Adobe Photoshop is a highly flexible image editing tool which offers various techniques in editing images/photos. Two very significant techniques in this realm are image clipping and image masking. Though both clipping and masking are used for image editing purposes, they have specific features and differences associated with them. Some of the differences between image clipping and masking are listed below.
Image Clipping
1.Pen tool is used. The output obtained will have hard edges.
2.In clipping, the images are saved including their path. Easy to select the path
3.Less natural appearance compared to masking when defining hairstyles.
4.Clipping is faster.
5.More commonly used.
6.Clipped image can be saved as a masked image using layer mask or Alpha channel.
7.E-commerce applications are more.
8.As clipping path is saved, any modification or further use is possible.
9.Illustrator or In-design wont support clipping path.
10.Supports all formats.
11.Image output size is less.
Image Masking
1.Mask tool or techniques such as Layer mask can be used. Output will have smooth edges.
2.The images are saved without a path associated with them.
3.Even intricate hair structures can be masked with natural effects.
4.Not as fast as clipping, but fixes complex hair styles faster.
5.Not used much, compared to clipping.
6.Not possible to be saved as a clipped image.
7.Less e-commerce applications.
8.Not as flexible as clipping.
9.Alpha channel supports other software or commercial applications.
10.Supports only .tiff and .psd.
11.Image output size is more.
Article by : Rarima N S
SBL – Technology People Trust
http://www.sblgraphics.com/
