Say What? Ghosting a Mannequin?

If the title of this article made you raise your eye brows, then you have news coming. Read On!

Ghost mannequin photography is a common type of photographic practice in the apparel industry. We all know what mannequins are. They are those life size dolls that clothing shops put on the display to exhibit their product line. Clothing business owners came up with this idea of removing the mannequin yet keeping the mannequin like display to make their clothing items look much more attractive to the potential buyers. Images used on this article are examples of ghost mannequin photogrpahy.

Now to the million dollar question! How to ghost the mannequin or make the mannequin look invisible?

Not a hard job actually. In fact, it is lot easier than one would imagine. Ever heard of photoshop? Yes, it is that photo editing siftware  which can transform day to night, makes an average looking next door girl look like a super model, and makes those food items on the restaurant menu look so attractive that makes your mouth watering.

To create a ghost mannequin photography AKA invisible mannequin photography, a photographer makes the mannequin wear the desired clothing item. Photographer then takes a picture of that mannequin with the dress. Another picture is shot by the photographer of the same clothing item, only this time without the mannequin. Clothing item on the second photo s taken is such a way so that the annoying tag on the neck that keeps poking you on the back can be made visible.

These two images are then handed over to a photo editing expert who is skilled in doing photoshop works. A process called photoshop clipping mask is applied to clip out the clothing item from the first photo off the mannequin. Clipping path is also applied to clip the neck portion of the clothing item from the second photo making sure the tag is visible. These two images are them joined together using photoshop in a way that makes this ghost mannequin effect. Picture on the right here is a prime example off a ghost mannequin photography or invisible mannequin photography.