making a pure white background

[kkamin]

What would be the best way to make the background pure white but keep the products shadows if possible? (I'm not opposed to recreating the shadows if needed). Client wants a pure white background for this shot.

I'm looking a an effective way to do this that won't take me an hour of hand painting. I was thinking so far that I could create clipping masks of the objects, forget about the shadows, bring the background to a clean white and then recreate the shadows. But is there a better way?

Thanks

[Juergen D]

Selecting the objects including the shadows and placing them on a new layer works fairly decently. Then placing a pure white layer underneath. Some adjustments to the shadows can be made via layer mask.

Juergen

[Heretic]

I do it every day at my current job, mask out the products, place them on their own layer, use curves to remove the background, and I use a High Contrast Adj. Layer to see if there is any scum dot left in the background. I also usually desaturate the shadow layer. Flatten and move on to the next.

I generally recreate the shadow though, I just find it easier.

[chillin]

I used some feathering in the selection & repeated the layer x3.

[kkamin]

Originally Posted by chillin

I used some feathering in the selection & repeated the layer x3.

Nice job, what does repeated the layer x3 mean?

[chillin]

I duplicated the layer with the selection to minimize the feather effect.

[Carol Heath]

I work on a lot of images like this. Just one way to do it;

Duplicate the background layer, Create a clipping path around the objects then mask out the background on the duplicate layer.

Create a new layer beneath that layer and fill with white. Add a layer mask to the white layer and paint to reveal the shadow beneath. You may find that you need to use a curves or levels adjustment on your bottom layer if the shadows look unrealistically harsh against your new white background.

HTh

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[Amanda_Lauren]

There are plenty of ways to do it, all the techniques mentioned here work great. Just make sure you check your numbers in your info palette that they all read 0. When I worked in pre-press this was a key element for clients. I used to knock the background to white with color fill (guarantee for zeros then) around the object, using a mask. Then clients had specific requirements for the shadows (to read specific numbers), so then I would use hue/sat->colorize->desaturate all way, just on shadow. No need to recreate shadows. Just paint them back in the mask. Merge. and Voila. This might be more complicated than what you need. But this was the pre-press way for certain companies (silo-ing, clipping paths, and softmasks type deal).
Good Luck.

Salut,
Amanda