| Academy preview
Textbook

Editing Images

75 min·BASIC·Operator|Studio Manager

Capture gets you photos that exist. Editing gets you photos that sell. Crop, center, background removal, color, sharpness — done well, the customer can’t tell they’re looking at automated photography. Done poorly, the customer immediately knows. PhotoRobot’s editing pipeline is designed to make “done well” the default, but only if you understand the controls.

1. Where editing fits

In the 4-stage PhotoRobot pipeline (Capture → Edit → Review → Publish), Edit is stage 2. m06 (Capture Basics) showed how to acquire the raw frames. m11 (this module) covers what happens between capture and the customer-ready image.

PhotoRobot’s editing model is unusual: most edits are applied across all images in a folder simultaneously, not per-image. You crop, you center, you remove background — once, and it applies to all 36 frames of a spin. This is the model that makes high-volume production economically viable. Manual per-frame editing is the exception (and PhotoRobot supports it via Single Image mode), not the rule.

2. The Scopes model — controlling what an edit affects

Every edit operation has a scope. The scope determines which images the operation touches:

Add a scope via Add scope button in the edit interface. Each scope can contain multiple edit operations. The full hierarchy:

Item
└─ Scope 1: "All folders"
│   ├─ Crop (operation)
│   └─ Background removal by level (operation)
├─ Scope 2: "Folder: Spin"
│   └─ Clarity (operation)
├─ Scope 3: "Swing angle: 45°"
│   └─ Center (operation)
└─ Scope 4: "Current image"
    └─ Brush touch-up (operation)

When you click Start editing, CAPP iterates through all scopes and applies their operations in sequence to the matching images.

Single Image mode

If you need per-picture edits across many images (e.g., remove a different artifact from each frame), enter Single Image mode via:

  1. Add a scope “for the current selected image”, or
  2. Select Enter single image mode from the operation menu

In Single Image mode, edits don’t propagate to other frames. Exit Single Image mode to resume folder-wide edits.

3. Per-operation masks — limiting the area of an edit

In addition to scopes (which control which images an edit affects), masks control which area within each image is affected. Click the Mask button in an operation’s menu to open the mask editor.

Three masking modes:

Use case: you want to brighten the product but not the white backdrop. Apply Brightness & Contrast with a mask drawn around the product (Inside mode). The backdrop stays untouched.

Masks are per-operation, so you can have one operation masked to product only and another operation applied globally.

4. Edit operations — the core toolkit

CAPP includes 12+ edit operations. The most common in daily production:

4.1. Crop

Removes extra area around the subject. Default is Auto Crop — software detects subject edges and trims automatically. Adjustable parameters:

Pro-tip: use All images overlay view to see all frames at once. This catches cases where the subject moves between frames (a swinging item, an unstable platform) — you’ll see misaligned crops immediately.

4.2. Center

Removes tilt and wobble. Centers the product across all frames so the spin rotates around the product’s true center.

Center is essential for spin sequences. Uncentered spins make the customer’s product look like it’s wobbling.

4.3. Background removal

Three methods, in increasing precision and configuration effort:

  1. By Level — threshold-based. Adjust Level (color threshold), Fuzziness (smoothness of threshold), Denoise (remove stray pixels), Output Color (transparent / white / black / custom), Input Color (white backdrop or black). Fast, works for most catalog photography.
  2. By Flood — click-and-flood-fill. Hold Shift and click on the backdrop; CAPP flood-fills outward, stopping at object edges. Adjust Edge sensitivity + Erode (trim extra pixels at object edges). Useful when Level threshold confuses subject + backdrop.
  3. By Freemask — uses the 2-light capture from m09 (front-lit + back-lit frames). Most precise method. Requires the Freemask lighting setup; details in m09 Section 4.

Pro-tip: use Remove outside to clean up clutter at the edges of the image (e.g., shaders, stand artifacts).

4.4. Brush / Eraser

Per-image cleanup. Set brush size + edge softness, draw to erase parts of the image. Default applies to all frames in folder; switch to Single Image mode for per-frame brush.

4.5. Clarity

Two sharpening tools:

Unsharp Mask is usually the better choice for product photography.

4.6. Colors

Three sliders:

Pro-tip: for products with one dominant color, Hue can effectively recolor the product without re-shooting. Useful for product variants.

4.7. Brightness & Contrast

Basic two-slider tool. Quick adjustment for under/overexposed captures. Heavy use signals lighting at capture was wrong (m09); fix lighting first when possible.

4.8. Vignette

Mask edges with a configurable gradient. Amount (opacity), Radius (inner intact area), Feather (gradient softness), Shape. Adds editorial mood to hero shots; rarely used in catalog work.

4.9. Chromakey

Removes parts of the scene by color — up to 12 colors at once. Use for invisible mannequin (remove the support pole), nylon ropes, strings, clamps. Threshold + Fuzziness fine-tune how much of the color is removed.

Chromakey is the difference between a clean ghost-mannequin apparel shot and an obvious “see the pole behind the shirt” shot.

4.10. Levels / Shadows & Highlights / Curves

Three tools for advanced lightness control:

5. Presets — saving editing workflows

A typical e-commerce studio runs the same editing pipeline every day. Presets save the entire scope+operation tree under a named configuration. Three ways to assign:

  1. Per-item drop-down — in the item interface, top-right dropdown shows saved presets. Select to apply. Hotkey P opens the preset menu.
  2. At item creation — Add item dialog has a Preset field. New items inherit the preset’s scope+operation tree.
  3. Bulk assign — select multiple items in Items menu → Assign preset → choose preset name.

Presets cover both capture and editing settings — see m06 Section 14 for the capture side. A preset like Apparel-Spin-Standard typically includes: capture settings (36 frames, lighting scope) + editing operations (crop, center, background removal, clarity).

CSV import with presets

For bulk item creation, the CSV import format supports a preset column. Each row’s preset name auto-applies the preset to the imported item — items arrive in CAPP fully configured for capture and editing. This is the canonical mass-production workflow.

Note: When using CSV import, save as UTF-8 encoding. Other encodings cause character corruption on import.

6. Shelves / Carts — workspace + preset binding

For large studios with multiple workstations + diverse product types, Shelves (also called Carts) bind a workspace + preset combination to a barcode-scannable code. The workflow:

  1. Studio manager creates shelf codes in CAPP Settings → Shelves. Each shelf has: barcode (unique scannable code), name (e.g., “Small Items”, “Footwear”), tags, notes, workspace + preset assignment.
  2. Print the barcode for each shelf.
  3. Operator scans a shelf barcode → CAPP switches to the assigned workspace + applies the assigned preset.
  4. Operator scans an item barcode → item enters the workspace + capture/edit configuration is auto-applied.

Result: an operator without product knowledge can sort items to shelves, scan barcodes, and produce correctly-configured captures without making any UI decisions. This is the workflow that makes high-volume operations like fashion catalog studios run smoothly with seasonal staff.

Configure shelves: CAPP Settings → Shelves → + Add shelf.

7. The editing workflow in practice

A typical 360 spin editing pipeline for an apparel product:

  1. Capture with Apparel-Spin-Standard preset (m06 + m09)
  2. Open the item in CAPP
  3. CAPP auto-applies the preset’s editing operations: Crop, Center, Background by Level, Clarity (Unsharp Mask)
  4. Operator reviews the result — runs through all 36 frames in the spin viewer to catch artifacts
  5. Per-frame touch-ups in Single Image mode if needed (rare with good capture + lighting)
  6. Mark item as Edited → item moves to Review queue for the next person in the chain

Time budget: a well-configured pipeline produces a fully-edited spin in under 60 seconds per item — most of that is automatic CAPP processing while the operator queues the next item.

If editing takes 5+ minutes per item, something upstream is wrong — usually lighting (m09), capture settings (m06), or the preset itself (not optimized for this product type). Fix upstream before adding more manual editing time.

8. Common editing mistakes

9. Output formats and the next stage

After editing, items move to Review (m12 if exists / future module) and then Publish (m14 / future). Output formats per use case:

The editing work in m11 produces the edited image stored against the original capture (CAPP keeps both — never destroys the Original). Publishing happens later from the Edited slot.

10. For full reference

This module is the operator-level + studio-manager overview. The canonical reference on photorobot.com:

For specific operations (e.g., the latest Curves implementation), open the manual — it’s updated faster than this module.

Module check

When you’re ready, take the module knowledge check for this module. It’s not graded for certification — it’s diagnostic.

→ Take the module check  ·  5 questions, immediate feedback