Getting a white background behind an object

[RhinoCan]

How  do catalogs frequently manage to get pictures of the items they're selling with a perfect white background that contains nothing to distract the viewer from the product? For instance, if you go to Home Depot, every item has a white background containing absolutely nothing.

I simply don't believe that each and every item was photographed on a perfectly white surface that shows absolutely nothing else, not even texture. There *must* be a technique for removing the actual background that was present when the picture was taken yet preserving the border of the item perfectly. I'm very curious to know what that technique is and if I can do it in GIMP.

Even just knowing the name of the technique would be helpful but a link to instructions or a video detailing the technique would be even better.

[Blighty]

Use the selection tools to make a selection of the background. The first 7 tools in the Tool Box are selection tools (see attached image). More info here:
https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-Gimp-s...-beginners
https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-Painle...tion-tools

Once you have done this the best method is:
Make sure the item layer has an alpha channel Layer > Transparency > Add Alpha Channel
Delete the background Edit > Clear or press the delete key
Add a white layer below the item layer
Save as .xcf
Export as jpg or png

[Ofnuts]

(12-02-2019, 12:33 AM)RhinoCan Wrote: How  do catalogs frequently manage to get pictures of the items they're selling with a perfect white background that contains nothing to distract the viewer from the product? For instance, if you go to Home Depot, every item has a white background containing absolutely nothing.

I simply don't believe that each and every item was photographed on a perfectly white surface that shows absolutely nothing else, not even texture. There *must* be a technique for removing the actual background that was present when the picture was taken yet preserving the border of the item perfectly. I'm very curious to know what that technique is and if I can do it in GIMP.

Even just knowing the name of the technique would be helpful but a link to instructions or a video detailing the technique would be even better.

Well they do... The photo setup requires several lights, a couple to light the subject, and one to blow out a white background, which is overexposed on purpose and therefore pure white. If this white background is a vinyl sheet there is absolutely no texture to it (and it is likely completely out of focus anyway). The set up isn't very complicated and for 20 minutes of setup (factored by the hundred shots...) you save all the editing time.

Otherwise using a background of  a known color that doesn't exist in the subject (greenscreen) greatly eases the editing.

[RhinoCan]

(12-02-2019, 06:03 AM)Blighty Wrote: Use the selection tools to make a selection of the background. The first 7 tools in the Tool Box are selection tools (see attached image). More info here:
https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-Gimp-s...-beginners
https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-Painle...tion-tools

Once you have done this the best method is:
Make sure the item layer has an alpha channel Layer > Transparency > Add Alpha Channel
Delete the background Edit > Clear or press the delete key
Add a white layer below the item layer
Save as .xcf
Export as jpg or png

Thank you! I'm sure I'll find use for that technique, at least on occasions when the subject is not too difficult to trace. (My coordination is not great and I very much doubt I'll be able to trace more complex objects very well.)

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(12-02-2019, 07:41 AM)Ofnuts Wrote:

(12-02-2019, 12:33 AM)RhinoCan Wrote: How  do catalogs frequently manage to get pictures of the items they're selling with a perfect white background that contains nothing to distract the viewer from the product? For instance, if you go to Home Depot, every item has a white background containing absolutely nothing.

I simply don't believe that each and every item was photographed on a perfectly white surface that shows absolutely nothing else, not even texture. There *must* be a technique for removing the actual background that was present when the picture was taken yet preserving the border of the item perfectly. I'm very curious to know what that technique is and if I can do it in GIMP.

Even just knowing the name of the technique would be helpful but a link to instructions or a video detailing the technique would be even better.

Well they do... The photo setup requires several lights, a couple to light the subject, and one to blow out a white background, which is overexposed on purpose and therefore pure white. If this white background is a vinyl sheet there is absolutely no texture to it (and it is likely completely out of focus anyway). The set up isn't very complicated and for 20 minutes of setup (factored by the hundred shots...) you save all the editing time.

Otherwise using a background of  a known color that doesn't exist in the subject (greenscreen) greatly eases the editing.

So it's a technique used by the photographer, not an editing technique? That sheds a whole new light on things, so to speak! Having seen this technique used so widely, it boggles my mind that someone can use it for really large items, like cars, given the amount of space and light they'd need. Then again, I suppose the larger objects are greenscreened or use the technique Blighty has proposed; it's just not realistic to use the technique in the article for, say, a Saturn V rocket!

[Ofnuts]

(12-02-2019, 12:45 PM)RhinoCan Wrote: So it's a technique used by the photographer, not an editing technique? That sheds a whole new light on things, so to speak! Having seen this technique used so widely, it boggles my mind that someone can use it for really large items, like cars, given the amount of space and light they'd need. Then again, I suppose the larger objects are greenscreened or use the technique Blighty has proposed; it's just not realistic to use the technique in the article for, say, a Saturn V rocket!

The big secret is that 'shopped photos are shot especially for this purpose, with controlled lighting and such.

No problems to shoot cars or even trucks on white backgrounds or greenscreens, just find a behind-the-scenes report on any big movie with SFX and you will see how big greenscreens can be. Set up is a bit longer but with car manufacturers the budget for the catalog and other print/web material is peanuts compared to the total advertisement budget.

And Saturn V rockets are rarely sold on catalogs...