Discover how to edit your e-commerce photographs and eliminate the backdrop with Photoshop’s Pen Tool. This comprehensive guide will demonstrate how.

By Ahraham.L | Sep 01, 24 |  14 min read

Photoshop’s Pen Tool can quickly become your go-to tool for any situation where you need to separate an area of a picture from its surrounding elements.

The Pen Tool in Photoshop is a great tool for removing a product from its background or altering the color of a selected area of a product photograph. Additionally, you are free to alter, save, and use the trails made with the Pen Tool as frequently as you like.

In this article, we will be utilizing the Pen Tool to make this sock image look better by removing the backdrop and adding a fresh shadow.

Why is the Pen Tool in Photoshop the most effective tool for precisely making selections?

With its new generative AI tools, Magic Wand tools, and lasso tools, Photoshop 2024 has an abundance of possibilities for producing selections. Pen tool routes still yield the most accurate selections, though.

Having edited photos digitally for more than 25 years, I have witnessed hundreds of technological advancements in Photoshop and other photo-editing programs. Furthermore, I am confident in saying that nothing has ever compared to or will ever compare to a road created by humans. The accuracy of human expertise cannot be duplicated by a computer program, particularly when it comes to making choices.

What does Photoshop’s Pen Tool do?

Photoshop’s Pen Tool generates shapes and pathways that may be copied and edited to produce intricate selections, masks, and objects. When you use the Pen Tool, it always creates a vector path, as opposed to the Brush and Pencil Tools, which “draw” pixels onto your image.

It is possible to generate more than one path inside an image, as well as more than one path segment inside a path. In the Paths Panel, these paths show up as Work Paths or Shape Paths.

You can draw unique shapes on your image using Shape Paths made with the Pen Tool, and you can use these to highlight particular areas of your image. those made using the Pen Tool can be adjusted in any way, unlike those made with the regular Shape Tools (like the Ellipse or Rectangle Tools).

Photoshop uses work paths, on the other hand, to save path data without coloring the path itself. These Work Paths can be selected, altered, and reused as many as necessary after they are stored inside the Paths panel.

In Photoshop, where is the Paths Panel located?

Since the Paths Panel and the Pen Tool work together, you must have the Paths Panel visible before using the Pen Tool.

Paths can be accessed in the Essentials (default) workspace by selecting the Paths tab that is displayed in the Layers Panel. You can access Paths by clicking on the Windows dropdown menu and choosing Paths if there is not a Paths Panel visible in your workspace.

Types of Pen Tools in Photoshop

In Photoshop CC 2024, there are four different Pen Tools you can use to create a new path:

The standard Pen Tool

The Curvature Pen Tool

The Freeform Pen Tool

The Magnetic Pen Tool (only visible by adjusting the settings of the Freeform Pen Tool)

The other Pen Tool options are used to modify an existing path. Those tools are:

The Add Anchor Point Tool

The Delete Anchor Point Tool

The Convert Point Tool

The Standard Pen Tool

We’ll use the standard Pen Tool for the paths we’ll be creating in this exercise. It’s the original Pen Tool and is very similar to the Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator. You can create just about any kind of path with this tool.

The Freeform Pen Tool

The Freeform Pen Tool allows you to draw with the Pen Tool in the same way you would draw with the brush tool, creating a path as you draw.

The Magnetic Pen Tool

With the Freeform Pen Tool selected, you can check the Magnetic option at the top of the application window and access the Magnetic Pen Tool.

The Magnetic Pen Tool works much like the Magnetic Lasso Tool, allowing you to trace the exterior of a shape within your image. It’s not perfect, however, so we suggest you work with the Standard Pen Tool whenever possible.

The Curvature Pen Tool

The Curvature Pen Tool automatically lays down curves between points as you draw your path. This is a great tool to use if the path or shape you want to create has curved edges. You can always adjust the curves after the path is created by using the selection tools and modifying tools discussed below.

The Add Anchor Point Tool

The Add Anchor Point Tool gives you the ability to add more points onto your path once it’s been created. Hover the Add Anchor Point Tool over the part of the path where you want to add a new point and click the mouse to create the point.

The Delete Anchor Point Tool

The Delete Anchor Point Tool removes points from your path after the path has been completed. Hover your cursor over the point you want removed and click the mouse to delete the point from the path.

The Convert Point Tool

The Convert Point Tool is extremely useful. If you have a point forming a sharp corner on your path and you want to convert that corner to a curve, clicking the Convert Point Tool will make that happen. Conversely, the Convert Point Tool will remove a curve from a point and convert the point to a corner.

Paths vs. Shapes in Photoshop

When you access either the standard Pen Tool, the Curvature Pen Tool or the Freeform Pen Tool, you can set your Pen Tool setting to either Path or Shape in the options bar at the top of the application window.

Drawing with the Pen Tool when Path is selected creates a new Work Path that appears in the Paths Panel. Drawing with the Pen Tool when Shape is selected creates a new Shape Path that appears in both the Paths Panel and the Layers Panel.

When you choose Shape, you can also change a few different settings, including stroke color, thickness and fill color of the shape. We’ll go over the specifics of creating a shape with the Pen Tool at the end of this article.

When you choose Path, you’ll see an icon that looks like two small overlapping squares (this icon is also available when Shape is chosen once you’ve already begun drawing your path). If you’re creating an initial path to become a selection, set this option to Combine Shapes.

You’ll see a few other icons in the options bar, but for the purposes of this tutorial, you should leave those at their default values.

How to use the Pen Tool in Photoshop

How to use the Pen Tool in Photoshop to create a path

The standard Pen Tool allows you to create straight and curved paths with amazing accuracy, but mastering it takes some practice. Don’t get discouraged if it’s difficult at first. You can always adjust a path after you create it.

To create a path that you can then use as a selection, choose the standard Pen Tool, and then choose Path in the options bar dropdown menu at the top of the application window.

How to use the Pen Tool in Photoshop to create a new path

To start your path, click on your image with your mouse where you want to begin your path. To keep things simple, choose a starting point that is at the edge of a straight line, such as the edge of the top of the sock in the image below.

Click again along the edge of your object with the Pen Tool to draw the first segment of your path. You should now see a straight line appear.

Also, note a Work Path appears in the Paths panel as soon as you place the second point.

Create a curved path segment with the Pen Tool

To create a curve with the standard Pen Tool (such as the curves at the ankle of the sock), click to create the next point and drag with the Pen Tool before you release the mouse button. You’ll see lines, called handles, appear.

These handles are tangential to the curve being formed by the path. Moving the mouse around will adjust the handles, which will then adjust the line’s curvature. Once you’re satisfied with the shape of the curve, release the mouse button.

Note the handles formed from the curved line appear before and after the point. Therefore, the next portion of the path that you draw after creating a curved line will follow the trajectory of the handle from the last point.

When you click the next point, drag the mouse to create new handles and modify the curve that appears with your new point.

Creating a straight path segment after a curved path segment with the Pen Tool

If you want to prevent the next segment of your path from curving along the handle of your last point, you can “corner” the point by clicking on the point with the mouse while typing ALT (OPTION on Mac). The second handle will disappear.

The next point you set will be unaffected by the previous curve.

Closing your path with the Pen Tool

Once your path is complete, close your path by hovering the Pen Tool over the very first point you set down. When you see a small circle appear to the right of the Pen Tool, click on the point.

Your path will now be closed.

How to adjust the path you created using the Pen Tool in Photoshop

How to save your path

Saving your path is extremely important at this stage. Without saving, you could accidentally overwrite your hard work when you create another path.

To save your path, go to your Paths Panel and look for a new Work Path. Double click on Work Path to name your path and save it.

How to modify an existing path with the Pen Tool

Once you’ve created your path, you can modify any areas that need tweaking. It’s helpful to zoom in on different areas of your path to ensure the path follows the object exactly.

If you don’t see your path in your image, click on the path’s name in the Paths Panel.

The path will appear in your image, and you’ll be able to adjust it as needed using any of the methods below.

How to add additional paths to an existing path using the Pen Tool

In our yellow sock example, there’s a path around the outside of the sock. But what if we wanted to cut out a shape inside of the sock for demonstrative or artistic purposes? We can do so by adding an additional path to our existing path. This method also works well for removing interior shapes from certain product images, such as the inside of a mug handle or the loop in an earring.

With the path selected in the Paths panel, select the Pen Tool from the Toolbar. In the options bar at the top of the screen, click on the icon that looks like two little overlapping squares, and choose Exclude Overlapping Shapes.

While the current path is still visible, begin to draw the area that you want to exclude from your selection with the Pen Tool. Close the path when you’re done.

When we make a selection from our path later, the area created with this new path will be cut out from the rest of the selection.

How to modify existing points and curves along a path

To modify an existing point or handle on a path, find the Path Selection tools in the Toolbar. These tools each look like an arrow, and by default are located beneath the Type Tool in the Toolbar.

When you click on the visible Path Selection Tool, you’ll see options. Choose the Direct Selection Tool, which looks like a white arrow.

Clicking directly on a path segment with the Direct Selection Tool will reveal all points as white boxes, along with the handles of the selected segment. You can use the Direct Selection Tool to drag visible handles to adjust segment curves or move existing points.

How to add new points to a path

The Add Anchor Point Tool, accessible by clicking and holding on the Pen Tool in the Toolbar, will add extra points along the path.

With the Add Anchor Point Tool selected, hover over the path and click to create a new point.

Once you’ve set down the new point, you can use the Direct Selection Tool to modify the point’s location or its handles.

How to remove points from a path

The Delete Anchor Point Tool, also accessible by clicking and holding on the Pen Tool in the Toolbar, removes existing points from the path.

With the Delete Anchor Point Tool selected, hover over an existing point until the tool becomes visible and click. The point will disappear, and the surrounding path segments will conjoin into one segment. Be aware this can create some unexpected results if the handles on the surrounding points are particularly long.

How to use the Convert Point tool

The Convert Point Tool, accessed by clicking and holding on the Pen Tool, allows you to manipulate handles of existing points the same way you would manipulate handles using the Direct Selection Tool.

Unlike the Direct Selection Tool, however, the Convert Point Tool does not allow you to move existing anchor points, because when you click on a point with the Convert Point Tool, the path segments adjacent to the point convert from straight lines to curved lines, and vice versa.

If you click on a point that has handles with the Convert Point Tool, the handles will disappear and the anchor point will become a corner. If the surrounding anchor points have handles, those handles will still continue to affect the curve of adjacent path segments.

How to use a path to remove an object from its background

Now that your path is created, you can use it over and over again to create selections and use that selection to remove an object from its background.

How to create a selection from a path

In your Paths panel, select your path. Then, click on the icon at the bottom of the panel that looks like a circle with a dashed outline. A selection in the shape of your path will appear in your image.

You can also create a selection with the Pen Tool. With the path selected, and with the Pen Tool selected, click on the Selection button next to Make: in the options bar.

A dialog box allowing you to make adjustments to the selection will appear. If you’re creating the selection in order to isolate an object from its background, you should keep the Feather Radius at 0 and keep Anti-Aliased checked. If this is the first selection you’re creating, the radio button next to New Selection will be selected.

Once you’ve created your selection, you can use the selection to modify the color of the object or to remove the object from its background.

How to cut out an object from the background

Once you’ve created your selection from your path, you can remove the portion of the image from its background by either copying it into another layer, or by creating a layer mask. In order to do any of the following methods, you must be in the layer which contains the image you wish to isolate.

Removing a background by copying a selection

You can copy your selection by typing CTRL + C (COMMAND + C on a Mac) and then pasting the selection by typing CTRL + V (COMMAND + V on a Mac). Your selection will automatically appear in a new layer. You can make your original layer invisible in the layers panel to see the isolated object.

Note that the small section in the toe of the sock also was removed. This would be a useful effect if we wanted to show how the toes look within the sock. However, if we want to remove that cut-out, simply go back into your original path and your original layer, click on the interior path within the sock with the Direct Selection Tool, and type BACKSPACE (DELETE on a Mac).

Removing a background by creating a layer mask

To create a layer mask, create a selection from your path using the method described above. Then, locate the Layer Mask icon. This icon is available in both the Paths panel and the Layers panel at the bottom of the panel and looks like a white rectangle with a circle inside.

Click on the icon to automatically create a Layer Mask.

How to create a shape using the Pen Tool

You can designate a path to be a Shape Path before you create the path by selecting Shape from the menu in the options bar for the Pen Tool.

We mentioned this earlier: Next to the Shape option, you can change the shape’s color by double-clicking on the color rectangle next to Fill. A color menu will appear—the top bar of the color menu allows you to change the color by choosing no fill (transparent), a solid color, a gradient color, a pattern or a custom color. The bottom portion of the menu shows available swatches.

You can also change the shape’s outline color by double clicking on the color rectangle next to Stroke. And to adjust the width of the stroke, change the width in the dropdown menu just to the right of the Stroke’s color.

Once you have your Shape Path’s settings correct, you can draw a shape with the Pen Tool the same way you would draw a regular path.

When you create a shape using the Pen Tool, you automatically create a new Layer containing that shape, as well as a Shape Path in your Paths panel.

How to transform or scale a Shape Path

With the Shape Path selected in your Paths panel, click on the Edit dropdown menu at the top of the screen and choose Transform Path to access any of the transform functions. You can also choose Free Transform Path from the Edit dropdown menu, or type CTRL + T (COMMAND + T on a Mac) to scale or rotate your path.

That’s a lot of information to remember. Feeling overwhelmed? You can always outsource your background removal and other image-editing needs. Our prices start at just 39¢/image.

The post How to Edit Ecommerce Images with the Photoshop Pen Tool-tutorial appeared first on Clipping Path & Image Editing Service Provider.

The photoshoot is only one part of creating a great image. A skilled photo editor can take a good RAW image and use a myriad of techniques to create a stunning final photo. Post-processing can enhance what you did capture and create effects that aren’t always possible in the photography studio.

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.

What is photo editing?: A definition

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:

• Image editing
• Post-processing
• Image/photo manipulation
• Photoshopping
• Image/photo enhancement

The importance of photo editing

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.

What are the different types of photo editing?

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.

Simple photo editing techniques include:

1. Straighten: adjust the horizon of the photo
2. Crop: image cropping involves trimming out a portion (usually peripheral) of the image to help draw attention to the subject or otherwise improve the composition
3. Resize: adjust the dimensions of the image
4. Sharpen: enhance the definition of the edges in an image (won’t make a blurry image in-focus)
5. Noisereduction: smoothing the picture out, typically accomplished by reducing the pixel size
6. Whitebalance: the color of the light in the image
7. Contrast: higher contrast makes an image more punchy, while lower contrast makes it flatter in color
8. Exposure: the brightness of the photo
9. Lenscorrection: lessens the effect(s) of the camera lens
10. Color adjustments: change the color of an item or element in the photo
11. Background removal:delete the background from the image, isolating the subject (this is often used for white background product photography)

More complex techniques include:

• Clipping paths:vector path that differentiates the part of the image that’s visible and the part that’s transparent (extracts a subject or element from an image)
• Portrait corrections: complexion touch-ups and enhancements
• Drop and reflection shadow:create and adjust shadows
• Special effects: this can mean an array of things, from animation to adding weather conditions like fog or snow
• Adjusting text and visuals: add overlays or manipulate what’s already there
• Photo stitching: when you seamlessly put two images together to make it look as though they were shot that way
• Photo masking and Layers: the process of hiding and revealing specified portions of an image

Pixel editing and parametric image editing

Two methods of digital photo editing are pixel editing and parametric image editing. Let’s look at their definitions:

What is pixel editing?

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).

What is parametric image editing?

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.

Photo editing history

Examples of photo editing

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:

Background removal

Photo retouching

Ghost mannequin

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:

• Photoshop Tutorial: A Beginner’s Guide to Using Layers
• How to Create a Transparent Background in Photoshop
• How to Change the Background Color of a Picture

Editing product photos

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:

• Brightness and exposure: If you didn’t nail the lighting, you can make substantial adjustments post-shoot.
• Background removal: This is a common edit for product photos, especially if you’re listing the item on Amazon, which has a white background requirement. Regardless, white background maintains consistency.
• Color correction: It’s important that product photos portray the item as accurately as possible so it’s a smart idea to color correct all of your product images. As many as 64% of returnshappen because the product didn’t match customer expectations based on product images and descriptions.
• Colorchange: For products that come in several colors, it’s important to showcase the variety. Instead of photographing the product in every color, photo editors can make the changes post shoot.

Learn how to edit your photos

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:

• Fundamental Photo-Editing Checklist: 11 Steps to Perfect Product Photos
• A Beginner’s Guide to Photoshop Tools
• How to Create a Realistic Drop Shadow
• How to Blur the Background in Photoshop: A Tutorial for Your Product Photos
• 30+ Best Photo Editing Apps for Product Photographers on the Go

What is a professional photo editor?

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.

The post What is photo editing? : explanation appeared first on Clipping Path & Image Editing Service Provider.

By Familla M. | Aug 13, 23 |  9 min read

Realistic shadows around objects make product photographs look professional and believable. However, you may not have the ability to create photographs in the right settings, or with the correct lighting to achieve the shadows you need.

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.

How shadows work

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:

1. Cast shadows are shadows around an object that appear on the floor or on other objects around the object.
2. Form shadows are shadows that appear within the object itself.

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.

A Beginner’s Guide to Photoshop Tools

The difference between a drop shadow and a cast shadow

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.

Check out this Photoshop tutorial on how to add a reflection shadow to your product photos

Tutorial: How to add a natural shadow in Photoshop

1. Isolate your object from the background
2. Create a new background behind your isolated object
3. Determine your cast shadow color
4. Create a drop shadow
5. Create a layer from your drop shadow
6. Distort the drop shadow
7. Create an alpha channel
8. Create a gradient within your alpha channel
9. Blur selection
10. Create a layer mask
11. Consider light source and clean up shadows
    
12. Isolate your product from the background

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.

2. Create a new background behind your product

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.

3. Determine your cast shadow color

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.

4. Create a drop shadow

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.

5. Create a layer from your drop shadow

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.

6. Distort the drop shadow

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.

Learn how to make someone smile in Photoshop

7. Create an alpha channel

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.

8. Create a gradient within your alpha channel

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.

9. Blur selection

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.

Learn how to swap faces in this Photoshop tutorial

10. Create a layer mask

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.

11. Consider light source and clean up shadows

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.

Check out how to turn a product photo into a pencil sketch line drawing in Photoshop

When to use a natural shadow in ecommerce

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.

Add natural shadows to bring your product photos to life

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.

The post How to Add a Shadow in Photoshop for Product Photos appeared first on Clipping Path & Image Editing Service Provider.

 By  Jonny Shanon | Jun 26, 23 |  4 min read

Photo retouching is a key tool to make good product photos into great ones—that drive real sales. But not everyone has the Photoshop skills or time required to perfect every product photo. And when every last pixel counts, it’s an important step you don’t want to skip.

Let’s look at some key ways photo retouching can turn your product photos into sales tools.

Hand your edits off to a pro retoucher and get back to the fun part of your week

Fix minor product damage

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.

Get rid of distracting lighting

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.

Smooth wrinkles on clothing

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:

Fix smudges or wrinkles on non-apparel items

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.

Remove tags

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.

Get rid of dust particles

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.

Remove glares from plastic-wrapped product packaging

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.

Polish up your product shots with pro retouching from 79¢ per image

Get rid of supporting objects

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.

Remove mannequins

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.

Clean up the setting

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.

Retouch your photos to boost sales

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.

The post How Photo Retouching Can Improve Your Product Photos appeared first on Clipping Path & Image Editing Service Provider.

 By Jayson St. | Apr 27, 23 |  8 min read

There’s more to the life of your ecommerce product shots than a one-time use for store listings. Your product photos are a valuable digital asset you can repurpose and enhance in many different ways. We recommend starting with background removal so you have a high-quality product cutout you can use.

Generally, we remove the background using clipping paths or image masking:

• Clipping path: Used for a wide range of items with straight or smooth edges, like clothing, furniture, food, and household goods.

• Multi-clipping path: A more advanced technique for groups of products, items with holes like jewelry or bikes, and garments with complicated clasps or ties, among others

• Image masking: Great for more complex subjects and uneven edges, like wool clothing, furry plush toys, pets, hair, transparent objects, multiple models, and others.

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.

Why do brands use background removal?

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.

Save a ton of time with pro background removal from 39¢ per image

Gives product shots an instant professional look

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.

Fits industry standards for ecommerce marketplaces

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:

Cost-effective for inventory changes

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.

Get completely natural color changes, done by pro designers for 99¢ per image

Adds new life to your visual assets

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.

Make the most of your background-free photos

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.

Add shadows for depth

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:

• Drop shadow: Adds depth with a subtle shadow so products stand out against the background.
• Floating shadow: Makes products look like they’re hovering above a surface.
• Reflection shadow: Gives an impression products are resting on a reflective surface.
• Natural shadow: Uses an imaginary light source created by the editor for a natural-looking shadow cast on the background or surface.
• Existing shadow: Keep naturally occurring shadows in the photo, even when the background is removed or replaced.

You can learn to do this yourself using Photoshop or outsource to professionals for faster turnaround.

Switch out backgrounds for seasonal promotions

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.

Step into the light and let us create shadows for you from 25¢ per image

Repurpose your product shots with a branded background and design

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.

Create share-worthy product moodboards

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.

Create infographics to educate and inspire customers

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.

Sell more with product bundles

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.

Create lifestyle composites

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.

Build a library of visual assets for your team

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.

Giving new life to product photos

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.

The post How to Use Background Removal Services to Improve Your Product Photos appeared first on Clipping Path & Image Editing Service Provider.

By Adam Smith | Dec 31, 22 |  6 min read

Changing the colors of items, products, and backgrounds is a great way to enhance your product photos. And sometimes it’s even necessary.

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.

Get completely natural color changes, done by pro designers for 99¢ per image

1. Create an animated GIF or video

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.

2. Survey your customers on the color preference for this item

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.

3. Test new color variants

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.

4. Repurpose photos for holidays or other themes

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:

How to Change the Background Color of a Picture

5. List new product variants instead of shooting new photos

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.

Get completely natural color changes, done by pro designers for 99¢ per image

6. Launch seasonal or event-inspired versions of your product

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.

How Should I Choose the Color for My Product Background?

7. Create an image of a product collection

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.

8. Build product bundles and multi-packs

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.

9. Save time and money by not having to shoot every variant but just one

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!

Change colors to maximize your investment

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.

The post 9 Ways to Use Color Change to Enhance Your Product Photos appeared first on Clipping Path & Image Editing Service Provider.