What Is Clipping Path Biz?

Due to the harsh economic environment we have found ourselves in the last few years, there are now difficult realities that are involved in the photo editing industry. The ever changing economy that is driven by too much competition and globalization affect many industries especially those in photo manipulation. Some companies may decide to close down and some people may lose their job in this business. But then, on the brighter side of things, there is the hope that a new beginning will always come after every ending.

Is this the end of clipping path business?

The clipping path market may be saturated now as it seems to be at its peak and its near decline. Though I wonder if it will really end. The possibility of ending the clipping path business is uncertain. Hey ,we would never know what would happen in the future. After all technology is fast evolving and there are different kinds of software available that can make our work much easier.

Few years from now, technology will sooner or later learn how to handle processes that are currently outsourced to many developing countries. Even now, there is a turbo mask Photoshop plug-in, hi helps to provide automatic tools to speed up composite picture creation and other tasks that require masking. The name of this software is called Paravue Turbo Mask which cost about $249, the Smart Mask is $120, Background Remover goes for $48.00 and many others.

Generally though, clipping path is used to extract a Photoshop object form inside a layer and then place it inside another program like QuarkExpress and Adobe Illustrator; all the while retaining its background transparency. You can easily manipulate any image on a layer when you make use of a path. Each of these paths is stored right inside the paths panel of the software. You can make use of some tools like pen tool, or freedom tool to create paths. What the pen tool does is that it helps you to draw a path by using anchor points that you will place along the edges of another picture. Line segments will automatically fall into place when you are drawing.

The freedom tool which is a type of pen tool is also used in creating a path. It acts like the traditional pencil or pen that you normally draw with. As you are drawing with it, it will automatically place both the line segments and anchor points where necessary so as to achieve any shape you want to create. With all these tools, you can develop any kind of shape you want. It could free form, straight, curved or you can even existing edges inside a picture by tracing around it. Once you create any path, you may use the path selection tool to select the entire area. You also use the direct selection tool to select the whole area and manipulate the anchor points and line segment to create and recreate any shape you want along that path.

When you first start editing your photos or drawing a new image to cut out photos, you start with the path you create. You should always be saving your work, just when you are working with any Microsoft office suit. You save your path in the paths panel. Check it very well; you will see a place for saving your document. The first path that you start to work with is called the work path. This new work path that you have created is a temporary one but you can change the temporary status. You do that by giving it a name, and then it becomes permanent. You can do so many things with paths- you can name it, delete it, view it and duplicate it.