It is an undeniable fact that clothing items are the most popular and highly demanded when it comes to e-commerce. Thus it is of significant importance that you present your clothing items in a way that grab the attention of the customer. The best way of displaying clothes in the most realistic manner possible is through ghost mannequins created through path clipping. This tutorial serves as an in-depth explanation of how to perform ghost mannequin photoshop tutorial.
Purpose Of Ghost Mannequins:
When shopping online, the customer desires to see the object in detail so that he can get a clear idea about its characteristics. The ghost mannequins make it easier for the clients to see the clothing items from all directions and dimensions. He may even have a look at the interior of the clothes if he wishes to. In a nutshell, the simplest explanation of a ghost mannequin is that it serves the same role that a real mannequin does when the customer goes to any physical clothing shop.
If you are a seller on any e-commerce platform you can either invest in an invisible mannequin that can be used to take pictures of the clothing or you may opt to use a regular mannequin for the photography of the clothing items and then edit them through Photoshop to make the mannequin invisible.
Ensuring Good Photographs:
Since it is the photographs that are then edited to make them look like a ghost mannequin, therefore, it is of utmost significance that the pictures taken are of high quality. Ensure consistent and constant lighting while shooting the different aspects and dimensions of the clothes so that after the Ghost Mannequin Effect, the shades and lighting remain uniform. If you are using a real model instead of a mannequin, remove any jewelry or ornaments that are unnecessary.
The position of the mannequin or the model must be erect with the arms stretched in the downwards direction. In case of sitting down position, the legs must be straight as well. Take pictures from all aspects and dimensions so that they can be joined later to create the invisible mannequin effect. The background should be as subtle and neutral as possible to ensure that the focus of the image is the mannequin and not the objects in the background.
Creating The Ghost Mannequin Effect Via Photoshop:
Once the photographs have been taken we can use photoshop to edit them and perform the neck join service. We will create layers to work on rather than making any changes in the original image. Open the image of the mannequin you wish to edit in photoshop and click the Background Layer icon to create a new layer of the image. Repeat this step and place the layers on top of one another. Set the color of the lower layer to black or white depending upon the color of the clothing item. The purpose of changing the background color is to be able to see the details and edges of the mannequin more clearly and ensure the precision of the path clipping service.
Creating The Exterior:
Select the layer on top and move over to the Quick Selection tool. The Quick Selection Tool encloses the Magic Want Tool which we are looking for. As soon as you select the Magic Wand Tool two options will emerge on your options window. Pick the Select and Mask option from amongst them. As soon as you make this selection and select the topmost layer, the preview window should go blank. If it does not go blank your layer selection is incorrect so confirm that the top layer has been selected for the path clipping.
Rather than cutting the mannequin with the clothing item by hand, make use of the Select Subject button. This button enables Photoshop to auto trace the edges of the object and produce a cutout. The cut out produced is nearly perfect and matches the object’s boundaries. If you still feel that a few touch-ups are required here and there to smoothen the edges, go ahead and select the Refine Edge Brush tool or the Brush tool to fill out the imperfections.
Now that you have selected only the clothing item from the mannequin, you need to separate it. This will be done via the Wand Selection tool. Press minus on the Quick Selection tool and apply it on the areas of the mannequin that you wish to remove from the clothing item’s picture.
Now mask out the background of the front layer. Upon doing so, the background of the clothing item must turn blank and you would only be left with the item itself. This is the step where you can refine the selection and remove any unnecessary portions from the image. By now, you are done with creating the image of the clothing item that will show its exterior.
Creating The Interior:
Repeat the above-mentioned steps for the photo of the clothing item showing its exterior until you have a result similar to that of the exterior of the clothing item. Now is the time to join both the images and produce a single image showing both the interior as well as the exterior of the clothing item.
Use the Rectangular Marquee tool to pick up the interior of the clothing item. Now drag it over the image of the exterior and align it to match the boundaries. Once you do so, you should be able to see a 3D model of the clothing item. All that is left to do now in terms of the path clipping service is to clean the edges and ensure that the images lay perfectly over one another. Once you have cleaned the edges use the Wrap tool to wrap the pictures over one another thus creating one clothing item. Now use shading techniques by darkening the interior and lightening the exterior to give it some dimension.
At this stage, if you still see some imperfections feel free to use the eraser tool to smoothen the edges. You are done with the ghost mannequin service. Feel free to change the background color of the mannequin effect photo if you like.