Editing Images

Instructor-only material. Not published publicly in Phase B.

Delivery context

Editing is where the operator’s daily competence translates into customer-facing quality. The student already knows how to capture (B06) — but a perfectly captured raw frame still needs editing before it’s customer-ready. B11 covers the gap.

This module is demo-heavy. Editing operations are visual; students need to see the before/after to internalize when to use Level vs. Flood vs. Freemask. Allocate 40-50% of the textbook block to live demos.

Calibration: ask up front — “who has used Photoshop or Lightroom regularly?” Photo-skilled students absorb the parameter sliders fast (Hue, Saturation, Levels, Curves — all familiar concepts). Beginners need more time on the basic ones (Crop, Center, Background) before moving to advanced (Curves, Chromakey).

Time allocation (75 min textbook + 25-35 workbook + hands-on)

Textbook block (75 min)

Workbook block (25-35 min)

• Exercises 1-3 (10-15 min): scope choice + background method + mask vs scope
• Exercise 4 (5-7 min): preset workflow design
• Exercise 5 (5-8 min, studio-manager track): shelves design — skip if class is operator-only
• Exercise 6 (3 min): diagnose slow editing scenario
• Exercise 7 (2 min): pre-flight

Hands-on block (separate, 60-90 min if equipment available)

Each student edits a real captured spin end-to-end:

1. Open a previously-captured item
2. Apply a preset (or build the scope+operation tree manually)
3. Review all 36 frames in the spin viewer
4. Per-frame touch-ups in Single Image mode if needed
5. Mark item as Edited

Goal: student produces an Edited spin that they’d be comfortable sending to a customer.

Live demo points

1. (at minute 3-15) Scope hierarchy. Open a real captured item with Spin + Stills folders. Create scope 1 “All folders” + Crop. Create scope 2 “Folder: Spin” + Center. Show both apply; switch off scope 2 → Center disappears, Crop stays. The hierarchy clicks visually.

2. (at minute 20-30) Background removal — 3 methods side-by-side. Use the SAME captured item. Apply By Level — show edges. Apply By Flood — show edges. Apply By Freemask (if lighting setup available) — show edges. Students see the precision tradeoff directly.

3. (at minute 30-40) Chromakey for invisible mannequin. This is THE wow moment of the module. Pull up an apparel shoot with a visible mannequin pole. Apply Chromakey, pick the pole color → pole disappears. Student internalizes that this is how clean fashion catalog photography works.

4. (at minute 40-50) Curves vs. Levels comparison. Open the same captured item. Apply Levels — adjust Black slider, then White, then Gamma. Show effects. Apply Curves — drag a midtone control point up to lift midtones. Show that Curves enables shapes that Levels can’t (S-curve, gentle midtone lift). Most students will leave Curves alone in daily work but should know what it does.

5. (at minute 58-65) Shelf scan workflow. If barcode reader available: scan a shelf code → workspace + preset switches. Scan an item code → item gets configured. Two scans, zero clicks. This is the moment senior studio managers in the class realize their bottleneck isn’t operator skill — it’s UI clicks per item.

If delivering online without lab access: pre-recorded screencasts of all 5 demos. Editing is highly visual; verbal description alone doesn’t convey the slider effects.

Common mistakes / misunderstandings to anticipate

“I’ll just edit each image individually — I want full control”

Reframe: full control is fine for hero shots, but for 100-200 SKU/day catalog work the math doesn’t work. Per-image editing = 3+ min/item. Preset-driven editing = under 1 min/item. The studio’s business model depends on the multiplier. The exception (per-image touch-ups in Single Image mode) is for the 5% of items that need it, not the 95% that don’t.

“Background removal looks bad — maybe I need better captures”

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Walk through:

1. By Level threshold off → adjust Level / Fuzziness / Denoise
2. Still bad? Switch to By Flood
3. Still bad? Set up Freemask lighting (m09 + B11)
4. Still bad? Yes, captures need improvement. Check lighting placement (m09) + camera exposure (B08).

Don’t jump to “better captures” before exhausting the post-processing tools.

“Chromakey looks fake — it left a colored halo”

Reframe: adjust Threshold (how much color to remove) + Fuzziness (transition smoothness). Halo means the threshold is too narrow — widen it. Or, the pole color is too close to a product color — pick a more distinctive pole color (e.g., bright green for fabric shoots).

“I’ll skip Center, the product looks fine in the spin”

Reframe: it looks fine to YOU because you’re not watching all 36 frames at once. Run the spin viewer at full speed — uncentered products wobble visibly. Customer notices. Center is non-negotiable for spins.

“Why bother with Shelves if we already have Presets?”

Reframe: Presets configure the item’s capture+editing. Shelves additionally bind a workspace (physical workstation) and enable barcode-driven workflow. For a 1-workstation studio with no barcode reader, Presets alone are sufficient. For 4+ workstations with seasonal staff, Shelves are how you avoid “wait, which workstation should I take this shoe to?” UI confusion.

“Levels and Curves do the same thing — I’ll just use one”

Reframe: Levels = 3 sliders (Black / White / Gamma) — fast, sufficient for most adjustments. Curves = full curve control — needed for subtle midtone shifts that Levels’ Gamma slider can’t produce. Use Levels by default; use Curves when Levels doesn’t reach.

Q&A anticipation

1. “How do I know if a preset is configured correctly?” Answer: Test it on 3-5 representative items. If all 5 come out customer-ready with no manual touch-up, the preset is good. If any need touch-ups, identify what’s missing in the preset (often: wrong crop padding, missing Chromakey for mannequin shots, suboptimal background method).

2. “Can I export presets to share between studios?” Answer: CAPP supports preset export/import via the Presets menu. Exported file is JSON-like; can be sent to another studio and imported on their CAPP installation. Useful for multi-location studios standardizing workflows.

3. “What’s the difference between Edit auto and Edit on demand?” Answer: Edit auto (m06 Sequence Options) means CAPP runs the preset’s editing pipeline immediately after each capture. Operator sees Edited images as soon as captures complete. Edit on demand = operator triggers edits manually after capture. Use Edit auto for fast catalog work; Edit on demand for hero shots where operator wants to review raw frames first.

4. “Can I undo an editing operation after Mark as Edited?” Answer: Yes — CAPP keeps the Original image untouched. Re-open the item, adjust the operations, re-apply. The Original is the source; Edit produces a new derivative each time.

5. “How do I batch-edit items that were captured with different presets?” Answer: You can’t apply one preset to items configured with another preset and expect identical output — the source frame counts / scopes won’t match. Practical approach: re-capture if absolutely necessary, or build a generic preset (loose scopes, common operations only) that works across the mismatch.

6. “Chromakey removed part of my product, not just the pole” Answer: The pole color is too close to a product color. Adjust the pole color picker to avoid the conflict (use a distinct pole like bright green), or use Chromakey + Mask combination (apply Chromakey only outside the product area via Mask).

Workbook discussion plan

Diagnostic — is the student ready for B17 / B25?

Operator-track readiness signal: Exercises 1-3 + 6 fluent. Student knows when to use which scope, which background method, which fixes are mask-based vs. scope-based, and trusts presets vs. doing per-image edits.

Studio-manager readiness signal: Exercise 4 + Exercise 5 fluent. Student designs presets and shelves without prompting, accounts for the workflow operators will actually do.

Materials needed

• Slides — scope hierarchy diagram, mask modes diagram, background method comparison (3 results side-by-side), Chromakey before/after, Levels vs Curves comparison
• Lab CAPP installation with previously-captured items in multiple formats (spin + stills + multi-row 3D)
• At least one item with a visible mannequin pole for Chromakey demo
• At least one item shot with Freemask 2-light for the background-by-Freemask demo
• Barcode reader + sample shelf codes for the Shelves demo
• Pre-recorded screencasts for online delivery fallback
• Workbook printed / PDF — one per student
• Module knowledge check ready

Notes for refresh delivery

Editing skills mature with practice. Refresh targets:

• New CAPP edit operations added since student’s training (CAPP releases ~quarterly updates)
• Studio’s actual preset library — audit what’s working / what’s drifted from optimal
• Recent customer complaints about output quality — diagnose which edit step is the gap

Refresh delivery: 30-45 min, focus on Exercise 4 (preset design) with the studio’s real preset library.

Cross-references

• B05 Workspace — workspace context for shelves
• B06 Capture basics — preset includes both capture and edit settings; editing is downstream from capture
• B09 Lighting Setup — Freemask is m09 + B11 combined
• B10 Lighting Hardware — well-lit captures reduce editing time
• B17 Synchrobox (forthcoming) — multi-camera captures have more complex scope strategies
• B25 Troubleshooting (forthcoming) — editing-specific issues