How Much Does It Actually Cost To Outsource Photo Editing Services?

 Let’s say you are looking for someone for product image editing. But how will you evaluate if you are paying the right price for that service? A lot goes into editing, and different vendors employ different pricing structures to calculate the cost of their editing services. Therefore, you need to understand which factors contribute to the cost and how the prices are structured to choose the best option.

How is the editing pricing determined?

• Labor Costs: The payment will largely depend on the skill and the level of experience. Low-level skills include basic edits like getting rid of blemishes or background retouching, while advanced editing involves image transformations and other complex forms of retouching. Vendor location also matters since companies or freelancers who reside in cities with a lower cost of living will be more affordable. 

• Tools: The equipment and software used by the contractor also matter. Experts who use specialized or more sophisticated tools to deliver the best results will likely charge more than those who use the basic software.  

• Complexity: While image editing images might sound simple, it involves a lot of work- both time and effort, in reality. Depending on the type of photo retouching services you require and the nature of the edits, the time and the skills necessary to finish the project can vary. 

Simple tasks like getting rid of the background or removing small smudges cost considerably less than more complicated work like placing the subject in another background or combining different images. Products with simple shapes and sharp, clear boundaries are easier to edit than fuzzy products like stuffed animals or objects that blend into the background.

• Turnaround Time: Faster delivery will require a higher charge if you need the edits within a few hours or days. While experts have the skill to ensure that accuracy remains and quality is not compromised, they charge extra if the work has a tight deadline. Some photo editing agencies operate 24/7, so no matter your time zone, they’re able to provide services quickly. 

• Volume: Some vendors offer low prices on bulk orders, and you may end up paying less per photo when you place large orders. So if you have high-volume projects, you can inquire about any available discounts depending on the number of images you need to get edited. 

Different Pricing Structures for Photo Editing Services

1. Pay-as-you-go Model

In this model, you will be charged on a per-project or per-photo basis. Once you have given a brief about the work, the contractor will set the fee and get back to you. 

Pros

• Transparency 

• Pay according to the project

• No billing surprises

• Scale your budget based on your need

Cons

• Hard to keep track of all projects 

• Not ideal for ongoing work 

• Possibility of multiple billings in a month 

2. Monthly Subscription

For a monthly subscription, you will be charged a fixed fee for your retouching needs as long as they fit whichever subscription “plan” you choose.

Pros

• Predictability

• Ideal for large projects

• No repeated order placements

Cons

• Less flexibility

• The number of projects is included

• Pay the same, with or without a subscription

3. Hourly Rates

Some vendors charge by the hour, and once you have agreed on a rate, they send you an invoice based on the number of hours they have worked.  

Pros

• Allows project flexibility 

• Easy to change the scope of work 

• No limit to work and edits

Cons

• Unpredictable pricing 

• The final cost is known after a project is done

• Difficult to budget

Outsourcing is time-saving and cost-effective if you can find the right agency that provides professional services for the best value. If you are looking for an agency for background cleanup, ghost mannequins, image retouching, and other editing services, you can get in touch with us. 

How Much Does It Actually Cost To Outsource Photo Editing Services?

How To Avoid 8 Common Mistakes Made In Jewelry Product Photography

 Jewelry comes in all shapes and sizes, from chunky boho statements to delicate shiny pieces. So, your method for every jewelry range you shoot will be different. Every detail, including lighting, background, and styling, will have to be adjusted accordingly. Let’s take a look at the most common photography mistakes you need to avoid. These mistakes are often overlooked during photography, but experts from a reliable photo editing agency can easily correct them.

1. Smudged or unpolished jewelry: A good camera and proper lighting can pick up many details, no matter how insignificant they might seem to be. It can affect the final shot and require more editing time or even a reshoot in rare cases. Ensure all smudges, dust particles, and even scratches on your jewelry are polished off before you get started. 

2. Inconsistent shots: To maintain consistency in all your shoots, set guidelines before the shoot on how best to capture all the product’s features and decide which camera setting will work best with the background and the lighting. It will also help if any reshoots need to be done and save time.

3. Flashy backgrounds: While you may be tempted to add a pop of colour to the background to make the picture more appealing, they can take away the focus from your product. Keeping the background minimalistic and plain is best for eCommerce websites, where customers go through many products, and a distracting background might make them skip yours.

4. Extra props: Less is always more, especially when displaying your product on an eCommerce platform. Props are good for editorial work but not for product photography. They serve as a distraction from the subject when you need to keep the viewers focused on your product. 

5. Reflective products: Photographing jewelry can be difficult since they are almost always shiny. It can cause light to reflect and scatter, affecting the final shot. Although decent photo editing services can remove the distracting shine, you can remedy this by placing your jewelry on a steady table. Have large studio lights on either side of it and diffuse them with umbrellas, and hang a long roll of plain white paper behind and underneath your product to the bottom of your camera lens. It can help block off reflections from the foreground, reflect more light onto the jewelry, and cast a softer glow. 

6. Unsteady images: Taking shots while hand holding the camera can result in shaky shots. A tripod is a lifesaver in these situations, and it helps you take crisp, professional photos. Mark the tripod’s position and the product so it is easy to replicate shoots on different days.

7. Proper focus: To save post-production time in jewelry photo editing, here are a couple of tips for taking sharp product photos:

• Shoot with single-point autofocus

• Keep your ISO low

• Invest in a high-quality lens

• Use a remote cable release

• Set aperture to f/11 or greater

8. Inaccurate white balance: White balance can make colours appear different in the image than in real life and significantly affect global colors in any image. It can make the image look too cool (more blue tones) or too warm (more orange tones) if it is set incorrectly.

Poorly retouched photos can present a fake image and also lower your customer’s trust with unprofessional images. Invest in jewelry photo editing services that will not disappoint and deliver professional editing that brings the best in your photos. Are you looking for an agency that provides just that? Contact us to learn more about our comprehensive editing services.

How to Remove White Background Using Quick Selection Tool - Clipixie

 There are many ways to remove the white background in Photoshop. Experts editors in the best photo editing companies will be proficient and experienced in using various tools that allow you to select a desired portion of the image and erase or remove the rest. The process is relatively simple, but there are several steps you have to follow to get the best results.

• You need to select the object using tools available in Photoshop like Pen tool, Lasso tool, Magic Wand Tool, and then reverse the selection to choose the rest of the image and delete it. 

• Some tools allow you to select an object without manually tracing its outline, like Object Selection tools and Quick Selection tools.

• Then you can use the Eraser tool to erase the background directly.

Quick Selection Tool

Comprehensive photo editing services include background removal, where they may use various methods and tools, some even in combination, to get the best results. The Quick Selection tool is similar to the Magic Wand tool- it also selects pixels based on tone and color. But this tool goes far beyond the Magic Wand’s limited capabilities and looks for similar textures in the image, allowing accurate detection of the edges of objects. Unlike the Magic Wand, the Quick Selection Tool works more like a brush, allowing you to select areas by dragging your mouse over them.

How to Use a Quick Selection Tool?

The quick selection tool is one of the best tools to remove a backdrop. Using this tool, you separate the subject from the background, making it easier to erase it.

Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop. You can do this by selecting the image from the folder after clicking File>Open.

Step 2: Unlock the original layer and create a duplicate layer to work with so you don’t lose the original image if you make a mistake. 

Step 3: Then, from the toolbar, activate the Quick Selection tool. Make sure the Add to Selection option is chosen. Drag it on the background to select it, and you will see a dotted line highlighting the selected portion.

Step 4: Now that the selection is made, you can use a layer mask to erase the background. A layer mask will allow you to go back and deselect any portion that you did not mean to erase. This way, you can make some parts visible again in case any mistakes were made. 

To create a layer mask, click the second button at the bottom of the layer panel while the selection is still active. Now you get a clean, transparent background instead of a plain white one. You can also reverse the selection, erase the subject and keep the background by pressing Ctrl/Cmd + I to inverse the layer mask results. If the images have reflective objects or vague outlines, then it may be best to pass them on to a photo editing agency where their experts can take care of them.

• Quick Selection works on color sampling, so if, let’s say, the clothing worn by the subject has hints of white at the edges due to lighting or any other factor, then it also might get selected. You can fix this by holding the ALT key or choosing Subtract from Selection on the options bar and drag over the desired area to minus that portion. 

• If you made a mistake at any point, you can select the mask layer and paint over the area using a white brush which you would like to make visible again. This gives you a better result, and you can use the mask anytime to clean up unwanted edges or parts.

Now that you have learnt about the quickest method to remove white background, you can start editing your images. If the image is more complicated and cannot be easily isolated from the background, you can contact us for professional image editing services.

A Step-by-Step Guide for Image Background Removal Using Photoshop

 Online businesses need appealing images to promote their brand and products. Photoshop has the advantage of allowing manual use of all the tools. With background removal, you can replace a distracting background with a plain or more aesthetically pleasing one. Pen Tool is one of the most effective tools used in photo background removal services to isolate the subject.

You can use the pen tool whenever the subject and background are not highly contrasted and when Quick Action Tool or Background Eraser Tool cannot produce accurate results. This method gives you the most control over your image, and you can freely dictate how you want to separate the subject from the background. It can be time-consuming, but it is one of the tried and true ways for background removal in Photoshop.

8 Easy Steps for Photo Background Removal

Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop by going to the menu bar, click on File>Open and select the desired file that you want to edit. 

Step 2: With your image open, right-click on the Background layer and click the Duplicate Layer option. Name your layer in the dialog box that pops up and click OK. Click the eye icon on the left to turn the original layer off.

Step 3: From the toolbox on the left-hand side of the screen, select the Pen tool. Now, zoom in to a particular area of your image. Start at the edge of your subject and click to apply the first anchor. Then work your way around your subject, adding more anchors to outline your subject and separate it from the background. 

• If you need to make a curved line, click, hold, and drag, moving the mouse to adjust the curve as needed. 

• Use the Direct Selection Tool from the toolbox to modify an anchor point for fine-tuning the selected path. 

• To undo an applied anchor, go to File > Undo or use your default keyboard shortcut.

Step 4: Ensure you complete the path by joining your first point and the last point by simply dragging the mouse from one point to another. 

Step 5: Once you’ve completed the path and have the desired results, you can save the path. Go to Window > Paths to view the Paths panel and click New Path, and name your path to save it in the Paths panel.

Step 6: Right-click on the new path, select the Make Selection option and then click OK in the dialog box. This will give you a dotted outline that shows where your path was.

Step 7: To change the selection to be everything except the subject, go to Select> Inverse. You’ll see the dotted outline is now around the entire image and the subject, selecting the background. 

Step 8: Now delete the background by pressing Delete. Instead of your previous background, it should show a white-gray checkered background.

You can use other methods in combination with this one to get the best results. If you are looking for a photo editing agency that can provide professional services and save you a lot of time and effort, you can get in touch with us. Our comprehensive services also include color correction, color retouching and ghost mannequin effects. You can upload your images on our website and get quick, high-quality results.

How to Take Photos Without a Mannequin or Ghost Mannequin Effect?

 Mannequins and models are generally the preferred choices in apparel photography as it is easier for customers to envision the product on themselves. Moreover, people are more likely to purchase your product if they see a model wearing it than simply lying on a table. However, models are pretty expensive and can be time-consuming. If you need pictures of products for women, men and children, then you would need different mannequins for each category.

A good photo editing agency can do most of the work for you by changing the background and enhancing the color. But what can you do if you are on a budget and need eye-catching apparel photos? Here are some of your options. 

• Flat Lay Photography

The flat lay photography technique is an easy, quick way to display your product and is chosen for simplicity. It allows flexibility in styling and ease in setting up the studio before the shoot, and you can shoot more photos within a short time. If you don’t have a proper studio setup, you can use some hangers instead. 

You can capture more appealing apparel images using flat lay photography than with a mannequin obstructing the viewer’s focus. Retailers and brands seek easy to execute ideas and can speed up the photography for stylish clothing. Flat lay photography is the best method to meet the demand since it doesn’t require a complicated setup and is not time-consuming.

• Conventional Flat Lay Photography

Unlike the other method, this uses a table where you place the product with some sticks and pins to shape it or keep it in place. All the equipment and the camera face the product, and a bird’s eye view shot of the product is taken. You can use tissue paper and tuck in the product under the arms to give it a natural depth. 

Tips for Flat Lay Photography

1. Keep your lines clean, ensure symmetry and make space between the sidebars

2. Remember the rule of thirds and use a 3X3 grid to create control points

3. Ensure the product is right in the middle of the table, keeping it in place with tape

4. Make sure the neckline and shoulders are leveled and straight

5. Maintain the natural shape of the apparel and ensure all features are visible 

• Ghost Mannequin Photo Editing Service

Suppose you cannot avoid using a mannequin, whether it’s because the product cannot be accommodated on a hanger or a table properly or any other issue, you can edit the visible part of the mannequin. A mannequin can speed up the process since you wouldn’t need to adjust the clothing or stuff it up to give it a natural, raised look. Post-processing takes less time than flat lay editing and is more cost-effective than hiring various models for different clothes. 

Ghost mannequin photo editing uses multiple shots of the product combined in post-production to get an image of the product with a ghost-like effect since the parts of the model and the mannequin are removed. It is a cost-effective method that increases consistency and provides a complete view of the product for a better understanding.

If you want to improve your product images and get professional product photo editing services, you can get in touch with us or upload your images easily on our website.

What Are the Easiest Methods for Image Background Removal Using Photoshop? Clipixie India

 With technological innovations in photography, image background removal service is one of the most sought after services due to the need of clients to present their products as perfectly as possible to promote their brand or grow their business. To remove the background, you need to isolate the subject, but before that, there are a couple of questions that can help you determine the best way. 

• Does the subject stand out from the background? For example, suppose the subject is wearing clothing similar to the background color. In that case, it is difficult for the color selection tool to figure out the difference.

• Are there any imperfections at the edge? Stray hairs on the subject can pose complications and require skilled photo background removal services. Some backgrounds can also create unclear borders.

With many updates and added features, removing the image background in Photoshop has never been easier or quicker. Let’s look at two of the easiest ways you can use Photoshop for effective background removal.

• Photoshop Quick Action

It provides a quick way to remove backgrounds when you are hard-pressed for time, and you are doing it for yourself because this doesn’t guarantee perfection. It’s less accurate, but Quick Action will do most of the work for you.  

Step 1: Open your image and right-click the Background layer, and click the Duplicate option. Click the eye on the left of the original layer to turn it off. 

Step 2: Go to Windows> Properties and keep your properties panel open by clicking on it if it isn’t checked.

Step 3: Select your new layer and click the Remove Background button under Quick Action in the Properties panel. Quick Action will leave a mask around the subject after removing the background.

You can further refine the process and make adjustments as required since the results might not be accurate. Photo editing agencies may use this method and other methods or tools for better precision for quick editing.

• Background Eraser Tool:

It is an excellent tool if you want some control over the process, while Photoshop does most of the heavy lifting. You may have to sacrifice some time to get a good result, but using it can still be a time saver and highly effective.

Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop and right click your Background layer and select the Duplicate Layer option. Click the eye icon on the left of the original layer to turn it off.

Step 2: Select the Background Eraser Tool from the toolbox on the left. If you can’t find it, click and hold the Eraser Tool to reveal more options and select Background Eraser Tool.

Step 3: Click the brush icon from the tool options bar at the top of the screen. Adjust hardness to near or complete 100%. Set the Sampling to be Continuous in the tool options bar, set the Limits to Find Edges and Tolerance between 20-25%. The lower the tolerance, the fewer colors the tool will pick up. 

• Start erasing the background around the subject by clicking and holding as you move the brush. 

• Zoom in to avoid the subject from getting erased. You can adjust your brush size for more complex areas and use short strokes to avoid mistakes. 

• If resizing doesn’t work, adjust Sampling to Once, set Limits to Discontiguous and Tolerance to around 10%. This tells the brush to only use the colors under the crosshair and not to resample as you go. 

Background removal services aren’t just for white backgrounds for e-commerce needs, and they can also accommodate single colors that match your brand’s aesthetic. Depending on your image, the process can be quick, and it provides better results since you are in control. 

While these methods are not perfect, you can use them combined with other tools like pen tool, magnetic lasso tool and quick selection tool for the best results. If you require professional photo editing services, you can upload your images directly to our website or get in touch with us to learn more about our services.

What is the Importance of Background Removal Service in E-commerce?

 As the e-commerce market grows, it is common to find multiple products with similar functionalities. But what makes that one brand stand out? Product images, for one thing, have a significant impact on how customers perceive the brand and whether they would make that leap and purchase your product. So how can you ensure that the images displayed will get the customers attention?

Background Removal is a photo editing service that is used to remove unwanted objects in the background. Generally, it is done to prepare the image for further editing before being used for product display. Professional editors have faced a huge demand for this with the rise of e-commerce. Background removal service may be offered as a part of a package along with other techniques. 

Importance of Background Removal Service in E-commerce

• Removes Distractions: Dust, dirt or any flaws from the background are removed.

• Increases Quality: Professional quality images leave a lasting impression on the customer.

• Maintains Focus: Erases any diversions and keeps the focus of the customer on the product.

• Visual Impact: The background has a deep impact on how we perceive the product since images are retained for longer.

• Highlights the Product:  It accentuates the main elements of the product image and helps retain the focal point of an image.

Benefits of Image Background Removal

In the e-commerce industry, background removal allows brands and businesses to display their product appealingly. A product image is the first glimpse a potential customer gets and is one of the factors considered before purchase. So how are background services beneficial? Here are a couple of points that can answer the question. 

• It is easy to remove the existing background and replace it with a desired one.

• The customer's attention is focused on the product, undistracted by other elements.

• Consistency is maintained in product images, encouraging purchases.

• Customers can make a better purchase decision, boosting sales.

• Enhances product presentation and attracts customers.

• Consistency in product images results in better customer satisfaction and higher conversion rates.

• Reduces web loading time and results in low bounce rates.

• Better loading time increases search ranking and improves SEO.

• It makes images SEO friendly, increasing the chances of it appearing in search results of potential customers.

How is Background Removal Service Served as a Package?

Generally, photo editing agencies provide background removal services as part of a customizable package that includes several other services like:

Clipping Path: Experts carefully outline the product to separate it from the background without losing any part of the product. As a result, this gives you a clean-cut image, which makes the overall effect look professional.

Masking: Once the product is selected, it is modified as desired. In this case, the background is removed using masking. It hides the selected portion of the image while allowing manipulation to the rest without affecting the hidden part and reserving image quality.

Background Manipulation: Once you have removed the background, the background will be transparent. Now, you can alter the image and replace it with a new background or change the background color as desired.

If you are looking for professional photo editors, Clipixie offers a wide range of photo editing services, including background removal, ghost mannequin, and color enhancement. You can easily upload your images on our website for the desired service and get high-quality results within 24 hours!