what are 'cutouts'?

[claire davidson]

I know that glossys like to recieve product shots as cutouts - does this mean the image with a pure white background, or does it mean the background is comepletely cut away in photoshop leaving just the object sharply cut-out? I know the name implied the latter, but the white background option would be so much easier and I can't see it would make much difference to them (unless they wanted to put it on another colour background, but it seems they rarely do). Any inside info would be greatfully recieved!

[chtgrubbs]

I have generally found that it is almost impossible to get a pure white background as shot in the camera. If the background is exposed high enough to go true white then parts of the object will probably be overexposed. Usually it is easier to make a selection or mask it. The exception might be a backlit product table where you could accurately adjust the backlighting to give a white background, but this can lead to highlights along the bottom of the subject which look unnatural.

[PhotosGuy]

I know that glossys like to recieve product shots as cutouts glossys as in?
They want to save on hiring a graphics person. Charge them more for the PS work they don't have to do.

Here's one way that works well if you have hard edges:
Selecting areas in PS. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39994)

Advanced masking demo for isolating fine detail like hair. It seems much more precise than the Extract filter.
http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/AdvancedMasking.mov

Tutorial - Create a layer mask from image detail (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=100077)

[kona77]

Thanks for the links photosguy as well as filling up my bookmarks with hundreds of links.:) And all of them are great.

[Bobster]

depends on what the shot is, most product shots will require a clipping path so it can be imported into QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign..

stuff with hair in is a little more tricky.. front pages of magazines are 60% produced in photoshop, and then once complete is taken into XPress or InDesign for the text and barcode to be added..

[sfaust]

Most of my commercial client that I shoot products for want the product cut out, and not on a white background. As mentioned, its nearly impossible to get a pure clean even white background, and if the background isn't perfect when they drop it on a white page it will show. So clipping paths are the norm.

The good part is that its more work that you can charge for, hence increasing your billings. Thats always a good thing. Or if you don't want to do it yourself, you can ship it offshore to a outsource company that will do it for you for a couple bucks an image (i.e,; http://www.clippingimages.com.

[Bobster]

only trouble i can see with using those guys is, they must use an automated operation to make it cost effective and so - how many points do they have per image, the more points the harder it is for a Postscript RIP to process..

when i used to work in a publishing house, i used to troubleshoot pages that had pictures supplied all the time, and 9/10 i'd end up redrawing the clipping path for the RIP to process without throwing up an error beacuse the really simple photo with a curve had 120 points to make up each curve that should have taken 2/3 points..

[airfrogusmc]

I have clients that want high key stuff with clipping paths so their art depts can drop them into any background without having to do it themselves.