While auction sites like eBay make it easy for people to sell to a worldwide audience, not everyone has world-class product placement or photography skills. Unsatisfactory images on an auction can lead buyers to doubt the validity of the seller, similar to how a dirty retail location would scare away potential customers. To help remedy this problem, Vertus offers Bling! It, software designed to remove bland or embarrassing backgrounds from images of products you want to sell in an online auction or post on one of the many buy/sell sites, like Craig’s List.

Bling! It version 5.0.5 installs in the Vertus folder inside the Applications folder. Initially, this made it confusing to locate the program. Once launched, the application shows a very PC-like interface, it’s obvious the application is designed for the Windows environment. While it’s straightforward to use and easy to learn, it requires a different mindset than other Macintosh applications. For example, you cannot resize the window nor hide the application, but you can minimize it. Tools do not appear in the menu bar or menus, but appear as inelegant icons down the left side, but they do include help tags. Menu choices appear on the top of the window, but not in the usual Apple style. The edit option icons change within each tab.

Bling It! At Work

I want to relieve myself of an old skateboard, but the only product shot I took is not very appealing. I opened the skateboard image, sitting in the disaster area that was my room, at the time. The insane pile of laundry in the background surely identifies me as a not very professional person and certainly won’t help me sell my skateboard.


Galen’s Laundry and Skateboard

Bling! It immediately began to detect edges on the image, which is the technique it uses to blot out the background or picture element in question. While the edge detection works well for the most part, similar colors can lead to incorrect suggestions. There are many ways to remove the background to achieve the desired look, including automatic region selections, manual masking, and many edge-blending options. I opted to use smart blending, rather than soft feathering on the edges, to give it a slightly grittier look. Youuse the paint away viewer to brush away the old, unsightly background. While I can do a flawless masking job in Photoshop, I was surprised by the quality and quick, but effective mask techniques used in Bling! It.


Bling It! Delete Background Window

In order make sure that the masking looks correct, Bling! It includes a preview window that offers three size views of your image. While this feature improves the workflow, the presence of that window alongside a smaller tutorial window can clutter up the full-screen application. Those fortunate enough to work with two monitors can get around this by moving the two extra windows on the second screen. You can close both windows, but closing the preview window seems counterproductive to the workflow.

by Galen Wood, Editor