build up to that perfect shot—from setting up your composition to adjusting your lights and camera settings. But the good thing is it becomes easier the more you do it, especially for similar products requiring the same type of setup each time. Consider taking a photo of your setup or drawing it in a notebook so you can recreate it next time.
For reflective products, start by finding an angle that eliminates—or reduces to a minimum—any reflections of you, the camera, and any other equipment or people on the set.
You may need to tilt or move the product to get the right angle, or you can use props or craft putty to prop up an item like a ring or a watch.
For products with a mirror, such as this makeup palette by RMS Beauty, you can angle the mirror to reflect the product itself or a plain white background (or both).
If you’re working with metal products like cutlery or jewelry, try positioning your light directly over them. This is a simple but effective method to create a soft light that works with various metal products of different shapes.
If you have a plastic, acrylic, or glass product, like a bottle container, you can create a professional look with just one continuous light. You can even use your smartphone to shoot this setup if you’re on a budget.
Start by adding a softbox or a strip box facing the product on one side and a white foam board or a large V-flat on the opposite side of your light, like in this video. The trick is to move the light so its reflection on your product complements it, not obstructs the label or other details. Continuous lighting makes this easier because you can see the result instantly.
Experiment with different light angles to see what works for your product's shape and design so you don’t obstruct essential elements like the brand logo. DASH Water, for example, has the light run across the left side of its sparkling water bottle.
If your light is too strong, add a white material, like paper, fabric, or diffuser, between the light and the product. And, if you're losing too much detail on the opposite side of the light, set up a white board or reflector on the other side, like in this video guide. It will reflect light and brighten your product's opposite (dark) side.
If you have two lights, you can add a modifier, such as a softbox or a grid, to both and place them on the opposite sides of your product. You can start with both lights mirroring each other directly and then turning them slowly to find a result that works.
For example, turn the lights slightly towards the camera or angle them facing down towards the product, like in this video. Ultimately, you’ll get a result similar to the Gentle Folk Wines Rainbow Juice below.
This setup works well to illuminate both sides of your product while keeping any central logos or labels visible. Do you need extra light in the center of your product? To get an evenly lit image, take another shot with a light facing the product's front and merge all photos in Photoshop.
For any transparent products, such as perfume or beverage bottles with translucent liquid, it’s just as important to light what’s inside. You have a few options to try in a situation like this:
The first setup is to add a light behind the product (facing the camera) and two black boards—one on either side of the product. You can use a flash strobe, continuous light, or even a window light with white paper or fabric in front of it.
The two black boards on either side will add dark edges to the silhouette, like in the example below.
The second option is to add a white background, like a white board big enough to cover your product. Then add a continuous light that shines a narrow beam towards the center of the board, like in this video. Add two black boards on either side of the product to create a silhouette similar to the setup above.
If you shoot products with a rim like a glass bowl, wine, or cocktail glass, lower your tripod and tilt up your camera. Doing so will create an appealing rim shape, like in the example below.
For a more advanced setup, illuminate the product from behind using a flashgun, a studio light, or a softbox, and another light at the front. Add a white sheet between the product and the backlight for additional diffusion.
You don’t even need an extra stand for the frontal light, as shown in this tutorial because you can hold it in your hand and shoot using a remote or a timer. Then, all that's left is to merge all photos in Photoshop.
You’ll inevitably come across surface reflections when photographing metal products or metallic packaging. Use cards, foam boards, and reflectors to correct or enhance your shots:
It takes several test shots to get your camera and light settings spot on. During your test shots, consider the following:
Shooting transparent or translucent products may make setting your camera focus difficult. A quick tip to solve that is to put something inside the product, such as a pen. Set your focus on the pen manually and remove it before you start shooting.
In cases where product transparency is a key selling point, a lifestyle shot can make it easier for customers to see the product’s characteristics. Take the example of the Buy Me Once transparent speaker. Putting the speaker in front of the curtain makes it easy for customers to recognize the product is made of glass and to better envision how it'll look in their home or office.
If you want a more matte look for your shiny products, consider a dulling spray like the one from Krylon. It’s designed to add a temporary dull finish that reduces shine, and you can easily wipe it off after your shoot.
But be careful using it on porous materials, like product labels, because the dulling spray can make those look fuzzy or even ruin some colors or text. Instead, cover those before you use the spray. It’s safe to use on less porous materials like metal, glass, plastic, and acrylic.
Getting perfect product shots straight from the camera isn’t always possible. Sometimes you notice imperfections only after you open your product photo on your computer and see it on a bigger screen. Other times you already know you can’t fix some things during the shoot.
We have a few quick editing tips below to help you deal with some common shiny and reflective product photo problems.
If your light is too bright, you can have light hot spots like in the example below. Sometimes, glare can add dimension to the product, but other times it’s too distracting. You can use Photoshop’s Clone Stamp tool to take pixels from one part of the photo and paint them over the part that has glare.
Or try the Color Picker tool. Select a color sample from a part of the photo (like the green on the figurine) and then use the Brush tool to apply that color to the parts needing glare removal.
Even with careful preparation, you can find some unwanted reflections.
Same as with glare removal, you can use the Clone Stamp in Photoshop to sample pixels and paint them over the reflection, like on the gold necklace below. Or use the Spot Healing Brush tool to let the software cover the reflections based on the surrounding pixels.
Some photos require more complex editing. For example, the glass bottle below has both a window reflection and a distracting mix of red and yellow. If you want to leave more complicated fixes to professionals, our editors can retouch any reflections to save you time.
You have a few simple fixes if you have some light cast on silver products. The first option is to use Hue/Saturation Layer in Photoshop and select the color you want to remove, like yellow. Then, reduce that color’s saturation until you like what you see. You can use a Layer Mask to remove this effect from other parts of your image if required.
The second option is to use the Sponge tool in Photoshop. Ensure it’s set to Desaturate, and brush over the product areas with the unwanted light cast. In the example below, we used this method to desaturate any color on the metal straws. We also retouched the background with Healing Brush to remove any unflattering spots on the linen.
Glass and clear acrylic products may show reflections or glare, especially if you work with natural light. It may be impossible to eliminate those during a shoot, but you can still fix them in post-processing.
Using the Clone Stamp tool, you can copy exact detail from other parts of your photo to another area. For example, to cover up reflections on a pair of glasses. In this case, we would take a sample of the pink background and add it over the glass where the reflection is visible.
You can do the same for the black temples by zooming in for extra precision. The reason for getting in closer is to ensure you don’t accidentally go over the edges of the original area.
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Shooting a perfectly lit product photo takes time, experience, and equipment. But even with just one light, you can fully illuminate your product by shooting several images and combining them in Photoshop.
Whether you use studio lights or natural light with a reflector, the trick is to move your light source around the product to ensure you’ve lit every part of it. It's better to have more photos than not enough, so you can pick which ones to combine to create a composite image like in this tutorial.
It’s not just products prone to shine and reflections—these imperfections can also show up in lifestyle photos. You might have models with overly shiny skin, especially if it was hot on shoot day.
If you work with a makeup artist, take a test shot and ask them to add a more matte finish to the model’s face or body if needed. Be mindful that smaller photography studios can get warm, especially if you use several lights. This means the model’s skin can become shinier during the shoot—you can ask the model to use a light mattifying powder or blotting paper if it becomes an issue.
If you need to fix shiny skin in post-processing, use any mentioned tools, such as Spot Healing Brush, Clone Stamp, or a simple Brush tool with color sampled from a nearby image area.
When you’ve finished, zoom out and look at the final result from a distance—does it look natural? People’s skin has texture and natural shadows, so creating a realistic result can be tricky. Still, if you're stuck, our editing experts can help.
After fixing any unwanted reflections or shine, there are a few extra steps to ensure your product photos are ready for your website, social media, or ecommerce marketplace.
White background product photos are the industry standard for ecommerce stores. Removing the background in your product photos gives you several benefits:
You’ll likely need to do some color correction to ensure the products in your photos represent what they look like when customers purchase them.
For example, if you shoot during the golden hour (the first hour before sunrise and the hour before sunset), the light will be warmer, resulting in a more yellow photo. Your camera may also be manually set to shoot warmer images, or the camera auto function might pick up colors our eyes don't notice.
Use Lightroom’s White Balance profiles or White Balance selector to automatically set a natural white balance or adjust the sliders manually. Read our jewelry photo editing guide to learn more.
Don’t forget to remove any other imperfections in the photo before using it online. Look for scratches, smudges, fingerprints, and dust for shiny products. These are generally simple to fix using Spot Healing Brush in Photoshop.
All you need to do is brush over the imperfection, and the tool will attempt to replace it based on the context and nearby pixels. It may take several tries to fix a more prominent spot, but you can zoom in closer for a more accurate result.
Adding a shadow effect during post-processing can help your products stand out, particularly if you use white background shots for ecommerce.
White or transparent products will benefit from a subtle shadow so they don't blend in with the background. Still, this effect can enhance any shape, material, and color product. For example, the organic silk brand Moonchild uses a drop shadow for its silk travel set product photo.
Shiny products or packaging are integral to most types of ecommerce products. While it may be challenging to get the lighting right, and it may take time to edit out all of the imperfections, the finished result will catch the customers’ attention if done well.
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Make sure the product is dust and smudge-free. Use diffused lighting, like a large softbox, to create soft, even light, and position the camera at a slight angle to avoid directly reflecting the light source or the camera.
Position the camera or object at an angle for an appealing reflection. Use manual focus so all necessary image parts are in focus, and pick a higher aperture like f/11 for a sharp photograph. You can use white paper or foam boards to reflect pure white and avoid having to edit unwanted reflections.
To lighten any shadowed areas of your product, position reflectors opposite to your main light. Experiment with matte or highly reflective surfaces for different results. You can also use a black board or reflector to absorb any light and create a more dramatic light fall-off.
Acrylic boards can work as inexpensive and flexible reflectors for product photography. You can also use them as the shooting surface for products like jewelry for a glossy, high-end result. Before you shoot, make sure they're smudge and dust-free to avoid editing out imperfections later.
]]>Preparing and filing freelance tax can be complicated for self-employed photographers. To help you navigate this process, we’ve compiled a tax guide for photographers to get you started.
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Before moving forward, set yourself up for success by keeping good records of everything — and we mean everything.
Some of the records and receipts you need to set aside include:
While you can hang onto all this paperwork in a shoebox for your accountant to sort out, we recommend getting organized. Set up a proper paper filing system or use an accounting tool like Wave or QuickBooks to digitize, store, and categorize paper receipts and track invoices.
To keep track of everything, Jody Siebert, an accountant at Fix Your Accounting, recommends you build two good habits: scanning and filing all your receipts.
"Scan and file all receipts by month, writing on each receipt the purpose of the expense," she says. "Credit card statements are not audit-proof and will likely result in the expenses being disallowed on audit."
Even if you're working with a pro bookkeeper or accountant, you'll need to have your important paperwork organized so that they can effectively help you.
“A tax professional can't do their job effectively without a clean set of financial statements,” said Lozelle Mathai, owner of Closing Your Books, which specializes in bookkeeping and accounting for female freelancers.
[tweetquote text="As the saying goes, ‘Garbage in, garbage out.'" — Lozelle Mathai, Closing Your Books]
“When a freelancer has poor accounting records, the tax accountant will be forced to file taxes based on sloppy and inaccurate financial statements,” she says. “The tax accountant can't minimize the client's tax liability based on inaccurate financial statements.”
The prospect of collecting and organizing all this paperwork may seem daunting, but you'll thank yourself come tax season. Accurate bookkeeping will make life easier during tax season, especially in case of an audit.
As a freelance photographer who may need to rent or buy pricey equipment, market your services, and rent out studio space, you'll have a spectrum of expenses you can deduct from your taxes.
There are business-related costs you can write off to decrease the size of your tax burden. To summarize some of the most common expenses freelance photographers can deduct, here's a quick list of the top deductions:
As a freelance photographer, there's a lot of expensive equipment involved — from cameras to lighting to props — which make the startup costs for freelance photographers prohibitively high. Fortunately, when you purchase or rent any equipment related to your work, you can deduct those expenses.
That's why it's important to track every piece of equipment you buy during the year, including cameras, lighting, stands, tripods, film supplies, lenses, and even hard drives and computers. Keep a list of all your equipment and important data (like its value and any serial numbers) in a spreadsheet so you have an equipment inventory for both insurance and tax purposes.
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For rentals, keep copies of your invoices or receipts in a safe place so you can access them during tax time. Or, if you don't trust your paper filing system, digitize your receipts and save them to the Cloud.
Running a photography business also means making some pretty hefty investments in venue or studio spaces. If you've rented out any spaces for photo shoots, remember to deduct those costs on your taxes. And if you rented (or still rent) an area for equipment storage, you can deduct that cost as well.
Additional training and courses you take to upgrade your skills can give you a nice tax break — so be sure to deduct the costs of your courses on your taxes. That also includes industry conferences where you go to learn from and network with your peers.
Don't forget to account for how you got there (mileage or airfare) and any hotel arrangements.
The educational deductions don't stop there either. Professional photo editing software, reference materials like magazines and books, and any annual membership costs may also be deducted if it relates to training and education.
As a freelance photographer, travel expenses can add up quickly — which is why it's important to keep detailed records of each trip so you can accurately deduct those costs on your taxes. Travel expenses can include mileage, airfare, car rentals, lodging, cab fares, meals, entertainment and even a portion of your car insurance.
Just be aware that the IRS has specific parameters that dictate how much you can deduct from these costs.
And the one travel expense most freelancers forget? "Mileage to purchase supplies," Lytton says. Even the smallest detail counts.
Regardless of whether you rent or own your home, you can still deduct the cost of your home office space. And in 2013, the IRS actually made this deduction easier for Americans by providing a simplified way to determine this deduction: $5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet.
You may even be able to deduct a portion of your rent, mortgage interest, insurance and utility costs—but always check with a professional before deducting these expenses on your taxes. One thing you definitely shouldn't forget: office supplies.
A few other expenses Lytton says are commonly forgotten fall under this category: licenses, website fees and, surprisingly enough, tax preparation costs. Along with those, you can also deduct legal fees (if you have a lawyer, for example), insurance costs and promotional expenses.
If you accept payment through websites like PayPal or Square, you're more than likely hit with a small fee for payment processing. The good news? You can deduct those transaction fees, too.
Since your expensive photography equipment can be used for longer than a year, it's considered a capital expense. Capital expenses or expenditures are essentially purchases that are investments in your photography business. For these kinds of purchases, there are two ways to deduct them on your taxes using Form 4562:
If you choose not to list your equipment as listed property on your taxes, you might be eligible for a depreciation allowance. The IRS describes this as "an annual allowance for the wear and tear, deterioration or obsolescence of the property."
If you're self-employed, you're eligible to deduct personal costs on your taxes as well. These may include any paid insurance premiums, and a portion of your social security and Medicare taxes, also known as the Self-Employment Tax.
Aside from the 1040-ES form, there are several others to consider before you do your taxes in the U.S. As a freelance photographer, many of these forms will be directly related to the types of deductions you can make on your return.
The 1040 is a basic tax form for inputting your gross income, deductions, and tax credits. Think of this form as the mandatory front page of your return.
Schedule C is the form to report income and expense. It includes your income, business expenses as it relates to your home, costs of goods sold, vehicle information and other expenses not otherwise included.
This form must be submitted with the Schedule C form and should be used to determine your social security and Medicare taxes for the year. The form also comes with a flowchart to help you determine if it best fits your tax situation.
If you've received or are planning to receive a W-2, use this form to write off your business expenses instead of the Schedule C. With this form, you can account for meal, travel, vehicle, and travel expenses.
If you use part of your home for freelance photography such as photo editing tasks, you can use Form 8829 to write off a portion of your rent or mortgage as it relates to the size of your home office.
This form is important to remember if you want to write off the depreciation costs of expensive equipment like cameras, lenses, and lighting. But before you start randomly writing off costs, understand how to properly depreciate your property. Here are the three most common methods:
For additional resources, refer to Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property and ask a professional.
If you're not based in the U.S., check out these resources to help you determine which forms and info best fit your needs for filing your taxes:
United Kingdom
Australia
Canada
Once your forms are ready to go, you can submit them. This is usually done online or via mail.
The IRS states that if you owe less than $1,000 “after subtracting [your] withholding and refundable credits, or paid withholding and estimated tax of at least 90% of the tax for the current year or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the prior year, whichever is smaller,” you may not need to make quarterly estimated payments.
If you expect to owe more than $1,000 on your taxes, you might need to make estimated quarterly tax payments. If this applies to you, start by familiarizing yourself with the 1040-ES form—it’ll be your main tool for estimating what your tax payments will be.
According to the IRS, you'll first need to figure out your expected adjusted gross income, taxable income, taxes, deductions and credits for the year. If this still sounds like jargon to you, reference last year's tax return to find this information.
Quarterly estimated payments are based upon the income from your prior year. If income increased dramatically over the prior year, you might increase the amount remitted each quarter.
The 1040-ES form will be your best friend when it comes to determining your quarterly tax payments. This form will walk you through the scary math formula to determine your quarterly payments based on your expected income for the year. Also remember that if you estimate too high or too low for one quarter, you can always fill out the 1040-ES worksheet again for the next. With some trial and error, you can get a more accurate estimate.
Lytton also recommends to keep your payment vouchers in a safe but easy-to-find spot to help you remember when they're due. For additional tips on making your quarterly tax payments, check out the IRS guide on the subject.
If this process still feels a little overwhelming, consider hiring an accountant to simplify making your quarterly payments. For example, Lytton's system provides a payment schedule that has amounts and payment due dates.
Whether you pay freelance tax quarterly or annually, you'll have to set aside enough cash to cover your bill when tax time rolls around. But how do you know you've budgeted enough?
If you set aside too little, you'll be scrambling to find more cash to cover the difference. But budgeting too much toward taxes means you're diverting dollars away that could be allocated to upgrading your skills or equipment.
Saving ahead of time for freelance tax takes a little simple math and a lot of discipline. A common rule of thumb is to save around 30% of your income toward freelance taxes. But take a breath and swallow that sticker shock.
Yes, 30% sounds like a lot—but remember, this number covers both your income taxes and self-employment taxes and isn't applied to your gross income. Instead, you set aside 30% of your taxable income, which is your freelance income minus all your business expenses (just add up all the deductions we just talked about above).
For example: Let's say you're a freelance photographer and your gross monthly income is $5,000. Your total monthly expenses add up to $1,500. So, the formula to get your taxable monthly income would look like this:
Total income - business expenses = taxable income
$5,000 - $1,500 = $3,500
From there, apply the 30% rule to estimate how much you should set aside monthly in taxes.
$3,500 x .30 = $1,050
From here, you'd hypothetically put aside $1,050 per month. A simple way to set aside this cash is to transfer all your tax funds into a savings account you've earmarked just for that purpose—that way, you don't accidentally spend it.
Based on the example, it may be tough to set aside $1,050 in one fell swoop each month to cover your freelance tax. Rather than moving that tax cash into savings on a monthly basis, some freelancers prefer to take a portion of each paycheck they receive instead.
The same formula above would apply—you'd simply plug in the amount from each client payment (minus expenses, of course). The amounts are far smaller and might be a little less painful to set aside.
Before you jump into the ins and outs of prepping for tax season, determine if your freelance photography endeavors can legally be considered a legitimate business. In the U.S., the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) takes this seriously, since photography is a hobby for so many. You’ll want to ensure you can prove you’re running an actual business.
If you haven't already, consider a business license. The good news is that freelance photography does not require a federal license in the U.S., as photography isn't regulated by a federal agency. And this might even be the case for state business licenses—but always look into your state's requirements before skipping this step.
To go even further, photography as a business activity isn't regulated in many countries, but again always do your homework to find out what's required in your specific country.
Generally, U.S.-based freelance photographers should consider forming a limited liability company (LLC) business structure. This is one of the easiest, most flexible ways to protect you and your business, especially within a partnership or as a sole proprietor.
If you form an LLC and you only have one member (you, the business owner), you can skip having to complete a corporate tax return and instead claim your income and expenses on your individual tax return. And it goes without saying that you also get legal protection and may look more favorable to future clients if you demonstrate that you take your business seriously.
[tweetquote text="Quick tip: One popular method to set up an LLC in the U.S. is through LegalZoom.com"]
Once you have your LLC set up, you'll want to set up a bank account that's separate from your personal finances. Depending on your needs, you can approach a financial institution like a bank or credit union to open a business checking or savings account..
If you're a one-photographer show based in the U.K., you can register as a sole trader. However, while you're allowed to keep all income made through this structure, you're still liable for all debts. Another option is to form a private limited company (Ltd.) — this is a good idea if you don't have employees and want the added benefit of liability.
You might consider hiring a professional accountant or bookkeeping expert to help you through the entire freelance tax process.
A professional tax preparer has the knowledge to assure all income and expenses are taken to mitigate your tax liability. Plus, there is a lot of incorrect information floating around regarding freelance tax.
Tax law is complicated and a tax pro will be able to determine how the laws apply to your specific situation to help minimize your tax obligation.
How exactly do you find a well-versed accounting pro? Beyond some heavy Googling, you have a few options to source an accountant seasoned in preparing returns for freelancers:
With a professional by your side and good bookkeeping practices, you've laid the foundation for success. Now, you'll want to familiarize yourself with everything else you need to know about how to prep and file your taxes as a freelance photographer.
Now that you've got a clear idea of what you need to prep for your taxes as a freelance photographer, there are still several things to remember for filing your taxes and how to maintain good bookkeeping practices throughout the year:
Path and its affiliates do not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.
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Normally, if you're filing as a single person and you're under the age of 65, typically you have to earn a minimum of $12,000 a year to be required to file income taxes.
But that number is far lower for freelance photographers and other business owners in the U.S. In fact, if you make $400 or more in income, you'll also need to pay self-employment taxes to the tune of 15.3%. That percentage covers Social Security and Medicare taxes that your employer would normally withhold, as well as the portions of those taxes your employer would normally pay to Uncle Sam directly.
Depending on how much is owed, freelance photographers also don't pay their taxes once a year like you do with personal income taxes. Instead, you'll need to prepare for quarterly payments for your freelance tax.
You should set aside around 30% of your income toward freelance taxes.
]]>In this guide, we’ll show you how to combine multiple photo editing services in one order. Not only will this give you ideas on how to enhance your product photos in post-production, but also help you save time and money by helping plan ahead which combination of photo editing services to order.
Clipping path is a popular method for removing the background from a product photo. You can then use the cut-out product with a different color background or repurpose it in other ways. But the problem is straightforward product cut-outs can look flat.
You can create a more enticing product photo with a natural or drop shadow. Electronics, accessories, furniture, food and drink, and many other products can benefit from the shadow effect to stand out against a white background.
There are other shadow types you might want to use, like a floating or an enhanced existing shadow—it all depends on the type of products you sell. Items that naturally hang, like earrings or ceiling lamps, work well with a floating shadow, and so do products with unique angles like the sneakers in the example below.
An enhanced existing shadow is great for keeping the shadow captured during the shoot, like in the example below.
If you sell products like jewelry, watches, perfume and cosmetics, you can add a reflective shadow after removing the background with a clipping path. With such a simple change, you can create a luxurious aesthetic.
The reflective shadow gives an impression of a reflective surface beneath products, like in a store with a glass, metallic, or acrylic display.
In ecommerce businesses that offer multiple product variants, reshooting inventory every time a new product color comes in stock can be time-consuming and costly. You also have to be mindful about getting the lighting and composition consistent, so all products look the same.
However, you can streamline the process by ordering a color change in addition to background removal. All you need is a single photo that showcases your product.
Our editors will then carefully edit the different shades for a natural look so your customers can toggle between colors and pick the product variant most appealing to them. We complete every edit by hand, no automation or AI here, so you can rest assured your colors look realistic.
Product listings aren’t the only place to use color change shots—make the most of them in other parts of your marketing. For example, you can create a collage or a series of individual images for social media showing all color variations of your product. Or add all the different product color choices on a leaflet or brochure to distribute to potential clients.
If you sell clothing and accessories, you already know how distracting price tags and hangers can be. With clipping paths, editors remove any distracting elements from the photo and cut out the background so all your product images are consistent.
Include a drop shadow in your order to add dimension and subtle product separation from the white background.
You may come across distracting camera glare in your photos, especially if you DIY your product photography. This happens when the light reflects off surfaces like glass and metal and shines into the camera lens. The effect may work for some creative lifestyle or product shots but not for professional ecommerce images.
There’s a simple fix—you can order photo retouching to remove camera glare and add a drop shadow for a pleasing photo ready for use in online stores and marketplaces.
Getting your fabric products ready for the photoshoot is not an easy feat—packaging and transporting them can add wrinkles and creases even with the most careful preparation. Products like clothing, accessories, decor, and furniture may end up with various blemishes during the transit and shooting process.
A wrinkle removal will take care of any distracting imperfections. You can then combine it with a drop shadow or clipping path, depending on image use. In an ecommerce marketplace like Amazon, the clipping path removes the background, so you can use a white one to fit the listing photo requirements.
If you want to keep the original background, add the drop shadow to the wrinkle removal order and elevate the image further.
Photo retouching is the first step to removing imperfections like fabric wrinkles, tags, and blemishes on your product photos. Using photo retouching does not change the product's appearance but enhances it to look professional and appealing to your customers.
For example, here, we first removed wrinkles from the model’s shorts while the rest of the photo stays the same. Then we added a product color change from brown to green.
Combining photo retouching with color change in the same order is useful if you have product variations in your inventory—it’ll save you reshooting the items.
With a lifestyle shot like this, it’s even more difficult to recreate the exact model’s pose and camera angle. In just a fraction of a second, the model’s facial expressions will change from one image to another.
But with color change, you don’t have to worry about that because all photos will look the same. You can order color change for products like clothing, accessories, jewelry, furniture, bedding, and others.
Photos of clothing on hangers and mannequins don’t always do your products justice. To bring apparel to life, you can order a ghost mannequin service. Editors will remove mannequins or models (as well as the background) for a clean, cohesive look with an invisible model.
You can use ghost mannequin shots in different ways, but above all, this method will give cohesion to your apparel listings. To make the apparel look more realistic, add a drop shadow to your order, like in the example below.
You can’t always make products look perfect during the photoshoot, especially if you have a large inventory to shoot. If you order a ghost mannequin service to give the impression your clothing products are floating mid-air, you can also add photo retouching to make your apparel look its best.
Imperfections like wrinkles, seams, creases, stains, and loose threads can be hard to notice during the photoshoot, but editors can easily remove them.
The combinations listed above are just some ways to mix and match product photo editing services from Path. To see the full list of editing services available, follow these steps:
1. Log in to your Path account. Or if you’re already logged in, click the ORDER YOUR EDITS button at the top right.
2. Select your first editing service from the list.
Clicking on the v arrow will expand the subcategories of each service. For example, after selecting the Clipping path, you can choose the edit complexity based on the type of products in your photos.
3. Select your second service. If you pick shadow, for example, you can choose different types of shadow edits—natural, reflection, existing, floating, or drop shadow.
Some services may also have secondary subcategories with additional options.
4. Repeat step #3 for any additional services. Click the ADD INFO → button (bottom right) once you’ve added all the services you need.
5. You'll be asked for editing turnaround time, any add-on services, and additional comments for your editor. Customize your order options accordingly and then upload your images.
Click UPLOAD IMAGES → to submit your image files, and then add contact information to receive the final edits. After you submit your order, you’ll receive your custom quote within 45 minutes—once approved, we’ll start working on them right away.
Read more about ordering multiple photo editing services on our help page or get a custom quote for your product photo edits now.
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Without a doubt, photos are critical for selling products online. But achieving high-quality images takes time and effort.
Our Photoshop experts are all about saving you hours spent editing so you can get back to focusing on the things that move your business forward. Mixing and matching different types of photo editing services will speed up your workflow even more. No need to submit your order for each editing technique—we can do it all in one go and deliver them to you in as little as six hours.
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]]>Let’s look at some key ways photo retouching can turn your product photos into sales tools.
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Every pixel needs to be perfect in your product photos, regardless of the real-world condition of the product you’re shooting. Accidents are bound to happen, as are imperfections. You might get a scratch, dent, chip, or smudge on the surface of your product—especially if you’re transporting it to photoshoots and capturing lifestyle or contextual shots.
Sunglasses are bound to get the inevitable scratch, paint will chip, and threads may pull. Rather than stress yourself over perfectionism on shoot day, you can rest assured knowing those little spots can be touched up in Photoshop later.
While you want to get the lighting perfect during the shoot, this might not always be the case. You could capture unwanted glares from natural or artificial light, the flash of your camera, or other reflective surfaces—both in and out of the frame.
If you capture small unwanted glares, especially on shiny products, you can often fix these up in Photoshop.
Many photographers bring a steamer to set when shooting apparel product photos, but you might not have one handy. Even if you do, your clothing isn’t completely immune to wrinkles.
Wrinkles in clothing can often be smoothed out with retouching in Photoshop. You might also need to adjust shadows and lighting, as was the case in this retouching job we did:
Just like fabric on clothing products may wrinkle, furniture and other related home goods may as well. You don’t want to give the impression that buyers will receive wrinkled, stained, smudged, or otherwise not-brand-new products—especially if it’s a high-ticket item like a couch.
You might need to preserve the price tag on products during the photoshoot so you can later use that item to fulfill an order. Whatever the reason, you may be able to remove the unwanted price tag in Photoshop during your post-production process. It’s still ideal to do your best to hide the price tag during the shoot to minimize your editing workflow, but it won’t ruin the shot if you can’t.
Dust is nearly impossible to contain and control. No matter how clean your studio or space is, there will always be some fleck of dust. In many cases, this is invisible to the naked eye. But if you’re shooting highly detailed shots or close-ups, dust particles become a much larger problem.
Luckily, if you have a dust bunny flying through your favorite shots, you might be able to get rid of it with some photo retouching.
If you have reflective plastic wrapping, it can create unwanted glare and lighting effects. This happens especially with cellophane, shrink wrap, and plastic packaging for things like electronics.
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Oftentimes, product photos require some props and supportive objects to help position the product just so. Many product photographers use things like blu tack, fishing line, and other objects to help get the frame they want.
Likewise, many apparel product photos rely on the use of mannequins. These can be retouched out of the photo to create an image with just the article of clothing. You might also remove distracting tags or hangers.
It’s not always possible to maintain a clean space. You might have dirt or smudges in the setting, on the floor, or on the walls in the image. You don’t need a physical broom or mop to clean this up. In fact, retouching in Photoshop after the fact can be the fix you need.
It’s not always possible to get the perfect shot. Luckily, post-shoot edits can take a good product photo and turn it into an amazing one that gets results. Photo retouching takes time, patience, and skill. You can outsource your tedious retouching projects to Path, your 24/7 virtual photo editing studio.
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]]>When consumers browse your online store, the only way they can experience products is through images and descriptive copy. As such, your product photos are a powerful way for customers to experience your wares.
After all, people retain 80% of what they see while only remembering 20% of what they read. If the photos on your ecommerce site aren’t up to par, you’re likely missing out on sales.
But if the power to invest in high-quality product photography isn’t in your hands, you may need to make the case to your boss or superiors. Don’t worry—we’ve done the legwork for you. Just share these insights to make a compelling argument to your boss.
There are a dozen reasons your product photography matters. But ultimately, the pros of high-quality product photos boil down to a few basic benefits.
Accurate product photos are critical to reducing returns rates. You want to ensure photos depict how the items will appear in real life. This includes size, material, color, and more. Product photos with improper coloring, for example, can lead to increased returns. As many as 66% of online shoppers say color rendering in photos is important to them when browsing pants online.
Returns are costly for online businesses. The industry average hovers around 16%, and businesses lose about $165 million for every $1 billion in sales.
According to one survey, the product photo is often the first or second thing online shoppers look at—along with the price. The last thing you want someone to do when they hit your product page is bounce. Poor quality photos will surely lead to high bounce rates because of a bad first impression.
Online shoppers only have product images and a brief description to convince them to make a purchase. So, it’s no surprise that consumers have strong opinions about good product photos. In fact, 57% of shoppers say the number of product photos impacts their purchase decision when shopping for pants.
Quality also matters. According to Etsy, image quality is actually the most important consideration—90% of shoppers say it’s “extremely important” or “very important” when they make a purchase decision.
Therefore, it stands to reason that customers want clear, concise copy paired with high-quality product photos.
Customers can’t touch or try out your product when they’re browsing your ecommerce store. They have to immediately understand the value proposition of the product and why they should purchase it.
One way to build that kind of trust with customers is to provide crisp, clear product photos. High-quality images allow shoppers to see a product's details, check out a product from multiple angles, and get a deeper sense that they understand exactly what they’re purchasing.
Images illustrate what your brand and products are about—which is precisely why you should ensure every photo is a solid representation of the brand. They help people understand what the brand is about. Telling someone your business cares about the community is one thing, showing them photos of you actually helping the community is much more powerful.
Poor quality images not only can leave potential sales on the table, but they can also degrade trust between the brand and customers. Blurry images prevent them from examining a product’s details and bad lighting means the product’s actual color or dimensions may be different from how it appears in photos. That can mean more returns or exchanges and a loss of customer loyalty.
Many small business owners struggle to get quality product photos. In fact, as many as 40% of new shop owners on Etsy list this as a “very difficult” or “somewhat difficult” challenge. And many online retailers are failing to meet consumers’ needs. Consider these insights from one study of people shopping online for pants:
Online stores selling pants show an average of 4.11 photos for each product. But it’s clear shoppers want more. If you can provide more than your competitors, you’re more likely to win the sale.
Want your product to go viral? That's less likely to happen with dark, blurry photos. Consumers are 40x more likely to share content that features an image across their social channels.
For example, research showed that Facebook posts with photos saw the most engagement over any other type of post — they accounted for 87% of total interactions. Another study showed tweets with images receive 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites, and 150% more retweets than tweets without images.
One solid example of this is Oreo, which created a 100-day, image-driven campaign to celebrate the cookie's 100th anniversary. The results speak for themselves: In just 100 days, the brand gained more than a million Facebook fans and boosted interactions by 195%.
Image: Storybox
To add to the list of benefits above, you can further sway your superior with a handful of compelling arguments in favor of product photography. These reasons will help you make a solid case as well as respond to any potential objections your boss may have.
Potential objection: "Photography is expensive and has a high upfront cost."
Your visual presentation counts with customers. From the design to your ecommerce site to the way you present your wares in images, these are visual factors shoppers note when considering a purchase. As a matter of fact, in one recent study, 93% of consumers cited images as a major consideration when making a purchasing decision online and more than half of consumers will leave a website if they don't like how it looks.
As a result, upgrading your product photography game can an immediate impact on sales. To help you get it right the first time, consider these stats:
So, although product photography is undoubtedly an investment, it can help turn more of those browsers on your ecommerce site into buyers.
Potential objection: "There are plenty of other ecommerce sites that don't have professional product photos."
One way to pique your boss's attention is to bring up a potential competitive advantage. Because not all ecommerce sites have adopted professional-quality photography to showcase their products, this is one way to differentiate your brand from competitors in your niche.
Make the case that using poor quality images is not only causing you to lose sales, but also leaves a gap for competitors to use to get a leg up on your brand.
That being said, more and more ecommerce brands are seeing the light and investing in professional photos. To drive home your point, ask your boss to put themselves in the mindset of a shopper. Show them a side-by-side comparison of two ecommerce sites; one with poor quality images and another selling similar products with professional photos. Which one would they personally buy from?
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Potential objection: "Building a photography department would be too expensive right now."
Yes, the sky can be the limit when it comes to building your own photo department. Good photographers require good salaries and the necessary equipment can cause a serious case of sticker shock.
But you don't have to go from nothing to an entire department. You can work with a freelance photographer to take product photos on an as-needed basis (which is far less expensive than shelling out for a full-time salary plus benefits).
Depending on your needs, the photographer's experience, and your location, a professional photographer will typically charge $75–$300 per hour or around $75–$375 per image. That’s far less expensive than paying the average salary of $38,901 per year plus benefits for a full-time photographer in the U.S.
If your boss prefers to keep your efforts in-house, then you can DIY your way to great product photos. By buying the right props and equipment, you can save a little cash without seriously sacrificing on quality.
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Now that you can make a compelling argument to your boss convincing them to invest in product photography, here are some additional resources to help you navigate the process of creating high-quality images for your ecommerce biz:
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]]>Here are some tips on how to edit jewelry photos to maximize their sales potential on your online store, marketplace, website, or social media pages.
Whether you shoot product photos in a professional studio or at home, editing your images is a crucial step before using your product shots online. Making jewelry images look realistic is crucial for shoppers to know what they’re investing in. Metal, gems, and stones can also be difficult to shoot because they have reflections, shine, and you need to show their intricate details.
Once you get to the photo editing stage, you can enhance your images by highlighting jewelry features and preventing imperfections from diminishing the impact of your product shots. You might also need to make edits or resize your jewelry photos to make them compatible with third-party marketplaces such as Amazon, social media, and other commerce channels.
Photo retouching can transform your photos into appealing, professional images that will impress your customers and lead to sales.
The way we see a scene in front of us is different from what the camera sees and captures. That’s why the first step for improving any product photo is to adjust its exposure and white balance—it’ll show the true color of the jewelry so shoppers know what it looks like before they buy.
Exposure lets you change the brightness of your photo from underexposed (too dark) to balanced and over-exposed (too bright). You want to ensure the product is clearly visible when you adjust the exposure.
You’ll find the Exposure slider in Adobe Lightroom’s Basic panel.
Tip: Double-click on the slider pointer to reset it.
White balance adjusts two components: temperature and tint. Adjusting white balance refers to neutralizing any light cast during your shoot. Every light source has a different color temperature, measured in Kelvin (K). Depending on what light source you used during the shoot, the image may look cooler/bluer, neutral, or warmer/yellower.
The temperature slider helps you adjust the temperature for a neutral look. For creative purposes, you can go cooler or warmer, but for product shots, it’s best to aim for a neutral image.
The tint slider helps you make minor tweaks by adding magenta or green tint to fix any color balance issues from some light sources like fluorescent or neon lights.
In Lightroom, you can use the following:
Here’s an example of an unedited image with adjusted exposure and white balance in Lightroom, before any additional retouching:
Customers want to see realistic photos of products. Just under half of returns happen because the product doesn’t match customer expectations based on the description, and this could include your photos.
Even after you’ve adjusted the exposure and white balance of your photo, you may still need to change or enhance product colors. Gold, for example, has many hues, so the color in the photo should be spot on.
Here’s how to adjust hue/saturation in Photoshop:
You can change the hue and increase or decrease color saturation in Photoshop using the same layer. Create a new Hue/Saturation layer by selecting Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation from the dropdown menu at the top.
To make local changes (ones that only apply to the parts of the photo containing that color), click on the color selector (finger icon) and click on the color you want to work on in the photo. In the example below, we would work with the yellows after clicking on the ring.
You can also select colors using the dropdown menu, like Reds or Yellows. Move the Hue and Saturation sliders to change the color.
In this example, we changed the hue of the ring from yellow gold to rose gold. A simple hue change but it can transform the photo.
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You may not always get the jewelry perfectly sharp during the shoot but don’t worry—sharpening in Photoshop can help fix it. Sharpening the jewelry details will help it stand out in the photo, and elements like stones, gems, and engraving will be more prominent.
Tip: Don’t go overboard—and only apply local sharpening (not to the rest of the photo).
To sharpen the details in your jewelry product photos you can use these Photoshop tools:
If you’re shooting white background jewelry shots, you’ll want to add some sort of shadow in the shot. It will add dimension to your photos and make your product photos and store listings look professional. Getting the shadow right during the shoot can be difficult to master, but you can add it in post-processing.
There are different ways to use shadows in jewelry product shots:
Let’s look at how to edit jewelry photos by adding a reflective shadow in Photoshop (this effect will work best for jewelry shot head-on, not at an angle):
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Add a spotlight effect to photos when you want jewelry to stand out from the scene. The spotlight effect slightly darkens the photo around the product, so all the attention goes to the jewelry—take a look at this step-by-step guide on how to do this yourself.
You can also create a lens flare effect to add sparkle to shiny jewelry and gems—but use it sparingly so the effect doesn’t overpower your photo.
To add a lens flare:
On the contrary, you can also reduce distracting or overbearing glares. For example, if you’ve caught the reflection of your camera (or something else that shouldn’t be in the photo) on a shiny surface, like metal or glass. The same goes for a powerful flash that may have created a glare on jewelry.
You can do this using various photo retouching methods like:
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You can’t guarantee jewelry at the shoot will be spotless. You may come across the following:
One of the simplest and fastest ways to get rid of any of these imperfections is by using Photoshop’s Spot Healing Brush.
Click on the Spot Healing Brush tool in your Photoshop sidebar. Select the type of healing you want to apply—we recommend starting with Content-Aware.
Change the brush size depending on what you want to remove in the image by clicking [ or ] keys on your keyboard. If these keys don’t work for your device, head to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts in your navbar at the top. Select Tools in the Shortcuts For dropdown and scroll to the bottom to find shortcuts for Increase / Decrease Brush Size.
When you use Spot Healing Brush, zoom in for a more precise result. Simply brush over any imperfections, and the software will remove the blemish or spot and replace it with pixels sampled around the area.
Using this method, we removed the photographer’s reflection in the necklace photo below.
If it doesn’t look right the first time, repeat the process, change the brush size (or zoom in more), or select Create Texture or Proximity Match as the brush type. Remember that depending on the imperfection, you may need to use the tool several times to fix the photo.
You can also use the Clone Stamp tool to take an existing part of your image and “paint” it over another image area:
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There are a few instances where you might want to change the background of your jewelry photos:
You can also put jewelry on a colored or creative background, like on the ethical jewelry brand SOKO’s website. With the background removed, your jewelry photos become versatile visual assets you can use for different marketing channels.
To put jewelry on a white or colorful background (or add jewelry to stock photos in Photoshop), you have to cut it out first. Use clipping paths or image masking depending on object complexity.
Here’s how to create a clipping path:
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Some jewelry shots require cropping to get tight on the product, fill the frame, and showcase small details.
Generally, you want the product in the center, filling most of the frame. This is a common method for ecommerce marketplaces and stores. For example, jewelry brand Kendra Scott crops and fills the frame regardless of the jewelry type or size. This makes for an easy browsing experience.
If you create a homepage banner, give plenty of blank space on one side so you can overlay text, a call to action (CTA), or leave it blank. Catbird jewelry store fills the space with promotional text and a CTA.
To show the craftsmanship of jewelry pieces, cropping in even tighter for closeup shots will draw attention to the small details and design. Mejuri uses a closeup photo of a ring to share the brand’s commitment to sustainability and quality.
For some model shots, consider cropping out models’ facial features to direct focus to the jewelry, like Mejuri on its homepage. A customer's gaze will naturally be drawn to the jewelry piece.
Filters can add a unique, cohesive look to your social media feed, especially when they’re on-brand. While they’re generally not ideal for your website (you want to reserve that space for the highest-quality shots), social media is where you can be more adventurous with visuals to see what appeals to your target audience.
Some ideas you can use:
You’ll find these filters and presets in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, or use photo editing or social media apps with editing features like Instagram.
Keep the edited photos aligned with your brand aesthetic to maintain consistency. A great example of this is the handmade jewelry brand Mountainside Made. All of the brand’s jewelry photos have a warm tone, muted shadows, and plenty of grain on the photo for an organic feel.
You may get a new color variant for your jewelry stock, or you may want to change the color of another element in your photo, like the background or props. You don’t have to worry about re-doing the photoshoot because you can easily change the color in Photoshop.
In the first example, we changed the color of the background flowers to blue, matching the gems on the ring.
But you can also change the color of the jewelry. Here, we made color changes only to the gems from blue to red, without altering the flowers in the background.
There are several ways to change the color of a product variant in Photoshop. A simple one includes adjusting the hue of a particular color in your photo:
For more complex items like multi-colored jewelry, repeat the steps above several times or use more advanced retouching methods.
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Photo editing is an essential step before presenting your product photos online because shoppers will use them to decide which jewelry pieces to invest in. A few editing steps can go a long way to take your photos from good to great. If you prefer to leave it to professional editors, our team can assist you.
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Start with a clean-up to remove any blemishes. Adjust image exposure and colors for a natural look. Add any extras like shadows and reflections, and export your photo for the platform you will use.
You can use your smartphone’s default camera app and turn on the macro setting. Alternatively, try camera apps with manual controls like Camera Zoom FX, Halide Mark II, ProCamera, and Camera+ Legacy.
Jewelry photo retouching means enhancing a photo with professional editing tools. You can remove any specks or dust, correct the color to appear natural, and enhance the shine and sharpness of metal and gems.
]]>And while photo editing can turn an average photo into an amazing one, it’s not magic. You can’t throw a poorly composed smartphone image into Photoshop and expect to turn it into a professional-worthy photo with some retouching and clipping paths.
Edits are meant to enhance the photo, not recreate it. So it’s important to get it right during the shoot so you can minimize post-processing edits and maximize results.
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Use multiple angles to show more than just the front of your item. People want to know what it looks like on the sides, from the back, from above, etc. Showing all angles is incredibly helpful in giving more context.
Showing all angles can help reduce returns because shoppers have a better idea of what a product will actually look like when they have it. In 2020, SalesCycle found about 64% of returns were because the item didn’t match the description online.
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This is especially important if you sell clothing, which has the highest return rate compared to other products. According to Nielsen Norman Group, the most effective product photos are “large, consistent, specific, dynamic, and inclusive.”
Athleisure brand Girlfriend Collective shows multiple angles of its clothing to help potential customers make an informed decision about their purchase.
One tip is to shoot from below the product, so the product looks bigger and like a “superhero” shot. Here’s an example where the product photo makes the Logan Graphic dual driver larger than life:
Implementing 360-degree photography can also be a great choice, especially if you’re selling apparel.
Again, don’t overthink it. Generally speaking, the more context you can show in your product photos the better, but don’t spend too much time over optimizing.
You put a lot of hard work into creating amazing products. Your product photos should highlight all that effort, including details like ingredients, materials, stitching, and any other stand-out features.
See how apparel brand Baro highlights the quality of its parka called The Brockton by focusing on the zipper. In another photo it shows the inner stitching of the parka to further demonstrate the quality of the item.
Health wearable company Oura also uses its product photos to give a close-up look at the technology that powers the ring. Not many rings have hundreds of sensors on them to track your sleep and heart rate, so highlighting the tech goes a long way in helping show how the Oura ring can track important health and fitness metrics.
Product images don’t exist in isolation. They’re usually part of a larger digital experience on your website, social media, Amazon, or wherever you’re selling. Your product images should match stylistically with the rest of your brand visuals.
Create a style guide with product photo standards to help keep your entire storefront consistent and cohesive. By setting a standard for hero images (for example, always use a white background for a hero image) you can be a little more creative when it comes to secondary shots.
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KOOSHOO sells its sustainable hair accessories using a uniform white background photo for main images, creating an easy browsing experience on its website.
When users click through to a product page, they can see more variety with product images. Contextual lifestyle shots are buried as secondary images. The best of both worlds.
If you have a huge product line, consider breaking out style standards into multiple categories. Kettle & Fire does an excellent job of using a product page layout that works visually. Clear, crisp, and easy to navigate, customers can quickly learn more about their favorite bone broth flavors. Regardless of the flavor you view, the style is similar across the board.
One underrated way to use your product photos effectively is by including them in your website navigation. Essentially, this means having each product photo clickable underneath so that your users can quickly browse various products in an intuitive and easy way.
Customer satisfaction platform FigPii found that adding your product photos to your navigation can improve conversions, highlighting Baboon to the Moon as an example.
By simply adding images above the item category, the brand increased its conversation rate by 4.4%, compared to a text-only approach.
Product photography is almost like your digital inventory. Without photos, you’ve got nothing to sell. With these quick product photography tips in mind, you can create images that inspire buyer confidence, reduce editing time, and drive sales.
[cta image="about-work.svg" text="Let our pro designers look after your most tedious image edits, from 25¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/how-it-works"]]]>Generally, we remove the background using clipping paths or image masking:
You can use software or apps that automate background removal (but don’t always get the edges to a professional standard), use software like Photoshop, or outsource to editors and studios such as Path for a top-notch result.
Background removal is just one of the methods of enhancing your product shots with post-processing and unlocking the different ways you can use them for marketing and advertising. Here are some reasons why other ecommerce brands do this.
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A perfectly white background and an uncluttered studio setup are challenging to achieve when photographing products. It only takes a small detail, like a background crease in a product photo, to leave a bad impression on your brand.
But removing any traces of the original background means your product takes the spotlight in every photo, and your online store looks professional—like in this example from the Little Seed Farm shop.
Customers can shop and compare items easily because all products have a distraction-free white background. It also matches the website’s clean design.
You can replicate this with background removal on your product shots and changing the background to pure white or transparent if your website background color is different.
Marketplaces drive 46% of online purchases, and 77% of shoppers think they’re the most convenient way to shop online. But if you want to sell across different marketplaces and introduce your products to a larger audience, listing photo preparation can be a headache because each platform has different image guidelines.
Removing the background and swapping it for a clean, white one is the first step for selling on any major marketplace like Amazon. Even smartphone product shots with a white background can be good enough for listing photos.
If the white background product shot doesn’t fit your own store aesthetic, you can adapt the same shot by changing the background color to match your site, like the sustainable clothing retailer Pact. The brand has a light beige background for products in its store, but its Amazon listings all have a white background.
See Pact’s online store:
And its Amazon storefront:
You can avoid having to reshoot your inventory whenever your brand gets a new color variation of an already existing item. All it takes is changing your product’s color in post-production, and you can instantly add it to your store. And you save yourself time and money hiring a team to shoot products you already sell.
The consistency in your listing photos also makes it easy for customers to focus on choosing which color or pattern to buy. For example, yoga and fitness brand Mache shows the same yoga mat styling regardless of which color variation customers click.
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Removing background from your product shots gives you unlimited creative possibilities. You can use the product shots all across your marketing channels—and even combine products in groups or add other design elements.
For example, the original image of this machinery is completely unusable. But we carefully removed the background from the complex object to create a clean white background image ready for many uses.
Take the holistic pet food brand Halo as an example. The brand uses its pet food product shots on the homepage as a banner, all across its store, and on other promotional graphics.
Just like the brand examples above, we have a few ideas to help you repurpose your cut-out products to maximize your return on investment and bring something fresh to your marketing visuals.
White background product shots can sometimes appear dull and lifeless. But you can make your products stand out with a simple fix: add a subtle shadow to give your products a 3D effect and make them come alive.
Depending on your product type and shape, you can use different shadow effects:
You can learn to do this yourself using Photoshop or outsource to professionals for faster turnaround.
Planning your marketing calendar means preparing for all different seasonal holidays and promotional campaigns ahead of the year. There’s no need to reshoot your products for every new promotion—you can simply use the cut-out product with a background that fits the theme.
Take a look at royalty-free stock websites like Pexels and Unsplash for some high-quality backgrounds you can use to fit any season of the year.
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Once your product photos have the background removed, you can experiment with different on-brand colors and design elements.
In the example below, sustainable skincare brand Farmacy Beauty combines product shots with colorful gradient backgrounds for a striking first impression when customers land on its website. The brand is all about using nature’s best ingredients, so the thoughtful design touches and clever marketing copy reflect that.
Moodboards aren’t just for brainstorming your brand design ideas in internal meetings. You can use moodboards to excite your customers by mixing and matching products, for example, to show an outfit idea that goes with current trends. Not only will you create extra hype around your brand, but it may inspire some customers to shop for the full look.
You can use websites like Canva, Adobe Express, and VistaCreate to design collages or moodboards for free. Just choose a template, upload your products without a background, and add any design elements, branding, or text.
Get inspiration from publications that regularly curate products from different brands, like Luxury London. In this collage, the publication has put together a chic boardroom meeting look for readers who want to add color to formal wear. You can use this idea for product groups that work for your brand.
Original graphics like infographics are powerful visual tools to share a message with customers—just over 40% of marketers say this type of visual performs best for their brand. You can be as creative or educational as you want with infographics—whichever fits your brand.
For example, all-natural fabric and lifestyle brand Ettitude has a simple graphic to highlight the benefits of its vegan silk loungewear against a cheaper and less sustainable alternative. Infographics like these are a handy way to repurpose your product shots. And it makes a great alternative to using non-branded stock photos.
Product bundling is an effective way to boost sales. It involves promoting and packaging complementary products together and offering them as a single item. You can offer similar product bundles, promote gift sets, let customers mix and match, or upsell bundles of inventory you want to clear.
The female-founded fashion brand M.M.Lafleur reported a 20% increase in average order value for bundled items, but you can use this sales tactic for any ecommerce business. So as long as you have product photos with removed backgrounds, you can create different variations of bundles in your store.
For example, nature-inspired health and lifestyle store Fat and the Moon uses bundles to sell skincare sets for different skin concerns. The brand also has product kits for travelers, children, and new mothers. If you need to change your bundles at any point, you can simply add or remove items from the product group shot and update the listing.
You may not always have the budget for custom photography shoots. This is where lifestyle composites can come in. They consist of a stock photo as a background and your product carefully placed in the shot. If done well, the result is realistic, and your customers wouldn’t tell the difference.
It’s a quick and cost-effective way to get new visuals for your brand without planning a photoshoot from scratch. You can order lifestyle composites from many ship-and-shoot photography studios—all you have to do is mail your products, and the team takes care of photography and editing.
In the shot below, Products On White Photography used a lifestyle stock photo of a laundry room and added Meliora laundry detergent. Natural-looking shadows and the right product placement make the photo look as real as a “regular” photoshoot.
You can use composites for white background product shots too. Suppose you want your customers to be able to better gauge the dimensions of your product by adding a person to the photo. You can use this photo editing method even on complex products like the industrial machinery unit below. The editor will first remove the background, change it to white, and then add a realistic-sized model.
As your brand’s digital assets grow—from unedited product shots to cutouts to creative brand images—it makes sense to consider a streamlined workflow for saving and managing your visuals. It will be easier for everyone in the company to filter, search, and track all past orders and uses of photos.
Not only will a system like this speed up content creation for your marketing team, but you will also avoid paying twice for something your brand already owns. There are more ways than one to organize your files. From simple libraries on the cloud storage to more sophisticated digital asset management (DAM) software, the choice is yours.
With so many options for using background removal to spice up your product photos, the hardest choice is deciding where to begin. If your brand needs a helping hand with building up a library of background-free product shots, our experienced team of editors can help you get started.
[cta image="about-work.svg" text="Save a ton of time with pro background removal from 39¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/background-removal"]]]>But being a professional product photographer comes with high expectations. From meeting client deadlines to answering endless emails to spending hours making things perfect with Photoshop, you might find yourself spending a ton of time on busy work—and not as much time shooting photos.
Don’t worry, there are ways to get back behind the camera. We’re sharing 17 tips to save time in your product photography business. With these photography business tips, you can get back the time you need—time you can spend improving your craft, growing your business, or even just shooting for fun again.
If you’re offering product photography, sports photography, pet photography and boudoir photography, you’re going to lose a lot of time to context-switching.
When you pick one specialty, you can really hone in and find out exactly what your clients want and how to most effectively provide it for them. When you’re creative, it can be hard to limit yourself. But in this case, niching down to just product photography can save time and pay off big in the long run.
Once you’ve chosen your niche, you can create packages to not only better serve your clientele but also save you a ton of time. When you can tell a client to select from package A, B or C, you cut down on the back-and-forth communication, and you’ll already know you’ll be priced for profit.
If you’re concerned they might want more than you offer, don’t worry. Clients will usually just tell you, “We’d like package C,” and then come back to ask for a custom quote if they want anything additional.
Soona, a product photography and creative studio, offers packages for varying levels of photography services. This makes it easy for Soona clients to select and order services.
So much of your business day won’t be dedicated to taking product photos. You’ll spend time on marketing, communication, contract creation, invoicing, bookkeeping, and so on and so forth.
The key to making the most of these hours? Automation. Instead of typing out fresh quotes every time, create email reply templates and pop in the specific information. Rather than digging through files and writing contracts, use a service like 17hats — it’ll synchronize calendars, contracts, and invoices for you.
And as for marketing? Set up a month or more at a time with a planner so you don’t have to manually log in and post every time. Airtable, Hootsuite and even Facebook’s post scheduler all work great.
If you’ve ever run around looking for a spare battery on the morning of your shoot, or run late because you got stuck in traffic, you’ve probably cursed your own lack of organization. Keep all your gear ready to go and in one central location, and look at any driving directions a few times the day before to know what traffic patterns you’re likely to face.
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The night before the shoot isn’t the best time to try out that new 85mm lens. You should test and play with all your equipment well in advance. That way, you’ll know exactly which pieces you need and what they’re capable of on photoshoot day.
Photographer Misha Hettie speaks from experience. “I once brought a brand new light to a shoot without realizing I’d need a Phillips screwdriver to put it together. I wasted a good twenty minutes cobbling it together with my car key and a set of clamps,” she says.
Earlier we mentioned the concept of context switching. Context switching is a term from computing. It refers to the process of storing the system state for one task, so that task can be paused and another task resumed. Every time you pause between tasks, you lose time.
Your brain works this way, too.
One way to gain back time in your day is to defeat context switching. You do this by batching tasks. This means setting aside chunks of time to do one full task to its completion.
Instead of replying to an email, opening up Photoshop, editing one photo, taking a call, and then sending an invoice, set aside a dedicated time of day specifically for each one of those things. When you have a marketing hour, a communications hour, an editing hour, and so on, you’ll accomplish each one of these things more quickly—because you won’t waste time and brain power on context switching.
Even the most experienced pro photogs occasionally forget things. Unfortunately, forgetting a simple item (memory cards, anyone?) can lead to a major time delay on photoshoot day.
Create a quick checklist of items you’ll need and review it the night before. That way, you’ll be packed and ready and you’ll catch any mistakes in the making—like a battery that needs to be charged or a misplaced gray card.
When you’re shooting the same types of products, again and again, you’ll notice certain items can stand on their own, but many benefit from the use of props. A small necklace may be elevated by balancing on a smooth pebble. A wooden spoon may look okay on a plain background, but a colored tea towel might really give it context.
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Sourcing new props for each and every shoot requires a lot of time. You can use the same props over and over without detracting from the finished product. This saves tons of shopping time, and you can add the props to your checklist so you’re ready for future shoot days.
Working from a shot list is something many wedding photographers do, but for whatever reason, it hasn’t crossed over to all forms of photography. It should!
A shot list is a written list of every shot you must have before you leave.
I like to go one step further with my shot list. I sketch out how I want the shot to look too. You may be thinking, “That takes a ton of time on the front end!” To an extent, it does.
The benefit comes in at the photoshoot itself, though. When you have a shot list, you’ll never stand around wondering what else you should do, because you’ll already know. This makes shoot day fly by.
When it comes to working with clients, you want to underpromise and overdeliver, right? Well, that’s good, but when it comes to going over on time, that’s bad. If your contract states that the photographer will be present for two hours, then you need to stick to that (barring any error on your part, of course).
Not only does giving an extra 15 minutes here and another 20 minutes there eat up your time, it also teaches your clients they can take more. And that’s no way to manage a business relationship.
Set yourself a small overage—maybe 5–7 minutes—and when the job starts to go past that time frame, mention it to the client and ask if they’d like to pay for more. It doesn’t have to be hard or adversarial; you can simply say, “Hey, Jim, we’re past the two-hour mark now. Do you want me to stay on and photograph the rest of these for an additional $XYZ or should we save them for another day?” (Again—this is only if you’re not responsible for delays in any way.)
Another area where many photographers are generous is the number of promised images. If you see other photographers in your area offering 20 images per product, isn’t it better if you promise 30?
Well, not really.
Consider this: How many images does your client actually need in order to sell their product? Five? Seven? And maybe a few extra for social media?
Giving them 30 won’t actually help them—instead, it overwhelms them. They don’t want a deluge of images to choose from. They want a product photography expert who will give them exactly what they need. And yes, obviously making 10 quality images takes time, but it takes a whole lot less time than making 30.
As a business owner, there will be times where you struggle to do it all. Again, that’s the shooting, the file transferring, the photo editing, the client communication—and that’s not even touching the business side of things.
Create a weekly schedule for yourself. Maybe you perform all marketing tasks on Monday, you write all your blog posts on Tuesday, you shoot Wednesdays and Thursdays, and you edit (or outsource your editing—more on that in a minute!) on Fridays.
If you create a schedule like this and stick to it, you’re less likely to forget important tasks and lose time to the daily “What am I supposed to be doing?” scramble.
What to do if someone needs a rush item and it causes you to break your schedule? In that case, apply a rush fee. This is useful because it helps you and your client remember—time is money, so use it wisely.
This is probably the most important tip: Streamline your post-shoot workflow. Here’s what a good post-shoot routine could look like:
You can save so much time by having a well-managed and executed process. Try this workflow or modify it to create your own. Once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll notice you’re going faster than ever.
We mentioned you can make global edits with ACR. You can do this in Lightroom too, and it’s even faster because Lightroom can export your image as a JPG, so no need to even open Photoshop.
Whichever one you choose—Lightroom or ACR—you can save a ton of time. Instead of opening each image in Photoshop and checking and editing each one separately, save time and sanity with Lightroom or ACR.
Another way to speed up your process is with Photoshop plugins, presets, and actions. These are all a little different:
They all serve the same purpose: to facilitate and enhance what you can do with your editing software. Rather than spend several minutes performing the repetitive steps to edit a photo, let these tools do it for you and shave off as much as 95% of your editing time.
If you’re completely new to Photoshop, you might feel overwhelmed just looking at the program. But if you’ve used it for a while, you might be irritated by going from dropdown menu to dropdown menu trying to complete all the necessary steps for a task.
Luckily, there are easy-to-remember Photoshop keyboard shortcuts for just about everything. When you go to finish a file, instead of having to go through four or five menus, you can flatten the layers of the image, save it, and close it in just a few keystrokes.
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Here’s a favorite time-saver of all—don’t try to DIY every step of the way! It’s okay to let go of some of the control and outsource your photo editing.
When Misha first heard about outsourcing her editing, she was nervous. “Would they be able to match the quality of my work? Would I receive usable files, or was handing over this control of my final product too dangerous?” she wondered.
“As it turns out, I’ve found editors who are even better than I am at this stuff,” she says. “Now, it feels so good to be able to hand off tasks I’m not crazy about to a team who can do it for me.”
If you’re ready to give this a shot, we have professionally trained Photoshop experts who edit every image by hand—whereas many affordable companies use automated tools.
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It’s ideal to shoot using a white background when shooting your photos, but this isn’t always possible. If your product photos aren’t shot against a white background, you don’t need to reshoot your images. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to create a white background in Photoshop in just a few easy steps.
Scroll down for the written tutorial.
For this tutorial, we’ll be using the following image in Photoshop (click to open and download in a new tab):
You’ll note this image already has a solid color background. However, the method we’re about to use will allow you to make a white background on any product photo in Photoshop, regardless of the original background. You don’t need to change the background color or make it solid before you begin.
To get started, choose the Magic Wand Tool from the Toolbar at the left side of the screen. Once you’ve selected this tool, you’ll note you have specific choices in the Option Bar at the top of the screen. Click on the button called Select and Mask….
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Once in the Select and Mask… window, choose Select Subject.
Photoshop will create a selection of your product within the image. All areas that are not part of the selection will have a dark red overlay. However, it may not be a perfect selection. You can zoom in and use the tools on the left and upper sides of the window to refine the selection further. You can also adjust the size of the brush you use to control the selection, and whether you’re subtracting or adding pixels to the selection, using the brush tools at the top of the window.
Once you’re satisfied with your selection, click OK. If you’re working on a Mac laptop, the OK button may be highlighted in the Touch Bar on your keyboard.
You’ll see your image with the marching ants selection border around the product.
Because we want our process to be non-destructive, we want to duplicate our Background layer before we go further.
Note: If you’re working with an image that has multiple layers, the layer holding your product image may be labeled as something other than “Background.”
With your selection still selected, make sure the Background layer is selected in your Layers panel, and click on the four little lines in the upper right hand corner of the panel. Then, choose Duplicate Layer….
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A dialog box will appear, prompting you to name the new layer. Call it something that makes sense to you, such as “Product.”
Click OK.
Back in your Layers panel, click on the new layer you just created. With your selection still selected, click on the icon at the bottom of the panel that looks like a rectangle with a circle inside of it.
In your Product layer, you should now see a mask of your selection next to the Layer thumbnail.
Still in your Layers panel, select your original Background layer once more. Then, create a new Fill Layer by choosing Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color… from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
In the dialog box that appears, move the cursor to the upper left side of the color field to select a pure white.
Click OK.
Your product image should now be on a white background. We can take this a step further to make your image look more realistic, like it was actually shot against a white backdrop.
Let’s first add a subtle shadow to our product. Select your Product layer in your Layers panel. Then, choose Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
In the Drop Shadow dialog box, set the angle of the drop shadow to work with the angle of highlights and shadows in your image. Use the Distance and Spread sliders to pull the shadow away from the object so it only appears on one side. Don’t worry about increasing the size slider; we’ll blur the shadow manually next.
Click OK.
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Next, we need to separate the Drop Shadow from its layer. Go to Layer > Layer Styles > Create Layer. You may get a dialog box warning you that you’re separating out the layer style. Acknowledge that yes, this is what you want to do.
After you’ve created a separate layer, you should see your Product layer’s drop shadow as its own Layer in the Layers panel. Select the Drop Shadow layer.
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window. In the Gaussian Blur dialog box, pull the blur slider to the right until you are satisfied with the softness of the shadow.
Click OK.
Next, choose the Eraser tool from the Toolbar and adjust it to a large soft brush. With the Drop Shadow layer still selected, carefully erase portions of the shadow. You will need to use your judgment here to determine which parts of the shadow need to be removed. Also, you may choose to create a layer mask within the Drop Shadow layer in order to perform these changes so you can “paint back” any areas you accidentally erase.
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Reduce the opacity of the Drop Shadow layer so that the shadow blends into the background.
Finally, let’s add some highlights to the image to make it look as if the light from the white background is reflecting onto the product itself.
Select the Product layer in the Layers Panel. Then, create a new layer by choosing Layer > New > Layer. In the New Layer dialog box, set the blending mode to Overlay, and check the box next to Fill with Overlay-neutral color (50% gray).
Click OK.
Select the new Overlay layer in the Layers panel. Then, in your Toolbar, select the Dodge Tool. It may be hiding beneath the Burn Tool.
In the Options bar at the top of the window, set your Dodge tool settings to a large, soft brush, your Range to Midtones and your Exposure to 20% or higher.
In your Overlay layer, “paint” highlights onto your image using the Dodge Tool according to how you think the light would be hitting your product image. As with the shadows, you’ll need to use your artistic judgment on how best to do this.
Once you’re satisfied with your results, hit save and bask in the glory of your amazing work.
We handle tons of white background photo edits on a daily basis. Looking for the easiest way to get your shots web-ready? Outsource them to Path, your virtual photo editing studio—where we do every edit by hand.
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In short, the easiest way to make the background white in Photoshop is to create a selection of the object you want to isolate, mask out all other parts of the image, and place a white fill layer behind the object’s layer, as outlined in the above tutorial.
If you have a background that is already mostly white, you can convert the background to a pure white using Photoshop’s Curves function. Go to Image > Adjustments > Curves… (or type CTRL + M, COMMAND + M on a Mac). In the Curves dialog box that appears, use the white eyedropper tool under the graph and choose a portion of your background.
Your background will adjust itself to a pure white.
The easiest way to create a white background is to create a fill layer underneath your product layer (after you've isolated the object from the background). Choose Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color… from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window. A dialog box will appear, prompting you to name the layer. When the color fill box appears, move the cursor to the upper left corner of the color fill to get a pure white, or type “FFFFFF” for the hexadecimal value at the bottom of the window.
If you’re working with a transparent PNG, you can make your background white using the tutorial above (see “How can I change my background to white”). Open your file in Photoshop, create a solid color fill layer that is filled with white, and then move that layer so it sits under your original layer. If you save a transparent PNG as a JPG, Photoshop will convert the transparent areas of your image to white by default.
]]>If you own an ecommerce brand, you’ll want to hire a pro with product photography expertise. To avoid sticker shock (or get stuck with bad images), we’ll break down the costs of product photography and why it’s worth it to invest in a knowledgeable photographer.
Product photography costs vary depending on several factors including the type of product, the number of products you need photographed (most photographers discount bulk orders), the style you’re looking for (e.g., white background or lifestyle), and your turnaround time.
To give you a better idea of product photography rates, here are a handful of pricing structures (from real companies):
Products on White Photography charges anywhere between $29.99 and $39.99 per photo.
ProductPhoto.com is a bit more affordable, with product photography pricing available as low as $7 per image.
And Soona charges a starter pack of $39 for two images.
Finally, Squareshot has pay-as-you-go as well as membership plans which grant subscribers access to a certain number of monthly photos at a set price depending on their plan. The $39/month subscription gets you $40 per image pricing and two rounds of revisions, while the higher tiered plan costs $159/month plus $35/image.
You’re going to find a wide range of prices, partly due to differences in what’s included in the base cost.
You’ll find that many individual photographers don’t post their rates on their websites. Many times, you’ll need to reach out with information about the project. You might find some pricing, though. Denver-based photographer Leigh Germy, for example, charges $100/hour for product design—while her portraiture photography goes for $300/hour.
To find out what real-world ecommerce brands pay on average per photo, we surveyed some business owners to get their insights.
Estimated cost per photo: $25–$80
CEO and founder of pillowcase brand Celestial Silk Danielle Jackson says she uses a combination of outsourced and in-house product photography. Whenever they need live models in the shots, they outsource the photos at $80 apiece. But for more straightforward and less complex images, they shoot in-house at about $25 each.
Estimated cost per photo: $90–$250
Lēto Foods, which sells smoothies for pregnancy health, knew the importance of investing in high-quality product photography to successfully launch their ecommerce brand. For most of the images, founder and CEO Amanda Gorter and her team shipped their products to an ecommerce photography company and paid $90/shot. They also worked with a local photographer and food stylist to come up with more creative and special shots—investing closer to $250/image for these.
Estimated cost per photo: $40–$60
Premium dog treat company Cooper’s Treats uses a photographer who charges $40 per shot plus a flat startup fee, which works out to be a total of about $50 per image. The photographer also sends over images they haven’t culled as the top shots, offering them at half the price. Cooper’s Treats receives edited images, though sometimes they have to crop for a specific use case like Facebook ads or marketing emails. Owner Alex Willen sometimes drives the products from San Diego to their photographer in Los Angeles, and other times they mail the products for about $30–$40.
Estimated cost per photo: $9–$28
Australia-based chef gear and accessory brand Carigu outsources their product photography. The images are priced differently depending on the style of the shot. Traditional ecommerce photos—white background, for example—cost them about $9 per image. For more creative lifestyle shots, they pay closer to $28 per photo.
Estimated cost per photo: $10
Jeff Moriarty of Moriarty’s Gem Art prioritizes product photography because it’s so important for capturing the details in their jewelry—essential for online shoppers looking for these types of items. They hire a local photographer to come to their business every week or two to take both photos and videos of their products. The photographer charges $50 per hour and gets about 5 shots per hour, coming in at about $10 per shot. Each shoot takes 4–6 hours, yielding 20–30 shots for a $200–$300 investment.
"The results of [our photographer’s] work are amazing. It leads to improved sales and conversion rates, so we will continue to invest in her." – Jeff Moriarty, Moriarty’s Gem Art
Estimated cost per photo: 75¢–$15
Quality Logo Products sells customizable promotional goods and takes a hybrid approach to their product photography. They invest more in unique photography, including 360-degree shots, for best selling products. For less popular items, they outsource the shots and skip the 360-degree views. On average, in-house product photos cost about $3 per regular image and $15 per 360-degree shot. Outsourced shots are much more affordable at about 75¢ apiece. “Our in-house production quality is also significantly higher than that of outside vendors, so it’s worth the money and effort,” says co-founder/president Bret Bonnet.
Estimated cost per photo: $1.16
The Hussl Co. CEO Chase Scroggins hired a “skilled but amateur photographer” for $75/hour to shoot product images for his apparel company. He hired a model and also modeled the clothes himself. The photoshoot took two and a half hours (that’s $187.50 for the photographer) and he ended up with 162 usable shots, 20 of which have been useful for marketing materials and product listings.
Here are a few things you’ll want to note:
Choose your photographer (or photography company) depending on your needs: Take your time frame, outsourced tasks, and products into account. And you don’t want to just go with the most affordable option. Budget is, of course, something to keep in mind, but product images can make or break an ecommerce venture.
A lot goes into those pretty product shots. Photography equipment and space are expensive, an assistant might be necessary, and cameras and lenses require regular cleaning and appropriate storage. On top of that, there are yearly business costs (like marketing material and a website) and costs for professional photo editing software.
While pro photographers probably don’t want to calculate how much they’ve invested in their business, we’re going to break it down below, so you know exactly why and how photography fees are set.
For most product photographers, equipment will make up the bulk of their expenses. Professional-quality cameras, lenses, and lighting tools are expensive.
Estimated cost: $3,000–$5,500
Contrary to what most consumers imagine, professional-grade cameras are sold without lenses—and they’re expensive. A decent camera body will start at about $3,000, and many cost more.
We surveyed a small group of professional product photographers and found that over 60% of them spent between $3,000 and $5,500 on their main camera body. And most professional photographers own at least two camera bodies (a main one and a backup), although the backup camera might be cheaper or older.
Pro-quality camera bodies are built with more durable materials, they’re weather-sealed, have higher burst rates, larger buffers, better autofocus capabilities, dual memory card slots, and have GPS and WiFi technologies included. They’re also compatible with a wide assortment of high-grade lenses.
Estimated costs: $1,000–$20,000
While most photographers will have just a few camera bodies, they’ll likely have a plethora of lens options. High-quality used lenses start at around $1000 each, and new lenses start at around $1500 each (and that’s considered a rather affordable price point). Generally, the jump from mid- to high-range prices is what separates enthusiast-quality lenses from professional-quality.
It’s not unusual for new, pro-grade lenses to go for $5,000 to $12,000 or more per lens. The photographers we surveyed spent anywhere from $10,000 to over $20,000 on their collection of lenses.
More expensive lenses usually have higher-quality glass, better sensors, more features, a faster autofocus motor, more effective subject isolation, and are weather resistant. The glass elements that are used in professional lenses go through more rigorous testing and have a more rigid inspection process. They typically have faster, constant aperture lenses that produce better images in low-light situations and product images with better color quality.
Estimated costs: $1,000
To keep ecommerce product shots interesting, pro photographers keep a multitude of props handy. The cost varies greatly from a few bucks (think garage sales or thrift shops) to hundreds of dollars.
Bigger or more elaborate props like backdrops, floor drops, and rugs, can add up quickly. And due to the nature of product images, having a variety of blocks and boxes to work with is a necessity. Even if those props cost under $100 each, many product photographers probably have around $1,000 dollars worth of props at their disposal.
If you want to learn more about product photography props, take a look at this great resource: How to Prop Up Products With Blocks to Create Eye-Catching Product Photos.
Estimated costs: $15,000
Lighting might be one of the most expensive additional items that pro photographers use. Why? Getting a great product image in a photography studio setting requires more than a good flash. Photographers also need to have light meters, reflectors, stands, boom arms, reflectors, balancer cards, and grips. The photographers we surveyed have spent over $15,000 on lighting equipment.
Curious about how that breaks down? A cheap stand costs about $100, but many quality stands cost over $500, and boom arms can cost around $1,000. A nice flash runs around $500 to $1000—the same goes for a nice light meter. Professional-quality light reflectors will be about $100 each. And the list goes on. Plus, professional photo studios will need multiples of most of these items, so it gets expensive quickly.
Miscellaneous equipment
Estimated costs: $1,000–$10,000
Along with lighting equipment, there are a whole bunch of other necessary items. Filters ($10 to a couple of hundred dollars), at least one camera bag (around $200), a shutter remote, spare batteries, and camera and lens cleaning supplies. Compared to other costs incurred, these are small-ticket items for photographers, but they’re absolutely necessary.
“My camera bag has roughly $8,000 worth of gear in it at any given moment,” says photographer Brendan Williams. There isn’t a shortcut to becoming a professional product photographer. It takes skill and usually a hefty financial investment, not only for equipment but also for studio space, employees, business expenses, and more.
Estimated costs: $500–$800/day
The cost of studio space depends on whether it’s rented or owned and the photographer’s location. If you own the space, the cost will depend on your mortgage situation. The photographers that we surveyed noted that a typical studio rental fee costs about $500 to $800 per day. Studio rental fees may or may not include some equipment use.
"Note: if you hire a professional photographer, they’ll likely have all this equipment. Likewise, if you’re outsourcing the whole thing (for example, shipping your products to a studio like Products on White Photography, you won’t need to pay for any of this equipment)."
Estimated costs: $25–$500+ per hour
When you’re paying for product photography, you’re not just paying for one photographer. The cost likely covers assistants, administrative staff, stylists, and possibly models.
One larger product photography company that participated in our survey said they regularly employ a few contractors and probably spend around $80,000 per year on their account manager, assistants, bookkeeper, etc.
Here’s an average breakdown of some of the manpower costs (just for the day of the shoot):
Beyond shooting days, most businesses also have support, admin, or bookkeeping staff.
A good photographer isn’t cheap, and hopefully, now you realize why. It’s a lot more than taking a few pretty pictures (although yes, you want to hire someone who can do that).
Interested in hiring a product photographer? Make sure you do your due diligence before making a decision: How to Hire a Product Photographer: 11 Questions You Need to Ask.
Professional photographers use different pricing systems:
Thoroughly review any prospective photographer’s rates and pricing structures. You’ll want a plan that will work with your ecommerce business as-is and the option to change plans as your business grows.
Are you a photographer that wants to explore a package pricing structure? Here’s how to build, price, and sell product photography packages.
Photographers work either freelance or in-house, which can impact pricing and the amount of work they can handle. Expect the same quality no matter how a photographer has set up their business, but understand that a solo freelance photographer will only be able to handle a certain amount of work. In-house photographers usually have a team to lean on.
Regardless of whether they work for themselves or a larger company, photographers that do high-end commercial work need to have an inventory of equipment and people at their fingertips.
Estimated costs: $2,900–$3,700
Like other companies, photographers have regular business costs:
One professional product photography company we surveyed spends over $10,000 per year on business costs. Again, this will vary depending on whether the photographer works freelance or in-house at a larger studio.
Estimated costs: $120–$700/year
In the grand scheme, easy photo editing software subscription costs are low-cost for product photographers. Photoshop, Lightroom, Canva, are all less than $700 per year each (and Canva is currently an affordable $120 a year). The real cost of post-processing is time.
Photo editing takes a skilled person and a lot of time. Of the product photographers that we surveyed, photo editing was one of the most commonly outsourced tasks—simply because of time constraints.
Outsourcing photo edits to a professional team like Path is a great way to keep costs down and maintain your high-quality standards. (Path pricing is transparent and straightforward with costs starting at 25¢ per image.) And outsourcing tasks such as photo editing can be especially helpful if you’re working with a freelance photographer (or you are a freelance photographer).
Since pro photographers have to maintain and share countless files, they also have to pay for image storage and organization solutions:
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Product photos aren’t something you want to skimp on, but there are a few ways to save a bit of money.
That product photography quote that you received is probably looking a lot more affordable now. (Ahem, photographers, the new year would be a great time to raise your prices.)
Producing high-quality product images is expensive, but there are plenty of reasons it’s so costly. Those images are an investment in your ecommerce company and, for photographers, they’re the result of years of experience, a vast network, and a strategically built business.
]]>In this article we’re going to give you ideas on how to edit your product shots so they’re optimized to produce the most sales.
Effective product photos make it quick and easy for shoppers to see what you’re selling. Too many distractions take away from the product itself.
Distractions can take many forms: maybe you have too many props, there might be background noise on a lifestyle shoot, the light might have created a glare, or you could have the unavoidable speck of dust or odd stain.
You can remove these distractions with photo retouching in Adobe Photoshop or a similar photo-editing software. You can find out how to remove unwanted objects with this tutorial, for example, or outsource it to a virtual photo editing studio that can handle it for you.
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Your product should fill a majority of the frame. This is an Amazon requirement as well as an ecommerce best practice.
Filling the frame allows shoppers to have a better view of the product without having to zoom, squint, or click through—regardless of the device they’re using.
Oral care brand Keeko uses white background main images that zoom in on the product so it fills the frame. While the toothpaste product on the far left is larger in actual size than the floss on the far right, shoppers don’t necessarily need to see scale at this stage in the journey—they’ll get that through the secondary images on the actual product page.
Not enough product photos won’t give shoppers enough information. But too many may cause information overwhelm. The key is to get it just right.
According to our analysis of 25 top brands, three to five product images is the sweet spot. For most brands and products, you’ll want at least three images:
Remember, best practices are guidelines, so it’s all about what works for your product and customers. You can also do a quick search on a popular ecommerce marketplace such as Amazon to see how many product images best-selling items have.
If you’re selling makeup, type “best makeup brands” on Amazon. Find one or two best sellers, click on the item, and take note of how many types of product photos that brand has.
You can also look on brands’ websites instead of just their Amazon listings, especially if you plan to sell direct to consumers via your own online store. Deodorant and wellness brand Native uses five product photos for its facial cleanser, for example—several of just the product on its own, as well as a few that include models.
White backgrounds should be the standard for your main product photos, even if you can’t create a white background on set for whatever reason. They make it easy for shoppers to see products, compare items, and click through to the ones they’re interested in.
Generally, you’ll want to default to white backgrounds for online hero and main images.
Hero Cosmetics uses simple product-focused photos with a white background that really highlight its products and makes it easy to understand what options are right for you.
You don’t have to use stark white for your own website. Instead, you can opt for a hue or shade of white. Hylo Athletics, for example, uses an off-white background to showcase its vegan shoe line.
If you can’t create a white background for your photoshoot, you can always remove the background later. Once you remove the background, you can change the color to white or create a transparent background for more universal digital use.
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While white backgrounds should be the standard for your main product photos, that doesn’t mean you should shy away from getting creative—especially for your own website or social media. You can change the background color using Photoshop or a similar tool.
Experiment with various colored backgrounds to see what resonates most with your audience. Be sure to follow these tips on how to choose the best color.
See how Nguyen Coffee Supply makes its coffee products stand out further using a blue background. Working to find one or two additional colors for your backgrounds can really help spice up your entire product page with very little additional effort.
Lifestyle photography typically involves more work—set design, props, styling, assistants, possibly even models. But it’s important to include both white background and lifestyle photography to appeal to a wider range of customers.
Essentially, you want to incorporate your products in as many “real-world” use cases as you can to give more context to the prospective buyers. If you don’t have the extra budget for models, props, photographer, and locations for your lifestyle shoot, you can outsource it.
You can send your white background images and chosen stock photos to a studio to create for you. Or, you can hire a professional photography studio like Products On White Photography to shoot and edit the composites for you.
Proper and effective lighting always starts at the photo shoot. It’s always best, but not always possible, to get the lighting right during the shoot. But sometimes you’ll need to fix it afterwards—maybe the weather wasn’t working, there was a glare, or you had unwanted reflections.
So if you’re unable to get the lighting right for your shoot, you can use a few simple lighting effects in post processing.
Here’s an example shared by Mandi Johnson, a fashion photographer and blogger. As you can clearly see, just a small change in lighting can dramatically change the look and feel of the same photo. Depending on your specific brand identity and positioning you can use lighting tweaks to really hone in on the exact feel your audience resonates with.
Just as it’s important to pay attention to lighting during your shoot, you’ll also want to keep an eye on the shadows in your product photos. Shadows give dimension to lifeless, flat white background photos. They’re challenging but can make a dramatic difference.
If your shadows weren’t working at the time of the shoot, you can add a realistic drop shadow in Photoshop afterwards.
Here’s a great example of shadows that complement the product with Farmacy. The usage of shadows here make the product feel more life-like as opposed to a standard boring stock photo.
While natural shadows are often manipulated during the shoot, reflection shadows are typically added during post production. It’s a great way to add drama to your product images.
Luxury products, jewelry, perfume, and cosmetics often get reflection shadows. That’s because these items are often sold in department store environments with bright fluorescent lighting and reflective glass cases—so the shadow mimics that in-person experience.
Revision Skincare uses reflection shadows effectively for its product line. In this specific case, the shadow is what’s known as a reflection shadow, helping the image feel more three dimensional.
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Product photos need to accurately represent what you’re selling. It’s one thing to make your photos look good, but it’s another to over-edit or exaggerate your product to the point of being unrealistic.
From a color perspective, this means no filters or saturation. It’s important the colors in your images appear the same as they do in real life.
Be especially mindful when selling clothing, given it has the highest return rates. While the wrong size and fit are often the biggest reasons for returns, differences between a color on your site and how it looks in real life can impact returns significantly.
Using color change edits can maximize your investment. Instead of taking multiple photos of the same product just with a different color, you can use color change edits. Simply take one photo and create the rest through post processing.
Many top ecommerce brands, for example, use color variants to quickly show what the product would look like with a different color without taking a new photo entirely. Same models, style, look, just an edit to change the color in post production. For example, True Classic shows off its product bundle of nine of the same t-shirt, just different colors.
Instead of taking photos of nine individual shirts, it could take a photo of just one shirt and then change the color through editing. This can not only save time, it helps keep your product photos consistent as well.
Wrinkles on apparel products look sloppy and unprofessional, plus it may make shoppers question the quality of not only your products but your service.
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While you may iron and steam thoroughly before (and during) shooting, wrinkles are often inevitable. Removing wrinkles from your product photos helps show you care about the details and fortunately doesn’t take too much additional time on your part.
Here’s an example from Motif Concept Store:
Product photos don’t have to be limited to stills. In fact, many of the most successful ecommerce brands use other media types, including animated GIFs and product videos to provide a more dynamic shopping experience with context, ultimately driving more sales.
Fortunately you can often repurpose and reuse your photos, videos, and GIFs on a variety of channels and make your efforts go all that much farther.
For example, video is the top media format marketers use, with many taking advantage of short-form videos (videos that last less than a minute) due to how well-suited they are for social media engagement.
Incorporating video, even at a small scale, can help your products stand out, especially as consumers continue to consume more short-form content, and that content continues to drive return on investment (ROI).
Here’s how Graza uses video and GIFs for its olive oil products. It incorporates both stills and video to showcase its olive oil in action.
With editing tools such as Adobe Premiere and Apple Final Cut Pro, you can create videos in just a few minutes. For animated GIFs, try EZGIF or Make A GIF.
Image file size impacts page load time—bigger files take longer to load. A slow-loading website or page leads to a poor user experience (reducing conversion rates) while also hurting your SEO (reducing traffic). That’s why it’s important to reduce the file size of your photos before uploading them to your site.
Luckily, there are many ways to do so without affecting the quality of your product photos. And you can use tons of free tools like TinyPNG and Kraken.io.
Optimizing product photos for SEO is also incredibly important. Over one-third of ecommerce traffic comes directly from search, and this figure continues to grow.
One way to optimize for SEO is to include alt text for all of your product photos. Not just for SEO, alt text is also essential to help those who may be visually impaired navigate your site. Alt text is a hidden data field you can add in Photoshop, on your computer, or when you upload the photos to your website or marketplace channel.
Provide as much context as you can while describing the image in a neutral and non-subjective way. Here’s a great example by Semrush:
Use targeted and descriptive keywords relevant to your products. Do basic keyword research around your products to see which terms are being searched around your specific products.
We’ve covered a lot of ground on how to optimize your product photos so far, and while implementing the suggestions above will put you ahead of the competition, it’s very important you take a “testing” mindset into the process of improving your product photos.
You won’t know what works best for your business or brand simply by reading about what should work, you need to test things out for yourself. Of course, knowing the latest research on how consumers behave is a good place to start.
Ecommerce consumer research tool PickFu surveyed 100 consumers and found that roughly 50% of consumers look at price first and half of them would then look at the photos. Product titles and descriptions, while still important, weren’t as critical to those who were surveyed.
They recommend using tools such as Google Optimize and AB Tasty to A/B test your product photography.
When it comes to testing your product photos to see what works best, you’ll first want to have a baseline. Use a baseline when testing different product photo variations.
Below is an example. On the left, is the standard baseline. On the right is where different categories and product offerings are introduced.
Here are some ideas to test for your own product photos:
Ultimately, there’s no shortage of tactics and strategies to improve your product photos and in the process improve your conversions. But investing in high-quality photos and editing is one of the most effective ways to take your product photos to the next level and drive more sales.
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Not every apparel shot will work to create ghost mannequin photos, but with our tips, you can learn how to create seamless ones that catch consumers’ eyes for all the right reasons.
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Ghost mannequin photography involves taking a photo of a garment on a mannequin or a person and then editing the photo to remove the mannequin. Doing so adds dimension to the product while creating the illusion that the garment is floating mid-air. It’s a popular technique used by ecommerce brands to showcase their products.
Ghost mannequin photography allows ecommerce brands to create compelling visuals that attract attention and convert customers. The cohesion that ghost mannequin photos bring to ecommerce store websites also makes it easy for consumers to browse products—all product listings have the same editing style and background, like you can see on outdoor retailer REI’s website:
According to one survey, as many as 90% of people say product images are either extremely or very important when shopping online for non-grocery products. You can use ghost mannequin photos of your apparel products to meet these expectations.
The following are just some of the advantages ghost mannequin photography can offer your business:
It’s one thing to neatly arrange accessories or footwear for product shots in front of a white background, but it can be challenging to do the same with clothing. The garment’s style may not be suited for folding or laying it flat. The process is also time-consuming and doesn’t showcase the product at its best for shoppers to gauge how it looks when worn.
An invisible model, however, can demonstrate the fit of a garment—from lingerie and swimwear to outerwear.
If you’ve ever hired professional models before, you know it can be expensive and challenging to coordinate. Ghost mannequin photography eliminates the need for hiring models and other creatives, like makeup artists, hair stylists, and assistants.
By skipping this part, you can focus on other aspects of your business or job and save time and money. Your shooting and editing workflow also becomes easier and faster with time.
Without a human model in the photo, you don’t have to worry about isolating any of your customers by not representing them in your model choices for main product images. That’s not to say you shouldn’t consider inclusivity altogether. Nearly a quarter of consumers aged 18 to 25 want more diversity and inclusion in apparel and footwear brand advertising.
Eliminating models for product photos can allow you to focus on sourcing diverse, representative talent for marketing and lifestyle photos instead.
Shoppers want to inspect online purchases as they would in a physical store—they want to see the product from different angles. They also might want to see the inside of apparel, the fabric used, and small details, like lining, pockets, brand labels, and other features.
If you don’t use ghost mannequin photos for clothing, many of these details are omitted—for example, it’s virtually impossible to get a side view or interior shot without ghost mannequin images.
Environment-conscious women’s fashion retailer Girlfriend Collective uses a mix of ghost mannequin and live model photos for its products. On this bra listing, shoppers can see the inside lining of the racerback, something that would be impossible to demonstrate with a live model.
Humans naturally look for faces in visuals, not inanimate objects. Knowing this can be great for creating effective banners, landing pages, and lifestyle photos—but not so much for white background ecommerce shots.
With more than 80% of fashion shoppers checking out on mobile, having listing photos that are easy to see and navigate on smaller screens is crucial for any apparel ecommerce business. By removing a person from your product photo, you also remove the distracting elements, like parts of a model’s face, hands, or feet. Now, the attention goes straight back to the product.
With ghost mannequin photos on your website, shoppers know what to expect when they browse your products. Simple thumbnails with the same composition make it easy to compare products as consumers go from page to page.
Australia-based CLEONIE SWIMWEAR, for example, uses ghost mannequin shots for main images so you can see a uniform, consistent look when browsing shop pages. The white background also makes it easy to see the true color of each item.
You can shoot and edit ghost mannequin photos in Adobe Photoshop yourself or outsource the job to a professional editing studio like Path.
For any ghost mannequin photograph to work, you’ll need two photos:
The two types of photos will give you or the editor enough visual data to create a composite image with an invisible mannequin effect.
First, shoot your garment on a mannequin or a live model with their arms pointing down (for upper-body garments). Make sure you’ve steamed or ironed it first to get rid of as many wrinkles as possible.
Use a simple background, like a solid gray backdrop, and be sure to photograph the mannequin straight on, not at an angle. Doing so will avoid any distortion or skewing in the final image. Use a tripod to avoid any camera shake and keep the distance between the camera and the garment the same.
To photograph the inside of your garment, like the area of the clothing label, you can turn the garment inside out and put it back on the model or the mannequin. You can also use a whiteboard or foam core to clip your clothing item to it and stand it up in the same place you took the first shots.
Take a few photos using the same lighting, camera, and tripod setup for consistency.
Next comes image editing to combine your photos and remove any imperfections—you can follow our step-by-step tutorial to learn how to edit your photos for a professional finish.
There’s more than one way to enhance your ghost mannequin photos—during the shoot and at the editing stage. We have also provided marketing tips to help you make the most of your photos and increase sales.
Make sure the fabric of your clothing is taut and clean before the photoshoot. You should also look for wrinkles, seams, creases, stains, and loose threads. Have a steamer, safety pins, tape, and scissors on hand for any last-minute fixes on-set.
Checking that the clothing is polished will help you get a high-quality product look, but even at the best of times, you can miss an imperfection. Not all is lost because editing can usually fix those. It's a tedious process, but you can use photo retouching services to outsource and make room for more important business tasks.
If your ghost mannequin shots look flat, use drop shadows and reflective shadows to add depth. Doing so prevents your products from looking like cardboard cutouts and gives them dimension. Such a small change can instantly transform your photos for the better.
For any ecommerce business selling hundreds of items, it’s costly and time-consuming to shoot each new color variation of clothing. Instead, you can do a color change edit to the original ghost mannequin image for any new fabric colors or prints.
Maybe you don't have product labels and tags at the time of the shoot. You can add tags to the interior in post-processing. Doing so is also helpful if your branding design changes but you don’t have the resources to reshoot your whole inventory. You can see how this photo from M.M.Lafleur showcases the brand tag.
Using the original ghost mannequin photo, you can also cut out the item and hang it on a rack or hanger with added design elements like graphics and text to highlight specific details. For example, the sustainable farm-to-closet clothing brand Pareto uses a photo of this crewneck sweater to show consumers the careful considerations behind the product’s design.
With ghost mannequin photos of your clothing, you can create image groups to increase sales without having to shoot each combination using live models.
Let customers see the product from every angle before they buy using 360-degree spin product photography. Augmented reality makes virtual shopping even more immersive by showing products in 3D. Shopify reports that some product pages using this technology increased conversion rates by up to 250%.
You don’t have to go straight into investing in an augmented reality app, though. A basic turntable and multiple shots of your product will give you an affordable entry into 360-spin photography.
Shopping for clothes is a personal experience, but it can be challenging if consumers can’t get a good look at the products. Ghost mannequin photography is one feature you can add to your toolkit to help improve the user experience and boost conversions.
Consider outsourcing to a photo-editing studio like Path if the process is too time-consuming. Besides making your customers’ shopping journey easier, you’ll also save hours of your work day.
[cta image="about-work.svg" text="Let us look after your ghost mannequins, starting at just 99¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/ghost-mannequin"]]]>You might need to perform a color change because you didn’t have the right variant available at the shoot. Or you might be going for a theme on social media, and a color change will help old assets fit your new visual aesthetic. These are just a couple of instances. We rounded up a bunch of other ways to use and scenarios in which color change edits may be appropriate.
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It’s not enough to simply have still product images anymore. Modern brands incorporate user-generated photos, 360-degree shots, animated GIFs, and even product videos into their content mix. You can use this media across channels, including your website, product pages, social media, email, and more.
So if you want to make your product photography investment go the extra mile, you can apply the color change edits and turn those shots into an animated GIF, cycling through each variant.
It’s critical to cultivate relationships with your customer base. One way to kickstart and cultivate relationships with your customers is to ask their opinion.
You can survey your customers to see which colors they like best for new variations of your existing products. This will not only boost engagement, but your audience will also feel more invested in the product itself, given the fact they had a say in its creation. They may even feel more inclined to make a purchase.
Fashion designer Tery D’Ciano frequently uses Instagram polls in her stories to see what her customers want to see in her products. She’ll often share images or videos of fabrics, buttons, and other details and ask her audience which ones they prefer.
You can take a similar approach and use “photos” of the new color options to give people a visual to help them decide. You can do this in your Instagram stories or on other social channels, as well as send a poll to your email list and add a pop-up to your website.
One ecommerce strategy is to launch with a single or small number of color variants and later expand, adding new variants as time goes on. You can test these new variants before making them a permanent addition to your product lineup, and possibly even before investing in manufacturing the actual items.
You might even make it a pre-order, limited edition type of campaign. This can boost sales and help you reduce lost capital on expired or unsellable products while you test demand.
See how effortlessly Coola’s Summer Crush tinted lip sunscreen changes to Nude Beach, Coral Reef, and finally to Firecracker? This would be a great way to test each new hue before investing in a full launch.
Brand colors, fonts, and prints are all distinctive visually recognizable elements of a brand. If you have a pastel palette throughout your website, more saturated RGB hues, or a neon palette, color correction may make your product images more aligned with your branding.
Maybe you have some lifestyle product photography and you want to change the color scheme to fit your email design or your website design. Or maybe it’s the holidays and you want to create a more seasonal background, like we did for the color change in this product image:
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If a model is wearing your clothing product, you take one photo, and then change the color of the clothing for all other variants. And then present all those color variant options online in a way so your customers can toggle between colors when they see a change in the product but the model remains still.
Amazon merchants often use this technique. See how this long sleeve casual pullover comes in 18 different shades for any taste from mint to wine red.
This marketing approach might help end users quickly evaluate different color options and pick the one they like—without being distracted by changes in different model poses.
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Seasonal and limited edition products are a great way to boost sales and excitement, while keeping your brand fresh. Flex Watches is an excellent example of a brand that does this well. It frequently launches new variants of its classic products in support of different causes, such as its autism watch listed among its original styles:
Maybe you sell sunglasses and you want to make a limited edition breast cancer awareness version in pink. Instead of doing a new shoot, you can change the existing product photos to the hue of pink that the product will be.
This also means you don't have to wait for the limited edition products to ship and be available for the shoot. This way, you can technically launch and sell it before you even have it.
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One way to showcase the variety and depth of your product line is to create collection images. However, to do this on set, you need to have all the products in all the colors available for the shoot. This isn’t always possible, or easy.
Color change is almost always possible, so you can apply the edits in Photoshop and then combine your new individual images into a single collection image.
Sustainable apparel brand Pact uses this visual approach for some of its product imagery. The below screenshot shows the hero image on its website homepage, giving users an instant glance at the range of color options available in a single product.
Product bundling and multi-packs are effective conversion tactics because they offer convenience and higher perceived value for the customer. And it’s great for retailers because it moves more inventory and boosts cart value.
Rather than taking product shots of the bundles together, you can use color change edits to duplicate the products and then edit them together if needed.
Athleticwear brand Girlfriend Collective sells bundles on its online store. While theoretically it may have had all the photos it needed in all the colors available, it also could have simply taken a single product shot of the bra and then applied color change to the bundled image.
All you need is a single product shot to use as a base if you want to sell bundles or multi-packs.
Product photos cost money, and shooting each variant quickly adds not only money but time to an already busy photoshoot. Some brands opt to shoot just one product photo of each item, saving variants and color changes for later rather than shooting each individual color option.
It’s not unusual for one piece of clothing to be produced in 10 or even 20 different shades, so the savings achieved by this photo editing shortcut can amount to thousands of dollars and hours in human work hours.
You can see how well a color change service from Path works in the photos below from Motif Concept Store. It’s hard to tell which is the original and which was edited!
These basic manipulations help achieve not-so-basic goals: connect with buyers, cost-effective product development and diversification, and remain competitive in a fast-paced ecommerce environment.
Luckily, you don’t have to do the color change yourself. Instead, task them to a professional photo editing studio like Path. We’re here to lend a hand 24/7, making sure every picture is perfect, down to the last pixel.
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]]>But shadows can be effective at making your product pop and appear more appealing. Let’s step out of the dark and into the light and see a few ways you can use shadow edits to elevate your product images and drive more sales.
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A shadow edit is when you create, edit, add, remove, or otherwise manipulate shadows or reflections in an image. You can create shadows with the help of editing software like Photoshop and Lightroom. Common shadow effects include drop shadow, floating shadow, and reflection shadow.
Many of our clients send drop shadow edits along with clipping path edits. That’s because the two editing techniques together can take a flat, lifeless image and give it dimension, depth, and visual interest.
You can also use shadow edits to create different creative visual effects, or edit out mistakes.
There are five types of shadow edits, each with its own visual effect and level of editing effort.
A drop shadow is when you create a silhouette of a product very close to its edges. This shadow gives definition to the product by creating a light gray layer of varying opacity, angle, and saturation to one or more of its sides, making an otherwise flat image look more 3D and helping the product stand out from the background.
A floating shadow is placed below the product as if the ray of light is hitting it on the top, creating a shadow beneath. This adds dimension to the shot by making the product appear as though it’s floating above an imaginary and invisible surface.
Floating shadows are fun, creative, and playful—they work especially well for marketing product images. See how the floating shadow makes this sneaker appear as though it’s flying:
A reflection shadow makes it appear as though the product is resting on a reflective surface. This type of shadow edit is often used for cosmetics, electronics, sunglasses, jewelry, perfume, and other luxury and glam shots.
A natural shadow edit is when you create a realistic shadow for images without any due to on-set lighting limitations or complex, uneven edges. The natural shadow makes it appear as though the object is resting on a non-reflective surface.
A natural shadow makes items on a white background look more realistic and less artificial and flat—thus more appealing to a potential buyer. Plus, the shadow mimics the actual size and shape of the product, so it looks like a naturally cast shadow—not an effect added after the fact.
To add a natural shadow, we first create a clipping path to isolate the product and then use several Photoshop tools to create, place, and color the shadow to look like a natural one.
An existing shadow edit is when you fine tune or enhance an existing, natural shadow that was created during the shoot by exposing one side of the object to a source of light.
If the photographer did their job well, you can use the existing shadow in the final shot. It may still require minor tweaking to be featured on a different background, for example, but overall it’s all about keeping it natural.
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Here are some ways to use shadow edits in your product photos to make the most of your investment.
Product images on plain white backgrounds can look flat. If you only apply clipping path or image masking, your results will be equally flat. But if you add floating shadow or drop shadow, the products come to life, bringing dimension to the frame and differentiating the product from the background. Suddenly your images don’t look flat anymore and thus your products are more appealing.
Reflection shadows are common for luxury products, and it works well for jewelry in particular. The reflection adds dimension to the frame, making it appear as though the jewelry is sitting on a reflective surface, and reiterates the details in the jewelry.
This shadow effect mimics the in-store environment of most jewelry stores—think fluorescent lighting, lots of mirrors, and reflective glass display cases.
Not all product images have to have white backgrounds. In fact, there are many instances where you’ll want to get creative and use an alternative to white background ecommerce photos.
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But when you remove the original background to replace it with a new one, the output isn’t always seamless. The lighting and composition are likely different for both shots, so it likely requires some small touches and finesse to turn a composited photo into a natural-looking one.
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In this case, you’ll likely retain the original shadow and use an existing shadow edit to make it look natural in its new context.
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One of the popular reasons to order shadow-making services is to fix the existing shadows. Sometimes you may want to make them less pronounced, as they take too much focus off the object.
In the below example with the red toy car, the shadow is rather complex, harsh and unnecessarily long. Whatever shadow is left in the “after” example only provides some depth and natural look to the product without overpowering it or taking away the focus from it.
You may also want to fix lighting in post-production by retouching harsh lines coming from direct sources of light used without diffusers. Remember, shadows in your product shots should be much like shadows in real life—unnoticeably in the background, not competing with your product.
It happens quite often that some element is gone from the original image due to the reshuffling of objects in composition and whatnot. But the shadow might still be left in. That’s when you need to consider retouching helps too.
For example, this T-shirt has the shadow of the hanger and the rail in the original shot, while the resulting image has had it all removed: the objects as well as their shadows.
This shadow edit is more creative than it is technical—it requires some outside the box thinking. Adding a creative shadow could result in stunning creative for ads or print photos.
Here’s an example from former tennis champion Stakhovskiy who turned into a wine producer. His creative social media shots use references to the championship period of the now-wine-maker quite a bit. This is how it used a shadow to tell a story.
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Shadows are subtle but impactful elements to your photos that can take an ordinary product image and turn it into a major sales tool. Shadows bring products to life, add dimension to white background shots, and even lend themselves to creative ideas.
But not everyone has time to create the perfect shadows for every image. And when you can’t manipulate the lighting source on set, it’s difficult to get a consistent look and feel. That’s where drop shadow editing services come into play. You can send all your shadow needs to our virtual photo editing studio, starting at just 25¢ per image.
[cta image="about-work.svg" text="Step into the light and let us create shadows for you from 25¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/drop-shadow"]]]>There are many reasons you’d want to change a face in Photoshop, including:
In this article, we’ll learn how to face swap and blend in Photoshop in just 10 easy steps.
Watch the video here or scroll down below for the written tutorial.
Before you can begin the face swap Photoshop technique, you’ll need to select the photos you want to work with. For best results, choose two photos where the models are looking in the same direction. Also, pay attention to the location of shadows on both models’ faces. The easiest photos to work with will have minimal shadows and soft lighting.
We'll use the following two images in this tutorial:
Open both images in Photoshop by clicking CTRL+O (COMMAND+O on Mac) or selecting File > Open from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
Since we’re learning how to photoshop someone's face onto another body, we’ll refer to the photo with the yellow background—the first model—as “Body” and the photo with the blue background—the second model—as “Face.”
We’ll begin working with the Face photo. In the Face photo, ensure you are on the layer containing the model’s face. If you are working in a JPG, the file is flattened and you will be on the correct layer by default. However, if your file is a layered Photoshop file, you need to select the correct layer in the Layers panel.
Once in the correct layer, choose the Lasso tool from the Toolbar on the left side of the application window.
If you don't see the Lasso Tool in the Toolbar, it may be hiding behind the Polygonal Lasso Tool or the Magnetic Lasso Tool. Click and hold on either of these tools if you see them to reveal the Lasso Tool.
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Draw a rough outline around all the important features of the model’s face that you want to swap onto the other face. This may be just the eyes, nose, and mouth, but also consider cheekbones, eyebrows, and any distinguishing features such as moles. Do not select any of the model’s hair.
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You should now see a dashed marquee line (known fondly as marching ants) around your selection. Choose CTRL+C (COMMAND+C on Mac) to copy the selection of the face. Alternatively, you can choose Edit > Copy from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
Next, we’ll move into the Body photo. In the Body photo, paste the selection you made from the other photo by typing CTRL+V (COMMAND+V on Mac) or choosing Edit > Paste from the dropdown menu.
Don’t worry about it looking bad right now. We’ll be learning how to blend faces in Photoshop in just a minute.
Using the Move Tool in your Toolbar, move the new face so that it is roughly in the same place as the face you’ll swap faces with in Photoshop.
Make sure your Layers panel is visible. If you don't see it, you can bring it to the forefront of your screen by selecting Window > Layers from the dropdown menu.
In the Layers panel, make sure the new layer with the face from the Face image is selected. Rename this layer to “Face” by double-clicking on the name of the layer until it becomes available to edit.
Next, reduce the opacity of this layer to 50%. You can now see the features of both faces to swap in Photoshop.
In the dropdown menu at the top of the screen, select Edit > Transform > Scale.
You’ll see a box around the face. Place your cursor at one of the corners of the box, hold down the SHIFT key, and drag the corner until the new face is the same size as the face underneath. Since you are working in reduced opacity, you should be able to line up the eyes, nose, and mouth as you resize the face.
Hit ENTER (RETURN on Mac) when you're satisfied with the resizing.
If you need to rotate the face, select Edit > Transform > Rotate from the dropdown menu and rotate the face until it lines up correctly.
No two faces will line up exactly, so you'll need to use your own judgment here as to what size and rotation works best.
Again, remember to hit ENTER (RETURN on Mac) when you're done so Photoshop knows to make the rotation permanent.
Reset the opacity of your Face layer to 100%.
The Photoshop face swap technique is a destructive process, so we need to duplicate our background layer before we go any further just so we can retain our original image for touch-ups.
To duplicate the background layer, select the layer containing the first model’s body (if you originally started with a JPEG or flattened layer, this will be a locked layer called Background).
Look for the small block of four horizontal lines at the upper left corner of the Layers panel. This is your Layers panel menu. Click on those lines to pull down the Layers panel options.
From the dropdown, select Duplicate Layer….
Alternatively, you can type CTRL+J (COMMAND+J on Mac) to duplicate the layer without needing to access the Layers menu.
In the pop-up window, name the new layer “Body.”
Back in the Layers panel, click on the button that looks like an eye just to the left of the Background layer. This will toggle the layer’s visibility off.
In the Layers panel, select the Face layer. Then, from the dropdown menu at the top of the screen, choose Select > Load Selection.
A pop-up window will appear. In it, the channel should say “Face transparency.” Underneath Channel, make sure the box next to Invert is unchecked.
The radio button next to “New Selection” should be selected.
Click OK.
Back in the Layers panel, click on the eye icon next to the Face layer to make the new face invisible. DO NOT deselect your selection, though. We’ll be using that selection in the next step.
Next, select the Body layer in the Layers panel.
From the dropdown menu, choose Select > Modify > Contract.
In the pop-up menu that appears, set the contract amount to 10 pixels. Click OK.
With the Body layer still selected, press BACKSPACE (DELETE on Mac) to remove the area beneath the face.
Press CTRL+D (COMMAND+D on Mac) to deselect.
Your image should look something like this. Horrifying, yes. But we’ll be fixing it in just a moment.
Click on the eye icon next to the Face layer to toggle visibility on. You should see both the face and the body again.
Still in your Layers panel, select the Face and Body layers at the same time by holding down the SHIFT key.
Go to the dropdown menu at the top of the screen and choose Edit > Auto-Blend Layers….
In the pop-up window that appears, Select Panorama and check the box for Seamless Tones and Colors and Content Aware Fill Transparent Areas.
Click OK.
You'll now have a new, merged layer with the two faces merged together.
You may be done at this point! But for this example, the original model’s hair is covered up in places by the new model’s face.
To fix this and similar issues, toggle the visibility of the original layer back on by selecting the eye icon next to the Background layer.
Then, toggle off the visibility of any layers existing between the new merged layer and the original background layer.
In your new, merged layer, select the Eraser tool.
Carefully erase any areas of the new model’s face to reveal the original layer beneath. Work carefully, and use a small brush with 0% hardness for best results.
Once you're satisfied with the results, remember to save your image.
Congratulations! You now know how to Photoshop a face onto another body, and you're ready to use this image to enhance your ecommerce photos.
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You can't really Photoshop a face onto another body for free because Adobe charges a fee to use its photo-editing software. If you outsource the Photoshop face swap, you'll also have to pay for the services.
Yes, you can swap heads in Photoshop. You can use the steps in this tutorial to swap faces and apply the same techniques to the whole head.
It’s important to understand the basic image file formats for your product photos because different uses have different needs. Ecommerce channels have different standards and requirements, and some file formats are better than others when it comes to user experience and website performance.
Here’s an overview of the main digital file formats out there:
Digital image files can be categorized as one of two types: raster or vector. The main difference is how the image is built—either from pixels (raster) or a mathematical grid (vector).
A raster image is a file created by pixels—tiny, individual colored dots that form the details of images or photos. The higher number of pixels an image has, the better the quality of the image. Raster images are well-suited for product photography because of their high quality and workability—they’re flexible to edit and manipulate as you can edit the pixels themselves. However, resizing raster images can affect the resolution and cause pixelation and blurriness.
A vector image uses fixed points on a grid created by mathematical equations, lines, and curves. They capture a lot more visual data than the pixels in raster images. Because of their numerical formulas, vector images don’t lose resolution when resized, no matter how big or small.
The visual information mathematically scales to size. Because they have more visual data, vector images are more difficult to edit and manipulate, and they’re also larger in size—they’re not really a good fit for product photos. Vector images are better for digital illustrations, logos, and complex graphics—you’d probably use a vector image if you’re selling a digital download containing image files.
Image compression reduces an image file size by removing or grouping certain parts of the photograph. This is important in product photography because uncompressed images are large in size and negatively impact website performance and the ability to optimize images for omnichannel selling.
There are two image compression methods: lossy and lossless.
Lossy compression significantly reduces the file sizes by permanently removing data from the image file. You can’t revert back to your original file. Lossy compression negatively impacts the image quality but not so much that it’s noticeable in most digital contexts. However, the smaller file optimizes your website performance.
Lossless compression slightly reduces file size by removing unnecessary data from the image. Unlike lossy compression, the changes are reversible. Plus, you maintain image quality and the details in your photos. This compression type is great for product photos with intricate details, such as pieces of jewelry, artwork, or stitching. You’ll also want to go lossless when editing animated GIFs.
A color model determines how the colors and hues in your image appear on different screens. The system creates a range of colors using a combination of three or four base colors. The two most commonly used color models in product photography are CMYK and RGB.
When choosing a color model for your product photography, you need to know your file type and whether your photos will be digital or printed. Some file formats may only support one color model.
RGB is red, green, and blue. This color model is ideal for any product photography shown digitally on a screen. RGB uses the light source from the screen to manipulate color saturation, vibrancy, and shading.
CMYK represents cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (or black). CMYK color model is best for printed materials. As the printer prints a photograph, the machine combines the colors to create the preferred color. You’ll want to use the CMYK color model if prepping product shots for printed catalogs, magazine ads, in-store signage, billboards, and other physical materials.
[cta text="Get completely natural color changes, done by pro designers for 99¢ per image" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/pages/color-variants"]JPEGs and compressed JPEGs are commonly used in product photography, as well as PNGs, RAW files, and animated GIFs.
There are many digital file types available. The best one to use all boils down to how you’re using the image. In general, product photos are typically JPEG or compressed JPEG images.
A JPEG or JPG is probably the most commonly used file type for all images, product or not. The acronym stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. JPEGs are universally recognized and compatible with most browsers, software, and apps.
As a lossy compression file, you can compress the image to a smaller file size, making it ideal for digital use. Typically, you don’t need highly detailed product images on websites or social media feeds, so losing some pixels won’t make a difference to the naked eye
Use JPEG format for:
Don’t use JPEGs for:
Tips for using JPGs:
A PSD is a Photoshop Document file—the default file type for any images you create in Adobe Photoshop. PSDs are commonly used in digital design work to edit images in Photoshop. They can store up to two gigabytes and can include several layers of different images or graphical elements. Many designers work with PSDs and then convert the finished image to a JPEG so it’s prepped for its intended use.
Use PSD format for:
Don’t use PSDs for:
Tips for using PSDs:
TIFF stands for Tag Image File Format. Photographers and graphic designers commonly use this file type because of its superior quality and high resolution. The lossless raster image is popular for uses in desktop publishing software, photo printing, and design. TIFF files are almost universally compatible with operating systems.
Use TIFF images for:
Don’t use TIFFs for:
Tips for using TIFFs:
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PNG stands for Portable Network Graphic. They are a lossless, patent-free, open format file type, meaning you can view and edit without a license with any image editing software. PNG files originally came about as an alternative to GIF image file formats because of GIFs’ limited color palette and patent license. PNG files are popular because they are compatible with a large range of programs and are high-quality.
Use PNG images for:
A gridded background indicates an image with a transparent background.
Don’t use PNGs for:
Tip for using PNGs:
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RAW files are uncompressed and unprocessed images taken on advanced cameras like compact, mirrorless, or DSLR. This file type produces high-quality photos that retain the original details that other file types don’t. A RAW file is lossless, so it won't lose quality when compressed but it will take up a large amount of storage.
When you take product photos in this format, you have more control in the editing process. You can adjust white balance, exposure, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. You’ll need to convert RAW images to another format, like a JPEG, before publishing.
There are various RAW file formats, including the DNG and camera manufacturer-specific files. For example, images taken with a Nikon create a .nef file, and Canon cameras make a .cr2 file.
Use RAW images for:
Don’t use RAW for:
Tips for using RAWs:
The Digital Negative file, or DNG, is a TIFF-like RAW file format and is helpful in the editing phase of product photography. Since most RAW files, like the NEF and CR2, need specific software to open and edit them, Adobe created the DNG as a standardized file type. Therefore, you can share, edit, and store your product photos without compatibility issues.
Use DNGs images for:
Don’t use DNG for:
Tips for using DNGs:
A PDF—Portable Document Format—file displays images or documents accurately across any device, operating system, and web browser. While these files aren’t commonly used to upload product photos, PDF files are ideal if you want to embed downloadable documents with images on your website.
Use PDF images for:
Charmed Jewellery, a South African jewelry company, offers shoppers a downloadable catalog in PDF format. People can click on the image of their preferred item to head directly to the product page where they can make a purchase.
Don’t use PDFs for:
Tips for using PDFs:
Windows users have a few more steps to accomplish the same file conversion. Select Microsoft Print to PDF from the Print menu. Click the Print button.
You’ll then see a new dialog box to change the file name. Select PDF Document from the Save as type dropdown. Click Save to complete the process.
A Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) file stores animated images. GIFs use lossless compression, which makes them great for detailed graphics. They use multiple related photos in the animation to create a flipbook effect to give the illusion of a video. The files have become a popular way to showcase products on websites and social media.
Beauty company Rye Beauty uses a GIF to illustrate the process of applying its products.
Use GIF images for:
Don’t use GIFs for:
Tips for using GIFs:
The bitmap image file—BMP—is an uncompressed file designed to store and display high-quality images. BMPs can store a large amount of data because they are uncompressed images. Originally designed for Windows operating systems, the BMP files are compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems. These files may also be called a DIB or Device Independent Bitmap format.
Use BMP images for:
Don’t use BMPs for:
Tips for using BMPs:
SVG files, or Scalable Vector Graphics, are perfect for logos and complex online graphics. The file is popular with web designers because of its ability to be significantly resized without losing quality. This means you can scale the image up or down without ever losing the quality of the image.
Use SVG images for:
To highlight how an SVG file works, Etsy merchant Kottastore uses SVG files to create templates for print-on-demand merchandise. You can purchase a file like the one below and then use it to print on various items, including shirts, mugs, tote bags, and hats.
Don’t use SVGs for:
Tips for using SVGs:
Sometimes you’ll need to change the image file type to suit your project. Often, you can do this without downloading other programs or software—however, some file types require special conversion software or an external service.
On a Windows operating system, open your image in the program or application of your choice, click File > Save As, and select your chosen file type.
Then, select the image type from the Save as Type dropdown menu.
Most computer systems only offer the more common file types like the JPEG, PNG, and TIFF.
When on a Mac OS, you'll use almost identical steps as when you save an image as a PDF. You'll open your image in the program or application of your choice, and select Export from the File menu in Preview mode.
You’ll then select your preferred file type from the dropdown menu.
Most devices have built-in features that allow you to export images and convert them to a new file format. The process on iOS and Android devices is very similar. All Apple devices automatically save images in a HEIC (High Efficiency Image Format) format. However, you can change your device’s settings to convert them to a JPEG. In fact, you can take photos in Apple ProRAW if you have an iPhone 12 Pro and later Pro models.
Here are the two steps to adjust camera the settings on an iPhone:
There are a variety of online image file conversion websites you can use to convert your product photos. Many sites—like Convertio, Online-Convert, and XnConvert—are free to use and can quickly convert your images or videos. Adobe even offers a few free PDF file conversion tools.
Generally, the online conversion process is straightforward:
Be sure to check the file size requirements to make sure you’re within limits.
If converting your product photos is more complicated or requires a great deal of your time, outsourcing is a great option.
You can outsource vector conversions to our team of professional editors. We’ll turn your fuzzy graphics into sharp vector images you can use anywhere, starting at $4.99 per image. We can also provide other editing services like retouching, masking, and background removal to make your product photos web-ready.
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Overall, a compressed JPEG is the best file type to use in product photography. Compressed JPEGs are small in file size and compatible with almost all websites, marketplaces, and social media platforms. They’re also easy to manipulate and edit for various uses.
[cta image="about-work.svg" text="Find out more about how photo editing works with Path" button="Learn more" link="https://dashboard.pathedits.com/quotations/new"]A clipping path is a powerful Photoshop tool that allows you to remove, cut out, or “clip” an item or product from its background when other methods won’t work. This method is particularly useful when you have a product featured against a complex or multicolored background.
There are many instances where clipping paths are useful:
You’ll need to use the Photoshop Pen tool to create your clipping path. If you’ve ever used the Pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, you’ll notice that Photoshop’s Pen tool is almost the same.
Before you can start to use the tool, however, you’ll need to ensure your settings are correct so you actually create a clipping path and not a shape.
In your image document, select the Pen Tool. You can find it in the Toolbar, or you can type “p” to select it automatically. If you don’t see the Pen Tool, it may be hiding behind the Freeform Pen Tool, the Curvature Pen Tool, the Add Anchor Point Tool, the Delete Vector Point Tool, or the Convert Point Tool.
At the top of the application window, in the Options Bar, you’ll see settings for the Pen Tool. Select “Path” and choose “Combine Shapes.” See the image below for reference.
[cta text="Beyond Clipping Paths: 8 Ways to Improve Product Photos in Post-Production" button="Learn more" link="https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/beyond-clipping-paths-8-ways-to-improve-product-photos-in-post-production"]If you’re familiar with how the Pen Tool works, drawing a path around your shape should be pretty straightforward. If you're new to the Pen Tool, we’ll give you the basics to get you started with this powerful tool.
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With your Pen Tool, click with your mouse once along the edge of the image you want to “clip.”
Click again to place the next point, but don’t release the mouse button quite yet. Instead, pull the mouse along the edge of your object to create a curved path. Once you’re satisfied with the shape of the curve, you can release the mouse button.
Continue along the edge of your object in this manner until you’ve created a path all the way around the object.
To complete the path, hover your Pen Tool over the starting point until you see a circle appear right next to the Pen Tool. That’s your cue that you’re about to close the path. Click on your first point to close the path.
If you want to modify or tweak the path by adjusting any of the points you’ve placed, you can do so using the Direct Selection Tool.
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Once you’re happy with the path you’ve created, go to your Paths panel in Photoshop. If you don’t see the panel, you can select Windows > Paths to bring up the Paths panel.
Once in the panel, click on the Work Path you’ve just created (if it’s not already selected). Then click on the panel’s menu and choose Save Path.
Tip: Give your new path a name that identifies the object it’s outlining. This is good practice as you may find yourself working in a file that requires multiple clipping paths.
Traditionally, a true clipping path is a path created in Photoshop and can be read in other applications. For example, you can create a clipping path around a product photo in Photoshop without damaging your original image, and then import that image into design software such as InDesign or Illustrator, and the background of your image will be automatically “clipped.”
For this step, we’ll go over how to create a clipping path the “traditional” way. In the next step, you’ll learn how to use the path you created to remove a background directly in Photoshop.
To create a traditional clipping path, simply click on the saved path you just created in your Paths panel. Click on the panel menu again and choose Clipping Path.
You won’t see a difference in your Photoshop document, but if you save your image in a PSD file format, and then place that image into InDesign or Illustrator, you’ll see the clipping path doing its job.
For ecommerce use, you’ll most likely need to remove a background entirely from your product image within Photoshop. And now that you’ve created your path, the next part is easy. First, make sure you’re in a layer you can edit appropriately. Go to your Layers Panel. If you don’t see the panel, you can select Window > Layers from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
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Make sure the layer containing your product image is unlocked. If your image is in a locked Background layer, simply double click on the layer to make it Layer 0. Click OK.
In your Paths panel, make sure your new Path is selected. Then, from the Panel’s menu, choose Make Selection....
Check and make sure Feather Radius is set to 0. Click OK.
Now, choose Select > Modify > Contract from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.
In the dialog box that appears, set the contract radius to 1. Click OK.
By doing this, you’ll move your selection just slightly inward, so you don’t end up with any background artifacts showing up in your masked image.
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For this next step, you’ll need to go back into your Layers panel.
Make sure your layer containing your product image is selected in your Layers panel. At the bottom of your Layers panel, you’ll see a little icon that looks like a black rectangle with a circle cut out of the middle of it — the Add Layer Mask icon. Click on that icon.
You’ve now created a Layer mask that isolates your product image from its background.
By using a mask, you are isolating the product image in a non-destructive way. Your original background is still there should you need it in the future, but it’s now masked.
You can easily place another background under your Layer 0 to put your product into another setting, or leave it on a transparent background.
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Saving your clipping path is absolutely crucial. Every time you create a path, Photoshop makes a “Work Path.” If you don’t save your path, Photoshop overwrites it with a new Work Path every time you create a new path.
If you followed the steps above, you already saved your clipping path in Step 3. However, if you didn’t save your clipping path in Photoshop, saving your path is a quick and easy step you should get in the habit of doing every time you work with paths.
To save your clipping path, go to your Paths Panel and click on the Work Path you just created. Then, access the Panel menu by clicking on the four little lines in the upper right-hand corner of the Panel. A dropdown menu will appear. Choose Save Path and name your path.
Once you save your clipping path, you can create another path, allowing you to have multiple paths within the same document.
While clipping paths are useful and powerful, creating them can be tedious and time-consuming, especially if you are new to clipping paths. Many designers and photo editors choose to outsource their clipping path needs to a team of professionals who are detail-oriented and excel at creating paths for product photos.
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Your clipping path may be inverted because you had “Subtract Front Shape” instead of “Combine Shapes” selected in your Paths Option Bar when you created your path. To fix this, select your path using your Path Selection Tool. With the path selected, choose “Combine Shapes” from the Paths Option Bar dropdown.
We need clipping to be able to isolate objects from the backgrounds in images. Clipping your product photos from their backgrounds allows you much more flexibility within just one photo, allowing you to place your same photo against multiple backgrounds, or display your product in multiple colors, without needing to reshoot.
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