Editing product photography: White background while preserving shadows.

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2020-06-20 14:30:36

Hi everyone,


Can anyone provide tips as to how to edit an object against a pure white background and still maintain the object's shadow? The photos are product photography for an online store.


Here's my process:

1) Import photo
2) Use smart erase on the upper background (100%)
3) Use smart erase on the lower background at a lower opacity... with bad results

Image


Thank you for your time and suggestions!

Gratitude,

Charles
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2020-06-22 09:45:54

Hi Charles! Is this more or less the result you're looking for?
Image
If so, what I'd do is:

1. Make a selection of the object (without the shadow) using the Quick Selection tool
2. Choose Edit > Duplicate to place the object on a separate layer
3. Choose Edit > Deselect to clear the selection
4. Choose the original object photo layer (with the shadow)
5. Apply the Lightness color adjustment to it and adjust the Exposure or Brightness slider to brighten the entire image
6. Choose the regular Eraser tool and reduce its Opacity to around 10% + increase its Softness to 100% and erase the edges of the image near the shadows — with a low opacity, the technique you should use is painting with multiple brushstrokes over the same area. This way the edges will look natural

Hope that helps! Oh, and if you'd like to, you can share the original image and I could make a screencast of this process.