Taking great pictures of clothing isn’t easy. Apparel on hangers looks lifeless, it can be difficult to style flat lay photos, and models are expensive. That’s where ghost mannequin product photos come into play. They create depth and visual appeal while eliminating the need to hire models.
Not every apparel shot will work to create ghost mannequin photos, but with our tips, you can learn how to create seamless ones that catch consumers’ eyes for all the right reasons.

What exactly is ghost mannequin photography?

Ghost mannequin photography involves having a photo of a garment over a mannequin or a person and editing the photo to eliminate the mannequin. Doing so adds dimension to the product while creating the illusion the garment is floating mid-air. It’s a favorite technique used by online business brands to showcase their particular products.


neck joint or Ghost mannequin photography allows e-commerce brands to generate compelling visuals that entice attention and convert consumers. The cohesion that cat mannequin photos bring to be able to e-commerce store websites also allows for consumers to view products—all product listings hold the same editing style and also background like you can see on outdoor retailer REI’s internet site:

Why use ghost mannequin product photos

In accordance with one survey, as many as 90% of men and women say product images are usually either extremely or essential when shopping online regarding non-grocery products. You are able to use ghost mannequin photos of one’s apparel products to satisfy these expectations.


screenshot saying 90% of consumers find product photos very important to online purchases
1,100 RESPONDENTS AFTER MAKING NON-GROCERY, ONLINE PURCHASES )


The following are just some of the advantages ghost mannequin photography can provide your business:

Include dimension and make items look realistic.

It’s a very important factor to neatly arrange components or footwear for product shots facing a white background, but it could be challenging to do the identical with clothing. The garment’s style is probably not suited for folding or perhaps laying it flat. The method is also time-consuming and doesn’t showcase the item at its best regarding shoppers to gauge just how it looks when used.
An invisible model, nonetheless, can demonstrate the fit of your garment—from lingerie and swimsuits to outerwear.

Add dimension and make products look realistic.

When you’ve ever hired specialist models before, you know it could be expensive and challenging to be able to coordinate. Ghost mannequin photography eliminates the necessity for hiring models as well as other creatives, like makeup performers, hair stylists, and assistants.
Simply by skipping this part, it is possible to focus on other areas of your business or career and save time and also money. Your shooting and enhancing workflow also becomes easier and faster eventually.

Attract all customers.

With out a human model in the particular photo, you don’t have to be able to worry about isolating many customers by not representing them within your model choices for principal product images. That’s not to imply you shouldn’t consider inclusivity entirely. Nearly a quarter regarding consumers aged 18 to be able to 30 want more range and inclusion in clothes and footwear brand advertising and marketing.

Eliminating models for product photos can enable you to focus on sourcing different, representative talent for marketing and advertising and lifestyle photos as an alternative.

Highlight all angles and facts.

Shoppers wish to inspect online purchases because they would in a physical store—they wish to see the product through different angles. They also may want to see the inside associated with apparel, the fabric utilized, and small details, such as lining, pockets, brand labeling, and other features.

Should you don’t use ghost mannequin pictures for clothing, many of those details are omitted—for instance, it’s virtually impossible to obtain a side view or inside shot without ghost mannequin pictures.

Environment-conscious women’s fashion store Girlfriend Collective uses a mixture of ghost mannequins and live model photos because of its products. On this bra itemizing, shoppers can see the interior lining of the racerback, something that might be impossible to demonstrate having a live model.

Put the concentrate on the product.

Humans naturally search for faces in visuals, not inanimate objects. Knowing this is often great for creating efficient banners, landing pages, and lifestyle photos—but less for white background e-commerce shots.
With more than 80% of fashion shoppers looking on mobile, listing photos that are easy to understand and navigate on smaller screens is vital for any apparel e-commerce business. By removing an individual from your product picture, you also remove the actual distracting elements, like areas of a model’s face, fingers, or feet. Now, the interest goes straight back toward the product.

Tips on how to execute ghost mannequin product or service photography.

You can shoot and edit ghosting mannequin photos in Adobe Photoshop cc 2023 yourself or outsource the task to a professional modifying studio like Path.

For just about any ghost mannequin photograph to operate, you’ll need two pictures:

⦁ A photo of the clothing with a mannequin or a are living model
⦁ A photo without showing any inside labeling
The two types of photos provide you with or the editor enough visual data to produce a composite image with a hidden mannequin effect.

1. Put your garment “on” for your first photo

Very first, shoot your garment on the mannequin or a live model using their arms pointing down (for upper-body garments). Make sure you’ve steamed or even ironed it first to eliminate as many wrinkles as you possibly can.

Use a simple history, like a solid grey backdrop, and be certain to photograph the mannequin directly on, not at a good angle. Doing so will prevent any distortion or skewing within the final image. Use a tripod to prevent any camera shake and keep your distance between the camera and also the garment the same.

2. Take you garment “off” for that second photo.

To photograph the inside of your garment, like the part of the clothing label, you can change the garment inside out and place it back on the design or the mannequin. You may also use a whiteboard or even foam core to cut your clothing item into it and stand it up within the same place you took the very first shots.

Take a few photos while using the same lighting, camera, as well as tripod setup for regularity.

3. Edit the ghost mannequin photos with each other.

Subsequent comes image editing to combine your photos and eliminate any imperfections—you can adhere to our step-by-step tutorial to learn to edit your photos to get a professional finish.

Get the most from the ghost mannequin product photographs.

There are several ways to enhance your own ghost mannequin photos—during the shoot and in the editing stage. We have also provided marketing ideas to help you take full advantage of your photos and improve sales.

Retouch imperfections

Make certain the fabric of your own clothing is taut and clean prior to the photoshoot. You should also search for wrinkles, seams, creases, unsightly stains, and loose threads. Possess a steamer, safety pins, Tape, and scissors on hand for just about any last-minute fixes on-set.

Checking that the clothing is polished can help you get a high-quality item look, but even in the best of times, you are able to miss an imperfection. Not everyone is lost because modifying can usually fix individuals. It’s a tedious procedure, but you can make use of photo retouching services in order to outsource and make space for more important company tasks.

Add shadow to provide depth to products.

In case your ghost mannequin shots appear flat, use drop shadows and reflective shadows to include depth. Doing so prevents your own products from looking like cardboard cutouts and provides them dimension. Such a little change can instantly transform your photos for the better.

Employ color change for completely new variants.

For just about any e-commerce business selling countless items, it’s costly as well as time-consuming to shoot every new color variation associated with clothing. Instead, you can perform a color change edit towards the original ghost mannequin image for just about any new fabric colors or even prints.

Increase your branding or some other elements for marketing photos.

Maybe there isn’t product labels and tags during the shoot. You can add tags for the interior in post-processing. This is also helpful if the branding design changes nevertheless, you don’t have the resources to reshoot your entire inventory. You can observe this photo from Meters. MM Lafleur showcases the particular brand tag.

While using original ghost mannequin pictures, you can also cut out them and hang them on the rack or hanger along with added design elements such as graphics and text to highlight specific details. For instance, the sustainable farm-to-closet clothing brand Pareto runs on the photo of this crewneck sweater to exhibit to consumers the careful factors behind the product’s style.

Generate outfits.

Along with ghost mannequin photos of the clothing, you can create graphic groups to increase sales and never have to shoot each combination making use of live models.

⦁ Show product variations within an image: For easy merchandise comparison, you can put different color, pattern, or shape options in a photo. The responsibly-made underclothing and loungewear label The particular MORI Club sells any bra duo pack. Employing a single photo, consumers can choose which two styles to select.


⦁ Introduce the full collection: Similar to product or service variations, you can combine most garments to show an array of each new collection. The Los Angeles-based manner label House of Aama uses using this method to reveal newly-launched pieces for the brand’s Instagram page.


⦁ Design outfits and sell them like a bundle: If you have ghost mannequin photos of the inventory, you can begin curating outfits and promoting them as product packages. Getting rid of remaining stock, introducing buyers to new items, and offering seasonal promotions are simply some benefits of bundling. Sweetheart Collective, for example, sells this bundle associated with workout outfit essentials and shows the larger price if shoppers purchase all items individually.

360-spin photographs.

Let customers see the merchandise from every angle before they buy using 360-degree rewrite product photography. Augmented reality makes virtual shopping much more immersive by showing items in 3D. Shopify reports that some product pages by using this technology increased conversion rates by as much as 250%.

You don’t need to go straight into purchasing an augmented reality application, though. A basic turntable as well as multiple shots of your product provides you with an affordable entry into 360-spin photography.

Produce online shopping as a seamless experience.

Buying clothes is an individual experience, but it can end up being challenging if consumers can’t get good considering the products. Ghost mannequin photography is one feature you can include in your toolkit to assist improve the user encounter and boost conversions.

Consider outsourcing to some photo-editing studio like Path when the process is too time-consuming. Apart from making your customers’ buying journey easier, you’ll also save hours of the work day.

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