To define Clipping Path, one can say it is a closed path or shape which is drawn with the help of a photoshop pen tool for cutting off an image from the background. When the users apply Clipping path to an image, it will retain anything within the path and omit everything that is outside the pathway. It can be observed that the usage of Clipping Path has increased manifold in the recent years because of the high quality of work expected. Any image that has a soft edge or sharp edge can be manipulated with the help of Clipping Path. Usually Clipping Path is applied for correcting the colors of the image and also for adjusting the background.

Who needs it: Anybody, such as individuals or companies needs the services of Clipping Path when they are working on photography, advertising, or printing purposes. A company that handles catalogs gets hundreds of images for their usage in the catalog and they would want to get rid of the background of these images before inserting them into the final product. In the same way, a company which works on web development may also get number of photos that need to be published on their website and here also Clipping Path works out well for them to remove the background of the images to give the final product a great look.

Method: It is very essential that a quality Clipping Path is applied to the images before getting the final image of high quality. So a specialist of Clipping Path will create all paths manually with the help of photoshop pen tool. When he is done with creating the path to an image, he starts making use of Clipping Path to the image so that when the image is placed in the path, only the portions that were found within the path would be seen. Everything else will be removed and any background can be applied to that. A transparent layer for the background can also be applied to the image.

Any image with smooth curves is ideal for a beginner to handle with the pen. The pen is used to draw the path and the paths tab is clicked on the Layers Palette. The icon "New Path" has to be clicked on and a default path is created with the name "Path 1". This path has to be drawn with the help of the pen and only if necessary points have to be placed on the path. The user can create more than one path to be placed in an image but only one clipping path and so the user needs to specify which is to be the Clipping Path actually. He has to click on "Clipping Path" in the path options menu and choose "Path 1" for the work to be done. If the value of flatness is less, the path will be able to closely adhere to the curves. So he needs to enter a value there and click on "OK". The file needs to be saved first and then saved as EPS file. To view the complete effect of the file, it needs to be printed on a PostScript printer. A new background can be created and the EPS image can be drawn over it. So the image will have a different background altogether from its original one.

Professionals: Anybody who has got trained in Photoshop with special reference to Clipping Path and masking will be able to work on this aspect of images. Experience also counts when it comes to perfection. The final product is checked twice before uploading it on the website or published. The Clipping Path is a program that edits the image and functions similar to masking