How can I shoot and edit product photos so the background is clean white or transparent?

The easiest, most professional workflow starts at capture, not just in editing. Photograph the product against a white backdrop, or a plain background in a color very different from the product, and light it strongly and evenly. Be careful not to overexpose the product itself. If the shot is made this way, cleanup in Photoshop or GIMP can be very fast.

Typical workflow:

• Shoot on a clean white or contrasting seamless background.
• Use Curves/Levels to push the background to pure white.
• If needed, use Magic Wand/Fuzzy Select to select the background, adjust tolerance, then delete it or fill it with white.
• Feather the selection slightly to keep edges smooth.

If the website background is white, many stores simply use a pure white background rather than true transparency. True transparency usually means saving to a format that supports it after removing the background.

So the industry-standard approach is generally: controlled product photography first, then quick retouching. If the original photos are cluttered or poorly lit, background removal becomes much slower and less convincing.