One way to improve your editing picture is by using the 3D Ghost Mannequin effect, especially for product photography. If you don’t have spare time, consider contacting a trusted ghost mannequin service.
The ghost mannequin effect is beneficial for fashion photography. This effect is also well-known as the ‘hollow man’ effect. To achieve the result of this effect, you can use editing software like Adobe Photoshop by following the tutorial below.
What are the benefits of using this effect on your products, and how is the tutorial for using these effects? You can find out below and start mastering your editing skills now.
The Advantages of the Ghost Mannequin Effect
This ghost mannequin effect has several advantages for your product photography, especially if you have an apparel business. Starting from saving your budgets to product transparency for your customers.
1. Saving Budgets
The first advantage is cost-efficiency for your product marketing. A ghost mannequin is used during your production, which can be reused multiple times. Other than that, the production process is cheaper than hiring a model.
It allows you to maintain high-quality product photography while allocating your budget to other promotional efforts.
2. Product Reliability
Second, this effect enables you to maintain product consistency, particularly on your e-commerce page. Product consistency will lead to attracting your customers’ trust. Not only that, but your products’ visual appearance will also look more professional and will be handled by experts.
3. Transparency
Lastly, the ghost mannequin 3D effect showcases product transparency, which is highly beneficial for your customers. Before buying a product, customers would like to know the details of the product, such as the style or the shape.
By utilizing this effect, you can ensure that your customers are well-informed about your products and services. They will repurchase if they get a satisfactory product.
Mastering the Ghost Mannequin Effect
After knowing the benefits of using this effect, here is the tutorial for making a ghost mannequin 3D effect for your product photography:
1. Photo Production Before Editing
Before entering the editing stage, the production should be well-prepared to make the raw files easily edited into this effect. During photo production, you can use a mannequin to ensure that the apparel suits it well. A little tip is that white and matte mannequins are easily editable because they are non-reflective.
Make sure you have prepared high-quality studio settings for the setup and photography. While taking the pictures, set the camera on your chest or hip. It will help you create a less distorted product.
Capture the front and the back of the apparel. Do not forget to capture the details of the product, including buttons, collars, sleeves, and other distinctive features.
2. Setting the Layers
Once you’ve finished with the photo production, you can start editing your photos into ghost mannequin photography using editing software like Adobe Photoshop. The first thing you should do after importing the images is to set the layer.
Click twice on the layer to enable editing. Rename the layer’ layer 1′. After that, create a new layer and put it behind ‘layer 1′. Name the layer’ layer 2′. Click Shift + F5 and fill the ‘layer 2’ with 100% black. If your apparel is black, choose the colour white.
3. Select the Background
To select the background, use the Magic Wand tool on the left side of the screen. In the Options bar, please ensure that you select “Subject” and “Select and Mask,” then click on “Select and Mask.”
After that, ensure the View is set to ‘on layer’. Then, click “Select Subject” at the top of the screen and wait until Adobe Photoshop identifies the subject of your picture; it will then create your selection.
4. Select the Mannequin
The next step is moving the apparel from the mannequin. For this, you can use the Quick Selection tool, choose Subtract, and select areas of the mannequin that appear by clicking on them in the Preview Window.
If you accidentally remove part of the clothing, click CTRL+Z or use the undo function, and then reduce the “Size” option. In this part, you can also use Shift Edge to remove halo effects on your photos.
5. Create a Layer Mask
Once you have removed the clothing from the mannequin, move to create a layer mask by following these steps:
- In your ‘Layer 1’, click on the mask icon to mask out the subject’s background.
- Select the mask icon next to the ‘Layer 1’.
- Choose the Eraser tool.
- Set white as the foreground color and black as the background color.
- Erase out any details of the mannequin that are not necessary.
6. Make Selections of the Interior
If you want the interior (e.g, the neck, sleeves, etc) to look full, you can use Warp by choosing Edit, then clicking Transform and Warp. Once you are finished, you can use the Eraser tool to remove unnecessary areas that don’t align with the neck.
7. Clean up and Darken the Details
To excel your editing skills into an excellent ghost mannequin 3D effect, you can drop shadows on the interior of the clothing. Follow the steps below:
- In the Layers panel, click the neck or your desired interior.
- Choose Image, then Adjustments, then Curves.
- In the Curves, click on the centre of the line going through the graph.
- Pull the line down until you see the inside of the neck is darkening.
You can use this step to include any additional details you’d like to include.
8. Change the Background
In addition to the steps 1-7 above, you can also change the background to the color of your choice. You can change the color to black, white, or any other color that suits your ghost mannequin.
Use the Ghost Mannequin Effect to Boost Your Photos
When producing photography content, especially for apparel, a ghost mannequin is highly recommended to make your customer see the product details. This effect can make your customers more informed.
That’s all the tutorial for the ghost mannequin effect. You can use the tutorial to improve your product photography.
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