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Clipping Paths in Product Photography. |
| Date Added: April 30, 2010 01:33:29 PM |
| Author: Andy Nickerson |
| Category: Photographers: Advertising |
| In my years of photographing professional photography I'm continually being asked to shoot a clients object in front of a simple white Colorama.� By and large this is because the client needs to place the product on a white printed brochure page or web page and also because products often contrast well against a white background, bringing out their colour, detail and punchiness. For just a few subjects the job of maintaining a attractively lit, well exposed and crisp product whilst making a flat true white backdrop from corner to corner is indeed practical.� Just to illustrate I've recently shot a assortment of black boots for a client and thanks to the natural contrast between the black of the boot and the bright whiteness of the backdrop the sought after effect was quickly achieved with comparatively straight forward lighting. More often than not though this method will prove to present very poor results for one quite simple reason: � In order to highlight the form, texture and fine detail of the object to be shot, the best and most suitable lighting for the product will typically be completely different to the lighting necessary to make a white backdrop paper appear a truly even white.� Correct lighting of the object will hence often result in underexposure of the background so that it looks an unpleasant and patchy shade of grey.� For example a photograph of a white paper plate.� To enhance the surface texture and detail of the plate the commercial photographer would need to slightly underexpose this area, but by exposing for the brilliant white background the detail on the plate would be gone and for that reason appear flat and two-dimensional. A proficient commercial photographer could needless to say overcome these complications by advanced photographic techniques like clever but laborious masking or flagging of the product.� This would certainly create a very pleasing photograph but at the cost of time, one thing that neither the photographer or customer has the luxury of.� Great if this is a one off bespoke shot and the client is ready to pay a full days photography fees for one or two shots but lets be sensible, most customers simply demand a well shot Pack Shot. Under these situations the quickest, most inexpensive and typically most effective solution is in the creation of a post production clipping path.� A clipping path is where the image is imported into image adjustment software, mostly Photoshop, and then the item is essentially drawn around by hand via the pen tool to create a vector based path.� This clipping path can then eventually be administered to the image file to effectively 'knockout' or detach the object from the background, for instance when wanting to print.� Consider this action as basically drawing round an object in a journal with a pen then cutting round this drawn line with a pair of scissors to remove the object from the rest of the magazine. The good thing about clipping paths is that not only can you precisely alter the exposure, colour caste, sharpness and contrast of the product independently without effecting the background, you can then place that object onto any background of your taste, as many times as you desire.� One day you might possibly decide to paste it onto a white web site the next week ask your designer to print up a mailshot with a whole array of products, all appearing as if they were shot at the same time.� In order to give your cut out product a more 'real' feel you might also ask your designer or photographer to add a soft drop shadow, both to give it weight on the page and create a delicate transition between the products edges and the page. In short, clipping paths typically represent the most cost effective and efficient resolution when shooting Pack Shot or Product Photography.� They allow the commercial photographer to shoot 'for' the product and bring out its best qualities whilst expanding the effective life and versatility of the image by allowing usage in various environments and against multiple backgrounds. This article has been supplied courtesy of Andy Nickerson.� Andy is a Professional Photographer Northampton with over 14 years experience in working for design and advertising professionals. |
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