What do you match colour against?

A physical sample, a supplier reference file or images you have already approved.

Can you make every colourway from one photograph?

Usually, if the base image is well lit; very different fabrics or finishes are better shot separately.

Will the colour stay the same next season?

That is the point of writing the correction into your rules: the next delivery is matched to the same reference.

Colour matching and colourways for product images

How do you make product colours match the real garment, and create colourways from one shot?

The short answer

Colour matching corrects a product image so it shows the garment as it really is, checked against a physical sample or an approved reference file. Colourways are made by recolouring one well-shot image into each version of the product, so a range can be shown without shooting every colour.

Why colour drifts

Studio light, camera settings, fabric sheen and the screen the image was edited on all pull colour away from the real product. The drift is small in one image and obvious across a range, and it is one of the most common reasons for returns described as 'not as pictured'.

How colour is matched

We match to something fixed: a physical sample photographed under controlled light, a supplier's reference file or a set of images you have already approved. Each image is corrected towards that reference, and the correction is written into your rules so the next delivery lands in the same place.

How colourways are made

One image of the product is shot well, then recoloured into each colourway. The work is in keeping the fabric believable: shadows stay the right depth, highlights do not turn grey, stitching and trims keep their own colour, and the texture of the fabric survives the change.

What we need from you

The original files, ideally in the camera's own format.
A reference for each colour: a sample, a swatch file or an approved image.
The list of colourways, with names as they should appear in file names.

Where AI helps, and where a person decides

Software is good at applying the same correction to a long run of images. It cannot tell whether a burgundy reads as the customer's burgundy, or whether a recoloured knit has lost its depth. Those calls are made by an editor, image by image, against the reference.

How ALT FIX helps with this

We match colour to your sample or reference, hold it across every image in the range, and make colourways from a single shot that still look like real fabric.

Image post-production

Questions

What do you match colour against?: A physical sample, a supplier reference file or images you have already approved.
Can you make every colourway from one photograph?: Usually, if the base image is well lit; very different fabrics or finishes are better shot separately.
Will the colour stay the same next season?: That is the point of writing the correction into your rules: the next delivery is matched to the same reference.