How to Choose the Best Photo Cutout Service Provider?

Picture this. You have a photograph you want to share online with customers or other audiences you are trying to reach in your work. You go to put the image on your website or in your online store, and you realize that the photograph does not look quite as you expected. You decide the background needs to be removed, to make the image standout on the website. How do you do this?

Smart product photographers, online stores, and advertising images are increasingly deciding to outsource their work to photo cutout service providers, which can assist with editing their photographs to have the most impact on their audience. But with so many photo cutout services available, choosing the best company can be a challenge. This article will help you to assess the most important features of a photo cut out service, to guarantee you are choosing the best service available.

What is a Photo Cutout Service?

Photo cutout services are a resource provided to photographers that generally assist with photo editing in a variety of forms. Typically, companies that provide such a service are able to assist photographers with a variety of image editing services, in particular with photo cutout and clipping path services. These services help to remove the backgrounds of images by hand using pen tools or a clipping path, in order to isolate the main image from anything distracting that may be in the background.

The companies and the services they provide are particularly useful for companies seeking to improve their product images and have a greater impact on their audiences or customers. Photo cutout services eliminate the need for photographers, online stores, and advertising agencies to struggle with learning to use product photography tools, and can easily help with cutting out product images, removing the background of photographs, adding in white backgrounds, and many other skills that help to make products standout to consumers.

Things to Consider in Choosing a Photo Cutout Service

There are many photo cutout services now available online, each promising that they are the best service available. How can you judge which services are the best, and which you should avoid? Consider the following:

Services Offered

One of the most important factors to consider in choosing a photo cut out service is whether or not they offer the services and have the skills to transform your images in the ways you want them to. Consider whether or not the company offers any of the following, and whether it is important for your needs:

• General image editing services;
• Clipping path services (often using Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator);
• Photograph cutout services;
• Background removal services;
• Have the ability to add transparent or white backgrounds to your photos

Skill Level

The level of skill required to remove backgrounds in photographs depends on the complexity of the image itself. An important question to ask is whether or not a company has the skill level to handle the images you provide.

The best cut out services will be able to handle any level of background removal. Be sure see if the company is able to handle all of the following:

• Basic Background Removals: These types of image cut outs are simple, with fewer curves and lots of straight lines. Think of images that are square, rectangle, or spherical in shape that can be easily cut out. Backgrounds on these types of images involve the least amount of skill to remove, and should be able to be done by most image cut out services.
• Medium-Level Background Removals: Images with more detail, curves, or contain multiple items will require more skill to complete the cutting. This is where many common products sold online will fall, including clothing, shoes, home goods, toys, etc. If your photographs fall into the medium-level category, you will want to check that the company has the skill to provide these photo edits.
• Complex Background Removals: Images in this category often contain multiple items, many holes in the items where the background shows through, and that otherwise involve considerably more work to remove the background. It is highly likely that most companies will need to have complex photos edited, which means you will need to find a company capable of handing this level of work.

Quality of Work

While it is possible for just about anyone to purchase Photoshop and learn how to use a pen tool to do image cut outs, not everyone is capable of doing quality work at the basic, medium, and complex levels of editing. When looking for a photo cutout service, any reputable companies should be able to provide examples of the quality of their work at all of these levels to prospective customers. Ask for examples of their work and decide if these examples meet the quality you are looking for.

Some companies may even be willing to offer a free trial to prospective customers to sample their services, which you should certainly take advantage of. Try using your free trial as an opportunity to test their ability to handle a complex image you need edited. Once you see their sample, you can easily determine if their quality of work is high enough to meet your company’s needs.

Reviews and Reputation

Don’t take the company’s word alone for the quality of their work. Instead, look for reviews and feedback from other product photographers, online stores, or advertising agencies who have used the photo cutout services provided. Do they generally seem satisfied with the services they received?

If the company does not provide reviews on their website, consider looking at sites like the Better Business Bureau or at the company’s Google reviews. Both are places where people will commonly go to post reviews of any sites or services that they use. Reading this feedback can help you to easily identify quality image cut out services.

Cost

In an ideal world, companies would be able to pay any price to get quality images of their products. However, it is important to choose a photo editing service that fits the business model of your company and what you can reasonably afford. Look for companies that are honest about their prices. Don’t be afraid to use any free trials you may be offered.

Many companies may ask to see the images upfront before they can quote you a price for their cut out services. This is a very helpful way to determine the overall cost of the service, and should always be given to you in advance of the work being done. Try to avoid any companies that refuse to give you a price upfront for their services.

Final Thoughts

Making the decision to use a photo cutout service is a fantastic step towards improving the quality of your product images and overall photography. Just remember to consider the factors mentioned here, and you will always be able to choose the best service, with the best quality, that will meet all of your photo editing needs.