Editing Images

Exercises drill the daily editing decisions every operator faces: scopes, background removal method choice, preset / shelf design, and time-budget reality checks.

Exercise 1 — Scope choice

For each editing requirement, identify which scope is correct: All folders, Specific folder (Spin), Specific swing angle, or Current image only.

Tip: Section 2 of textbook.

Exercise 2 — Background removal method

For each scenario, pick the best background removal method: By Level, By Flood, or Freemask.

Tip: Section 4.3 of textbook.

Exercise 3 — Mask vs. Scope

For each task, decide if the right tool is Scope (controls which images), Mask (controls which area within an image), or Both.

Tip: Sections 2 + 3 of textbook.

Exercise 4 — Preset workflow design

A studio runs apparel shoots with 3 product categories. Each category has slightly different editing needs:

• Shoes: tight crop, center on the entire shoe footprint, Background by Level + sharp Unsharp Mask
• Handbags: medium crop, center on the bag body (ignore strap), Background by Level + medium Unsharp Mask
• Apparel: loose crop, no centering (apparel hangs straight), Background by Freemask, soft Unsharp Mask + Chromakey to remove invisible mannequin pole

The studio currently has the operator manually configure each item’s editing per category, taking ~3 minutes per item. Across 150 items/day, that’s 7.5 hours of pure editing setup time.

4.1 — What CAPP feature should the studio manager use to eliminate this overhead?

Answer:

4.2 — How many separate configurations should the studio manager create?

Answer:

4.3 — Once created, how does the operator apply the right configuration to each item?

Answer (list 3 ways):

4.4 — If the operator wants to apply the same configuration to all 50 newly-imported handbag items at once, what’s the fastest workflow?

Answer:

Tip: Section 5 of textbook.

Exercise 5 — Shelves design (studio manager track)

Scenario: A high-volume fashion studio runs 4 workstations, each with its own physical layout (different camera + lighting + turntable size). They photograph 5 product categories (shoes, handbags, apparel, jewelry, accessories) and want to assign incoming items to workstations + presets automatically using barcodes.

Design the Shelf structure:

5.1 — How many shelves should the studio create at minimum?

Answer:

5.2 — What does each shelf bind together?

Answer (3 items):

5.3 — How does the operator use a shelf in daily workflow?

Answer:

5.4 — What hardware does the studio need to support the shelf workflow?

Answer:

Tip: Section 6 of textbook.

Exercise 6 — Diagnose the slow editing pipeline

A new operator joined the studio. They’re spending 5-7 minutes editing each item, vs. the studio average of under 1 minute. Their captures and the studio average’s captures use the same camera + lights + workspace + preset.

What is the most likely cause? (Pick the most accurate answer.)

• A) The new operator’s computer is too slow
• B) The new operator is doing per-frame Single Image edits instead of trusting the preset’s folder-wide operations
• C) The studio’s preset has been corrupted
• D) The new operator is using an old CAPP version
• E) The new operator’s images are higher resolution than the studio average

Tip: Section 7 of textbook.

Exercise 7 — Pre-flight checklist

Before your first hands-on editing session or before designing presets for your studio:

• I can explain the difference between scope (which images) and mask (which area in an image).
• I know the 4 scope types: All folders / Specific folder / Specific swing angle / Current image.
• I know the 3 background removal methods (Level / Flood / Freemask) and when each is appropriate.
• I know that 3 mask modes exist (Brush / Inside / Outside) and that Alt-key subtracts from brush.
• I can name 6+ edit operations (Crop, Center, Background, Brush, Clarity, Colors, Brightness, Vignette, Chromakey, Levels, Shadows & Highlights, Curves).
• I know the 3 ways to apply a preset to an item (drop-down, Add item dialog, bulk assign).
• I understand that CSV import + UTF-8 encoding is the recommended way for bulk item creation with presets.
• I know that Shelves bind workspace + preset + barcode for sort-and-scan workflows.
• I know that heavy use of Brightness/Levels in editing signals lighting was wrong at capture.

If you can’t tick all nine, re-read the relevant section of textbook.md before moving on.

Solutions

Don’t look here until you’ve finished the exercises.

Exercise 1 — Scope choice

• 1.1 → All folders (uniform across everything)
• 1.2 → Specific folder (Spin) for Spin + a separate scope for Stills
• 1.3 → Specific swing angle — different scopes per swing
• 1.4 → Current image only (single-image touch-up)
• 1.5 → All folders (global brightness)
• 1.6 → All folders (Chromakey affects every frame with the pole visible)

Exercise 2 — Background removal method

• 2.1 → By Level. Standard catalog photography — dark product on white backdrop = easy threshold detection. Fast.
• 2.2 → By Freemask. Glass + light areas blend with backdrop on threshold-based removal. Freemask’s 2-light capture isolates the subject precisely. Alternative if no Freemask setup: By Flood (click + flood-fill).
• 2.3 → By Freemask. Already have the lighting infrastructure; use it. Best precision, fast per-item.
• 2.4 → By Flood. Click-and-flood approach handles edge artifacts better than threshold-based Level when products have mixed colors.

Exercise 3 — Mask vs. Scope

• 3.1 → Scope (controls which folder is touched)
• 3.2 → Mask (per-image: only the product area, leave backdrop alone)
• 3.3 → Scope (Specific swing angle = 60°)
• 3.4 → Both — Scope (swing angle 60° = top-down frames) + Mask (Brighten only on product, Chromakey on pole)
• 3.5 → Mask (mask the shirt area, apply Hue shift inside the mask)

Exercise 4 — Preset workflow design

4.1 — Presets. Save each category’s full scope+operation tree as a named preset.

4.2 — 3 presets: Shoes-Standard, Handbags-Standard, Apparel-Standard.

4.3 — Three ways:

1. Per-item drop-down in the item interface (hotkey P)
2. At item creation via the Add item dialog’s Preset field
3. Bulk assign — select items in Items menu → Assign preset → choose preset name

4.4 — Bulk assign. Select all 50 imported handbag items in the Items menu, click Assign preset, choose Handbags-Standard. Single operation; all 50 items get the preset applied.

Alternative: during CSV import, add a preset column to the CSV with Handbags-Standard in each row. Import assigns the preset automatically at item creation. Faster for one-time bulk imports.

Exercise 5 — Shelves design

5.1 — At minimum 20 shelves = 4 workstations × 5 product categories. More if a single workstation handles multiple product types with different presets (e.g., Workstation 1 handles shoes-small + shoes-large with different crops → 2 shelves).

5.2 — Each shelf binds:

1. A barcode (printed and scannable)
2. A workspace (which workstation + hardware to use)
3. A preset (which capture + editing configuration)

Plus optionally: name, tags, notes for organizational purposes.

5.3 — Operator scans a shelf barcode → CAPP switches to that shelf’s workspace + applies its preset. Then operator scans the item barcode → item enters the configured workspace + preset state. Two scans, zero UI clicks.

5.4 — A barcode reader connected to the CAPP workstation. PhotoRobot supports USB and Bluetooth barcode readers; configuration is in CAPP Settings → General → Barcode Scanner (m06 Section 4 — barcode auto-create context).

Exercise 6 — Diagnose slow editing pipeline

B is correct. The new operator hasn’t internalized the folder-wide editing model. They’re doing per-image edits in Single Image mode, repeating work that the preset’s folder-wide operations would do automatically.

Verification: ask the new operator to demo their workflow. Watch for Single Image mode usage on every frame. Solution: walk through the preset’s scope+operation tree together; show how folder-wide operations propagate; have them edit the next item with the preset alone (no manual touch-ups).

(A/C/D/E are all unlikely. Computer speed wouldn’t cause 5-7× slowdown; presets don’t silently corrupt; old CAPP versions would have different bugs; image resolution doesn’t multiply edit time linearly.)

Exercise 7 — Pre-flight checklist

If you ticked all 9, you’re ready for the module knowledge check.

Done?

When you’ve worked through all exercises and reviewed the solutions, ask your instructor (or self-administer) the module knowledge check: 5 questions drawn from a pool of 12.

Knowledge check is not graded for certification — it’s diagnostic. If you score low, re-read the relevant textbook section and try again. Then proceed to module B17 — Synchrobox (multi-camera capture orchestration) or B25 — Troubleshooting (production failure playbook).