Retouching is the process of making an image ready for final presentation. This process can require a variety of techniques and processes, and it can be very subtle or dramatic – every image that you see online or in print catalogs has undergone some retouching.

Here we present to you the A to Z’s of product image retouching

Understanding this retouching glossary will give you a holistic view of the post-production process.  We will start with general retouching terms like removing the background, clipping path, alignment, sizing, etc. which are used for almost all product categories.  Then we will move on to particular categories like Apparel, Jewelry, Footwear, and Model Photography and Retouching.

Table of Contents

General Retouching

There are several basic retouching processes which can be applied to all kinds of products, be it electronics or jewelry. These are essential for making your product images e-commerce compliant and presentable. The goal is ultimately to make the customer focus only on the product and not on other distracting things.

Typically general retouching involves

  1. Alpha Layer Masks
  2. Background Retouch
  3. Background Removal
  4. Background Replacement
  5. Background Extension
  6. Clipping Path
  7. Color Profile: sRGB/ Adobe RGB/ ProPhoto
  8. Color Correction
  9. Color Matching
  10. Natural Shadow
  11. Create Cast Shadow
  12. Drop Shadow
  13. Keep Original Cast Shadow
  14. Keep Original Reflection Shadow
  15. Reflection Shadow
  16. Dimension
  17. DPI
  18. File Type
  19. Margins
  20. Alignment
  21. Aspect Ratio

Apparel Retouching

Apparel Photo Retouching helps your apparel look elegant, appealing and amazing. Apparel e-com industry is very large, and you need exceptionally stunning pictures of your apparel to make an impact on consumers. Retouching is essential to enhance your images. There are many processes which fall into this category, including, but not limited to, the invisible mannequin, improvement of shape, color, smoothening of fabric to making the apparel look more symmetric.

Typically apparel retouching involves-

  1. 3D Mannequin / Ghost Mannequin / Invisible Mannequin
  2. Color Cast Removal
  3. Crease Reduction, Crease Removal
  4. Garment Cleanup
  5. Leather Mark Removal
  6. Match Height of Product Set
  7. Match Shape
  8. Remove Creases from Packaging
  9. Remove Spots from Packaging
  10. Remove On-Body Imprints
  11. Shape Enhancement
  12. Sleeve Close to Body
  13. Symmetry

Footwear Retouching

Typically footwear retouching involves-

  1. Shoe Cleanup
  2. Shoe Fix Lacing
  3. Shoe Flip
  4. Removal of marks, size numbers, tags

 

Furniture Retouching

Furniture retouching instills a new life in your furniture’s images by removing unflattering elements like stains, flash, background, etc. Retouching cleans up the distractions – glare, shadows, highlights – with retouching, the shape becomes better defined!

Typically furniture retouching involves-

  1. Furniture Cleanup
  2. Furniture Crease Reduction
  3. Furniture Recreate Missing Parts
  4. Furniture Remove Color Cast
  5. Furniture Remove Extra Objects
  6. Furniture Straighten Edge Lines
  7. Furniture dimension display

Jewelry Retouching

Jewelry photography is considered among the most difficult types of images to edit in the realm of product photography. The camera typically does not capture all intricacies of jewelry items – hence images tend to require significant Photoshop work. Breathtaking images of jewelry are usually the result of processes such as spot and scratch removal, color, brightness, sharpness improvement, white background implementation etc.

Typically jewelry retouching involves-

  1. Jewelry Polish Levels
  2. Jewelry Remove Color Cast
  3. Jewelry Retouch Cleanup
  4. Jewelry Silver Color
  5. Diamond Fitting

Model Retouching

On product photographs with models, aspects that may distract the attention from the product are most commonly retouched. Model retouching is important to bring in consistency and maintain the overall aesthetics of the image.

Model retouching typically involves any of the following: removing bruises, marks, blemishes, tattoos, or unwanted hair, toning the skin or slimming down the body, among others.

  1. Model Cleanup
  2. Model Even Skin Tone
  3. Model Remove All Moles
  4. Model Remove Big Moles
  5. Model Remove Blemishes
  6. Model Remove Bruises
  7. Model Remove Eye Bags
  8. Model Remove Fat On Swimwear
  9. Model Reduce Baby Hair
  10. Model Remove Flyaway Hair
  11. Model Control Fuzzy Hair
  12. Model Remove Marks
  13. Model Remove Tattoos
  14. Model Remove Wrinkle