Photoshop: cut out product photos
Isolate a product in Photoshop: select the subject, mask instead of delete, check the edge. Short video plus click-along steps.
Cut out product photos in Photoshop: You want the product isolated, background gone, edge clean. The short video is below. Here are the steps in text so you can click along.
1. Open the file, check the layer
Open the product shot in Photoshop. If the layer is locked (Background), double-click it and confirm so it becomes editable. Without that, every mask fights you.
2. Select the subject
For clean studio shots, Select → Subject or the Object Selection tool is often enough. Drag a box around the product. Photoshop proposes a selection. Zoom the edge: hair, glass, soft shadows and transparent parts are where auto-select usually slips.
For hard product edges on a flat backdrop: Magic Wand or Quick Selection, keep tolerance low, Shift to add, Alt to subtract.
3. Refine the selection
In the options bar open Select and Mask. View on Overlay or on Black so you see the edge. Push Radius and Smooth only until the edge neither frays nor eats into the product. Output as a layer mask, not as a delete. Delete is final. A mask you can still fix.
4. Paint the mask
With the mask active: a white brush brings pixels back, a black brush takes them away. Hard edge on the product, softer edge only where the original is soft (a shadow you mean to keep). Path people: Pen tool, close the path, make a selection, fill the mask. Slower, often sharper on metal and housings.
5. Export for shop or ad
Need transparency: PNG or WebP with alpha. Need a new background: new layer underneath, drop in colour or a scene, then save as JPEG or PNG. Before export, zoom to 100% and check the silhouette on light and on dark. An edge that only looks fine on grey will tear in the shop.
Fast path vs clean path
Fast path: select subject, mask, export. Enough for many catalogue shots with a clean edge. Clean path: pen or hand-painted mask on the critical pixels, plus a quick check on white and on black. The video below shows the motion. This text is the checklist beside it.
Fact table
| Claim | Basket | From where |
|---|---|---|
| This piece embeds https://www.youtube.com/embed/EKMZzhuWGzU | Fact | Magazine stub slug produktfotos-in-photoshop-freistellen, published_at 2023-03-22 |
| Select → Subject, Object Selection, Select and Mask, and layer masks are Photoshop tools for cut-outs | Fact | Adobe Photoshop Help on selections and masking |
| A mask instead of erasing keeps edits reversible | Fact | Standard layer-mask behaviour in Photoshop |
| Auto-select fails more often on glass, hair and soft shadows | Hypothesis (high) | Cut-out practice; no lab measurement here |
Video: YouTube EKMZzhuWGzU. Adobe Help: selections and masks in Photoshop.
