Sunday, November 17, 2013

A very quick and smooth way to make background white



A customer needs a dash of white background on the catalog of products he intends to send to the distributor. For printing purpose the editor will need RGB 255.255. 255.  How will the editor make background white for some many pictures?

Take a deep breath. It is not a very difficult job to do. Backgrounds tend to be very important in the wake of products that need to be off set against them. Solid canvases always score and the issue is taken care during the photography session itself. Often when white background is used the results appear greyish. Why you may ask? There are several reasons for it. The lighting may not be perfect for the shots. White balance may not have been done properly. The same shots are now on the editing table so that the editor can make background white.


Photoshop has programs that can help the editor to make the pure white background. If you are a regular editor you do have a fair knowledge of masks and layers. This process will require the fitting of masks to make background white. To be honest has the photographer done his job; this problem would not have occurred at all, all he needed to do was to use the right lighting. If the images have any shadows around them, the technique may vary. And should you wish to apply a black background the same process can be used.

The initial steps:

·         With the help of the raw converter the image is converted
·         A duplicate layer is made
·         An adjusted layer or curve is created

When you notice that the actual white is still missing, now two things need to be done. One is to make the RBG background and the other is to make a shadow (this may add depth to the image and will not make it look flat or ghostly).

Clean the canvas

·         The dodge tool is used for cleaning any patches of greyness
·         Choose the right brush for cleaning. Bigger areas are cleaned with a nice soft brush. As little remains the choice of brush is changed and the hardness set in the frame. The highlights and mid-tones will be useful now

Once the background is cleared from the blemish it can be retouched. In the process of brushing some color may have gone, edges may have been rubbed off. With the help of the clone tool and the healing brush further progress is made.

Check the frame now. It is white and the product shines bright in the foreground. And a depth is also created with a subtle shadow.

The final stage

As the main edit is over it is time to flatten the edit. Only the usual technicalities remain. The image will need to be cropped and re-sized for the print. If the catalog is brochure that is to be distributed across physical stores then a TIFF file format is ideal. For the web photo gallery a Jpeg can be made.

A photographer can easily shoot white on white also for some products. This is a different technique. It’s not hard to achieve the look. To make background white is an easy procedure. But the skill level needs to be a little better than the basic.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks so much these are great.

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