Product Photography: Adding A White Background in GIMP

In my last post on Improving Your Product Photography, I talked about an easy method for using bulletin board paper to set up a white background. For my second installment, I'm going to talk about how to use an image editor to improve on an existing photo and to replace an existing background with white (or any other color or image - this method is versatile).

Software
There are lots of different image editors available. I personally work with Adobe Photoshop CS 5. However, there is a program called GIMP that can do almost everything that Photoshop can, and it's available for free via gimp.org, so I'm going to use it for this tutorial. (By the way, the biggest difference that I've found between the two programs is that Photoshop allows for macros and batch processing, which most Photoshop users don't even know how to use.)

I like these two programs because they allow you a lot of flexibility for fixing things. Sometimes with other programs, if you go too far, you can't undo a certain change. I'm going to show you a method that'll let you make changes later if you need to without starting all over again. Also, the program's flexibility means that you don't really need to complete the steps in the exact order that I give. I'm just going to list them in the order that I generally do them.

Original Source Photo

I'm going to start off using this photo. This dress form is nice for display, but the black and white pattern on the form can sometimes make it a bit tricky to separate it from the background. For the purposes of the tutorial, I've moved the dress form to an area where there are lots of background distractions. Usually, I photograph it against a plain white wall.

Bag originally embroidered by special request for a client.
The tote features my own exclusive embroidery design.

I'm using a bag on the form because the straps create open areas where you can see the background between them.

Weekly Article Roundup - Nov.25

Another 5 business articles that I found interesting this week:

10 Facts About the Brain that Will Help Your Marketing and Closing Rate - go read it because it's useful.

How to Create Brand Names that Stick - Alexandra Watkins has written a best-selling book on the topic, but 10 of her tips can be found here.

Hyper-local Marketing - this slide show is more of a list of resources for creating a strong local presence than anything else, but it has some useful tools that are worth looking further into.

Typography in Web Design - it's useful to know a little bit about typography whether you're working on your eCommerce site, blog, newsletter email, business cards, or signage. Typography choices can affect your brand's appearance, so it's better to think about what you plan to use.

Basic Start Up Validation 101 - This gives a list of tests to consider to make sure you're not wasting your time on something you could easily tell will fail. Your business's answers to some of the questions and tests they suggest create a good starting point for information to include in a business plan.

DiY Product Photography: How to Easily Set Up a White Background

Crafters and artisans might go into online selling because they love their product or because it sells well in person. However, if you run a store on Etsy, Artfire, ebay, or your own website, then you need to take your own photos or get someone else to do it for you. Getting a good photo can sometimes prove tricky. Whatever you do, you want your product photography to clearly show the item in an appealing way.

Often the easiest way to get an appealing photograph is to eliminate all background distractions. People want to see your product - not some random door frame in the background, or worse, a close-up view of the flooring in your house. (Especially if the floor in your house has bits of debris or stains. I've seen people do this, and it's gross. There's a better way, trust me.) 

There are no background distractions
in the photo of this
Monogrammed Xmas Ornament
from Polkadot Orchid Embroidery.

A white background is clean, free of distractions, and keeps the focus on your product. It also lends some cohesiveness to an entire shop when all of the photos use a similar style background. If you sell on Amazon, you will be required to have a pure white background.

There are two basic ways to achieve a white background in a product photo:  

1. Take a photo of the item against a white background in the first place. 
2. Use image editing software to replace the background with white. 

Now I have been working with image editing software since Adobe Photoshop version 3 - on a pre-windows 95 computer. (So close to 15 years at this point.) I can do most image edits pretty quickly. However, it's still far less time consuming to take a few extra steps to start with a white (or mostly white) background in the first place rather than spend 2-3 extra minutes on every single photograph removing a non-white background.

Easy Setup for a White Background
My favorite method for getting a white background is to use a roll of bulletin board paper. Tape the top of the roll to the wall and then let it drape in a gradual curve down to floor or table top. You end up with a seamless white background both behind the item and underneath it. If the paper needs to drape down to carpeting, then you may find that you need to place a hard surface down underneath the paper to prevent wrinkles. You may also need to place something on the paper to keep it from rolling back up while you're shooting. Almost anything can work from books to your kid's toys or rock collection.

Why do I like this method?

Even a white wall may not be totally
white - this one was attacked by a
two-year-old armed with a crayon.  

• Paper is cheap and readily available. Teacher supply stores and most large office supply stores carry rolls of bulletin board paper. For very small items (like earrings), you may not even need anything more than a sheet of standard-sized or scrapbook-sized paper.

• Bulletin board paper comes in two widths. The narrower two-foot-wide paper shows up in the photo, and it's great for jewelry forms, bags, baby clothes and other small to medium-sized items. There is also a size that is almost twice as wide (which you may need to visit a teacher supply store to find), and it's great for when you need to take photos of dress forms or other very large objects. 

• It has a smooth surface, so you eliminate potentially distracting textures. (If you're taking a really close up detail photo, you may not want to see the weave of a fabric background.) The smooth texture also makes it easier to ensure you don't have bits of dust, lint, or stray hairs on it.

• Bulletin board paper is often colored on one side and white on the other - potentially giving you the option to use either the white side or the colored side depending on what will work best for your item. 

• It's pretty easy to setup, take down, and store. Just tape it to the wall for the photography shoot, then remove it from the wall and roll back up for storage. (I like to use the clear 3M re-usable mounting squares because it doesn't damage my walls. Depending on what you're attaching the paper to, wall damage may or may not be a concern.)

• Unlike foam core board, paper creates a gradual curve so there no hard seams or creases. (If you look at the travel makeup case I use behind the title at the beginning of the article, you'll see a gradual transition from pure white to light grey in the background. This is possible due to curving the paper. Please note that the item still has a drop shadow beneath it to ground it in reality.) 

• Paper doesn't need to be ironed like fabric. (Though you do need to make sure you don't crush your roll of paper in storage.) 

Clamp Light with Daylight
Spectrum CFL Bulb.

• It lets you set up where you have the best available light. This may be by a bank of windows inside. It could even be outside on your porch. The nice this about the paper is that you could drape it off of furniture. Or you can use it to cover up a door frame if that's the space you have to work with.

• If you don't have access to good natural light, then you can still supplement this setup with additional lights. (I like to use 100-watt equivalent daylight spectrum compact fluorescent bulbs in portable clamp lamps. You can find both at hardware stores. If you want to do this - get the clamp lights with the larger reflector because CFL bulbs sit up higher than incandescent bulbs.) 

Now if you setup your photography space to have a white background you may still run into one little problem: the auto-exposure setting on your camera normally expects a photo with a range of values from light to dark. In fact, they usually meter the scene so that the average of everything in the picture comes out to a medium grey. (About the same value as a green grassy lawn.)

How do you fix this? One method is to line up your shot so that the white background doesn't overwhelm the frame. Another is to switch to a manual exposure setting if your camera has the capability (metering off of a digital grey card will ensure that all of the subsequent shots in the same lighting will be perfect).  A third option is to adjust the exposure compensation value - which is possible on even basic point and shoot digital cameras (though you may need to consult your manual to find out how to do it). A fourth option is to adjust the brightness and contrast after the photo shoot in the digital darkroom using an image editor (this is what I do).


What Happens When You Need a Pure White Background?
Stay tuned for my next article on the subject, where I'll cover using the free image editing program GIMP to get a pure white background.

Weekly Article Roundup - Nov. 18

Here are the top 5 business articles that crossed my desk this past week:

Where is eCommerce Going - a look at the eCommerce trends for 2015. This is set up as a slideshow on slideshare. If you aren't interested in looking at all the slides or just want to skim, there is a transcript posted at the very bottom of the page below transcripts. My biggest take-away from this article is the importance of being mobile-friendly and offering free shipping. 

Motivate Customers to Buy Based on Their Brain Type - it makes the argument that your customers probably have 1 of 4 different ways of thinking. You need to employ different techniques to market to each type in how you write about your products. 

5 Elements of Seductive Craft Fair Booth Displays - This article is pretty comprehensive and written for craft fair booths. Don't have a crafting business? Some of the information is applicable for trade shows and general retail. Craft fair booths are portable, quick-to-setup, and often inexpensive. If you are just starting up in a retail location (even a temporary stall at the local mall for the holiday shopping season), you don't want to sink too much into permanent displays or decor. Many mall contracts have a clause that allow them to move you to another location if a larger client with a multiple-year-lease wants the space. 

12 Stats on Upcoming Holiday Spending - Don't care about mobile shoppers? Think again. There are some other nuggets of wisdom to takeaway from this slideshow.

Transactional Emails: The Marketing Tool You Didn't Know You Had - this is a good read. It's more applicable for people running their own eCommerce sites than for people selling through a venue like eBay, Amazon, Etsy, or Artfire.