I am finding this too hard, I googled and found some companies that do this sort of thing, has anyone tried them? Is clipping path the same as deepetching. deepetch.com seems to be one good one, I also saw lazymask.com and digital-media-tech.com. Has anyone had any experience with this sort of thing. My catalog has over 300 images of jewelery and jackets with fur fitted on manequins due in two weeks, all shot on a blue studio background. Do I require alpha channel masking? Can anyone help please?

You could probably do this yourself with a batch process in Photoshop or something similar, since you've shot it on a blue background it's simply a matter of adding an alpha channel, selecting the blue color color, finding the right (color)margin, apply a feather to the selection (to soften the selection a bit) and then delete this selection.
I think it's worth trying this out before spending a few $100 and if it doesn't work you could still try the specialized companies

If you are using professional level software this is simple. By using Photoshop's color select you should be able to remove the background with ease. You could, dependent on budget, consider hiring a professional to accomplish the task for you.

We have done this in our business class last year and it was quite easy. In Adobe Photoshop, you simply open up your image and use the Magic Wand to click on areas with similar colours adjacent. You repeat this for however many areas you want to delete, but since yours are on a blue background it should be quite simple.

You can use the open-source GIMP program do this, it is a bit more complicated but once you get the hang of it, it is very easy.

If the images to be processed with photoshop.
You can use the some called range selection to select a range of
color specified in a popup dialog.

Also, you can adjust the level of range by drag the slider on the dialog.
After done that. You have a selection active in place on the image.
Do whatever you like such as adding layer mask or use mask or quick mask
to modify it.

Okay they have suggested Photoshop. There are other alternatives that are free. For instant just load up your image to paint which comes on all computers with MS Software. There you can just simply erase the background.

You can also go to:http://www.iomx.com/download/free_animation_software.htm and see if there is anything there to help you. I also think that Animation Factory, which is free online, has a simple onlne software that all you have to do is point to the background of the picture and it will take away that particular portion where it is see through or you can add what ever you want.

You can also try to find online freeware that will let you remove the pictures' backgrounds by puting in the search box of your browser the following:free online software to remove the background in pictures. I did and this is what I came up with:http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-frz6&p=free%20online%20software%20to%20remove%20the%20background%20in%20pictures&type=

I have successfully removed the background with little effort from many pictures then added a different background using free software.

You might also try Microsoft Gif Animator which is free and can be downloaded from the internet. It will take the background out of several pictures or just one. But they have to be in gif format for this particular software.

If I was not sure of a task, I would duplicate the layer and save it so you know that you can do anything you want and not ruin the actual design.

On the dupe layer I would probably try to select the blue with either wand or replace color and then try to make sure nothing of importance is getting cut out, or that it is jagged looking.

If on the practice layer, I would cut away and maybe have a light feather on it so that it doesn't look all cut out and would be more standout. I think I am getting ahead of myself, but I am just thinking as I type.

Anytime you save as or duplicate items and layers, you are less likely to make a mistake that cannot be taken back... And you can learn from what does and does not work.