Dodging White Background and Shadows

[murimurano]

Hi,
on the attached image 1.jpg, i'm trying to dodge the white background to pure white while maintaining the natural shadows of the plate and cup.

I'm having issues with two things:

1) while dodging the background to white, even with the softest brush, it creates a more defined shape of the shadows. The shadows should fall off gradually into the white background (fading away) and when i dodge around the shadow with the softest brush to make the background pure white, it shapes the shadows into too much of a defined shape. This is especially noticeable on the shadow of the mug. It is almost cone shaped now. See attachment 2.jpg. (1.jpg is the unretouched photo, 2.jpg is the retouched photo).

2)
The shadows of the plate and mug are too dark. I want to brighten them but using the dodge tool hasn't worked out well for me either. Any suggestions how i can brighten the shadows?

I have a ton of images i need to perform the above tasks too so i'm looking for the least time consuming methods. I realize that i could cut out the plates and then brush in new shadows etc but that will be too time consuming. I want to use what's already there, the shadows are also more natural the way they are shot as opposed to me recreating them.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[chillin]

Something like this?

[murimurano]

Originally Posted by chillin

Something like this?

I'd like the shadows to be even lighter but you did figure out the fading of the shadows. Can you elaborate on your technique?

[Flashtones]

you should really isolate your products from the background so you can treat them independently of one another.

[chillin]

Originally Posted by murimurano

I'd like the shadows to be even lighter but you did figure out the fading of the shadows. Can you elaborate on your technique?

I used Mac's filter to remove white & then I used masking to bring as much shadow as needed without affecting white pixels. You would gain better control of the shaded area if you follow Fashtones advice & isolate the products.

[murimurano]

Originally Posted by chillin

I used Mac's filter to remove white & then I used masking to bring as much shadow as needed without affecting white pixels. You would gain better control of the shaded area if you follow Fashtones advice & isolate the products.

This is exactly the result i was looking for. Can you please explain in detail how you achieved this? I didn't understand your last reply. From you previous post it looks as if you erased the background and then masked it? I'm not sure i follow...thanks.