As a digital illustrator and photoshop editing connoisseur, I often get asked what the difference between a clipping path service and/or a background removal is because in theory they appear to be very similar.

Additionally, I also get questions like, well everyone claims to be the “best” post-production service provider but how can a client tell for themselves, if the claims being made have any truth to them.

So, for the benefit of the interweb, through this blog I am going to try to answer both those questions to the best of my abilities and hope to provide some clarity and answers to those of you, who seek them.

Let’s start with a basic introduction first.

Background Removal VS. Clipping Path Service (What are they?)

In my years of work and experience I have always used Background Removal to “remove the background”, which means erasing the unwanted back-drop from the image. Often, during the production process, in photo studios it is not easy to conceal all elements of the photoshoot or the props that hold products in place and any other distractions that may appear in the final ecommerce product images and fashion photos.

Background Removal is a fashion retouching technique, in which we take your image and then mask, cut out or clip the background and return the image to you. This service is crucial for ecommerce product imagery and other fashion accessory products and stills.

Additionally, I have always used clipping paths to essentially outline an object, trace under the edges for mainly two purposes, (a) cutting out an object on an ecommerce fashion photo or (b) to wrap text around an ecommerce product and stills image.

So then what’s the difference between the two?

In my years of work and experience I have always used Background Removal to “remove the background”, which means erasing the unwanted back-drop from the image. Often, during the production process, in photo studios it is not easy to conceal all elements of the photoshoot or the props that hold products in place and any other distractions that may appear in the final ecommerce product images and fashion photos.

Background Removal is a fashion retouching technique, in which we take your image and then mask, cut out or clip the background and return the image to you. This service is crucial for ecommerce product imagery and other fashion accessory products and stills.

Additionally, I have always used clipping paths to essentially outline an object, trace under the edges for mainly two purposes, (a) cutting out an object on an ecommerce fashion photo or (b) to wrap text around an ecommerce product and stills image.

So then what’s the difference between the two?

Up until now, they both still sound a little similar, don’t they? Well that’s because they both fall under the purview of ecommerce Photoshop retouching services, and there is a very minor yet significant difference between the two.

The difference between the two services would be that if you chose to get your images clipped, the clipping path service provider would send back your ecommerce fashion or product and stills image with the background still intact. So when you open the image (psd format) in Photoshop, you will see a line drawn around the product image that you can remove the background of, if you wish to.

Whereas, if you had asked for a background removal service you would receive your ecommerce product image on a transparent background that would aid you in adding your image on top of any other background that you wish. 

Only get a background removal if you are 100% certain you want your background removed, but if you are uncertain, then a clipping path service would provide the flexibility you need. This is the basic difference between the two.

Now coming to the most important question, how do you know, without having any prior knowledge, which background removal service is the most suitable to your requirements? Well, I have jotted down important questions you can & should ask any background removal service provider during your initial interaction and most definitely before onboarding.

Reputation & Referrals:

When choosing an ecommerce, Photoshop fashion retouching service provider it is crucial to look at customer and industry reviews to better understand the quality of work. A company that has been in the industry for long, will be able to provide proper quality checks and ensure that visual content and ecommerce imagery is not compromised at any step.

Communication:

The next step would be to find out the method of communication for your prospective fashion retouching service provider. For you as a client, who is sitting overseas it is critical that there is no communication gap in the instructions you provide, as that will ascertain a seamless working relationship with your dedicated team of Photoshop editors.

Turnaround Speed & Support:

You need to pick a high-end retouching company that offers fast turnaround time and ultimately leads to your optimized imagery and visual content getting listed faster on the web and hence increasing conversions.

Price:

In addition to being backed by high quality and fast turnaround time, you must also take into consideration the price and how well that fits into your photo studio’s production budget.

I hope you find this information helpful, if you have any further questions, read on to see how the expert Photoshop retouchers and digital editors at EIE have been providing the best high-end fashion retouching services to clients, world over for 20 years, now.

Co-Create With EIE

With more than 20 years of e-commerce content creation experience and co-creating with top brands, Ecommerce Image Editing (EIE) brings the best of high-end ecommerce photo retouching services to deliver a fully-integrated Photoshop post-production experience. Our pragmatic approach to global fashion imagery empowers us to cater for consistency, efficiency, & efficacy and high-quality visual content.

You can get your backgrounds removed and fashion images retouched in an instant with our help at Ecommerce Image Editing. Our team of expert digital illustrators and Photoshop image retouchers work around the clock to offer you the best ecommerce product and stills image retouching services that start as low as $2 an image.

Avail our free trial and get your visual content optimised, today!