So, what exactly is the clipping path in Photoshop? It’s the art of cropping and cutting out certain elements from an image. There are several different methods you can use to get the best possible results using clipping paths, such as re-photographing, slicing images, cloning, or vector masking.
In this tutorial, we’ll go over each of these methods to show you how to create your own clipping path in Photoshop. You can then apply it to any image you wish!
Let’s get started!
What is a clipping path?
Clipping path is an advanced feature that can be used in Adobe Photoshop and other image editing software to remove background from images.
Clipping path, also known as image masking or image isolation, allows you to define specific areas of an image that you want to keep (the foreground) and those which you want to remove (the background). In some cases, it may be desirable to replace a background with a different one.
What are its uses in Photoshop?
When you are designing anything, whether it’s a logo, web page, or book cover, the clipping path plays an important role.
It helps to separate objects from their background so that you can edit them individually. Clipping path has been widely used as an easy and quick way to eliminate unwanted backgrounds without affecting the rest of the image/object.
A brief history of clipping path
The clipping path was first introduced to Photoshop® by commercial printing companies. Companies that created and printed books, magazines, and newspaper inserts often had jobs that were submitted as art files created by artists.
To ensure there were no hard edges or lines that could get cut off when printed, these companies used a separate program to clip around each object so it would be included on a different layer of an image file.
How does the clipping path work?
A clipping path or mask (sometimes referred to as an alpha channel) is a type of selection used in image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop and GIMP. It defines a border (or mask) that can be applied to other layers.
The selection can be based on simple geometry (rounded rectangle, circle, polygon), complex shapes created with vector drawing software, or freehand paths created with a stylus. This allows portions of other layers to show through it.
Impact of Clipping Path in 2021 & 2022
The impact of clipping path has been made on our daily life for a decade. It started as a graphic design professional tool and now it’s turned into an editing tool for us like you can see many examples when it’s used by Instagram or any other social media platform.
It’s not just affecting those tools, it also affects our personal life and how we deal with others people. We don’t need to face any kind of stress while clipping path tasks for someone else.
Clipping Path Tools
When using Photoshop, we usually use three kinds of tools to cut out image objects; Pen tool, Polygonal Lasso tool, and Magnetic Lasso tool.
Each of these tools offers very distinct advantages and disadvantages for different cutting workflows. It also helps that each has a distinct drawing behavior that can easily be mastered by new users as well as seasoned professionals.
Final Words
There are a number of other clipping paths you can use in different situations, so I won’t go into all of them.
If you’re interested in learning more about the clipping paths, I recommend researching Photoshop Clipping Paths: A Beginner’s Guide to Creating a Perfect Shape.
This guide will walk you through what a clipping path is and why it’s necessary before jumping into how to create one.
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