Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Image Clipping Path / Outline and Photo / Knockout Masking Services

Adobe Photoshop is a highly flexible prepress services editing tool which offers a number of techniques in removing background from photos/images. Two very significant techniques in this realm are image clipping path / image cropping services and photoshop / transparency / knockout masking services. Though both image clipping path / background removal and image / alpha masking are used for photo / image editing purposes, they have specific features and differences associated with them. Some of the differences between clipping path / outline services and photo / layer masking services are listed below.


Image Clipping path / Cropping / Outline

1.In clipping path / image cropping, the images are saved including their path. Easy to select the path.

2.E-commerce applications are more.

3.Illustrator or In-design wont support clipping path / image outline.

4.Image output size is less.

5.More commonly used.

6.Less natural appearance compared to masking when defining hairstyles.

7.Supports all formats.

8.Clipped image can be saved as a masked image using layer masking or Alpha channel masking.

9.As clipping path / image outline is saved, any modification or further use is possible.

10.Pen tool is used. The output obtained will have hard edges.

11.Clipping path / image cropping is faster.


Photo / Image / Transparency Masking


1.The images are saved without a path associated with them.

2.Less e-commerce applications.

3.Alpha channel masking supports other software or commercial applications.

4.Image output size is more.

5.Not used much, compared to image clipping path / image outline.

6.Even intricate hair structures can be masked with natural effects.

7.Supports only .tiff and .psd.

8.Not possible to be saved as a clipped image.

9.Not as flexible as clipping path / image cropping.

10.Mask tool or techniques such as Layer mask can be used. Output will have smooth edges.

11.Not as fast as clipping path / image cropping , but fixes complex hair styles faster.

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