Replace white, retain shadows

[dispatch]

Filip from Serbia, using Photoshop CS2 with WinXP, writes in with:

I want to replace white backgound with another color but to save shadows on image. With "replace color" is inposible to replace white. With "select by color" is not easy to save shadows. Please help me.

Fillip sent in this image above for the project.
If you can help, click "Post Reply" below! Thank you!

[posted by PS 911 dispatch on behalf of DTG reader]

[Neillo]

The only way that I can see of getting around this involves using 2 copies of the same image. Not ideal I know but hey. And no doubt there is a better, more professional way of doing this - if there is I'd like to know too.

On your furniture image create a clipping path all the way around the outside of your chairs – do not include the shadows, just the chairs themselves. Save this clipping path.

The trick of this comes if you use InDesign. Place the image into your document on top of your coloured background, making sure the image does NOT use the clipping path you've just created in PS, using your Transparency Palette change it from Normal to Multiply - the image now fades into the background - look how good the shadows are! Then make a duplicate of this image so that you now have 2 copies of the same image smack-bang on top of each other.
Now highlight the top image - change it back from Multiply to Normal in your Transparency palette, go to your Object menu down to Clipping Path, choose Photoshop Paths and use the path you created earlier. Now you should have a full colour image sitting on top of a 'multiplied' image. Group the images together in case they get moved accidentally.

n.

[Andrei Doubrovski]

Hi Fillip,

I believe you have to cut (mask) the furniture without shadows and then paint shadows in a separate layer. I made it not very accurately. However, in the attached PSD, you may edit the shadows layer mask to improve it.

[martin]

Hello Filip.

If background is white as in Your example, it easy:
1. You must select (by clipping path) furniture.
2. Make selection from path.
3. Create new layer with selection (CTRL J - on PC or CMD J - on MAC).
4. Make again selection from path.
5. Go to layer where furniture and background with shadows are together.
6. Press DELETE - You get on its layer: background with shadows without furniture and on second layer - furniture.
7. Create new layer with new color.
8. Change blending mode (on layer with background and shadows) from normal to multiply.

That's all.

http://www.photowithoutbackground.com

[Tips]

Okay, thanks guys for your methods. (applause)

I'd like to toss mine in here... I'll "Load Luminosity" to get the job done -- and I think give you pretty superb results without a lot of fuss...

I wrote the tutorial up in the 911 site:

Replace the Background... Save Shadows

So, now you don't just have a solution... you've got THREE solutions!

[brisomphotography]

I just tried this method immediately above and there seems to be some step missing or something.

everything is fine until here:

Load Luminosity: In the next step, we'll ask Photoshop to find just the luminosity of the image. Luminosity is that which gives any image "brightness" -- and should not be confused with "highlights". Luminosity doesn't look for actual pixels, but rather looks for the light value of the pixels. This is how we'll separate the delecate shadows from that bright white.

Macintosh: press Command + Option + tilde (Tilde is "~" little squiggle in the upper left-hand corner of your keyboard, just under the ESC key.)
Windows: press Control + Alt + tilde

In the window, you'll see a varied selection of racing ants. You have, in essence, selected the "brightness" of the image. However, what you really want is the non-brightness of the image so,
Choose: Select > Inverse (To invert the selection)

Now, make the new blank layer the target by clicking it (#3)

For the next series of operations, you may wish to Pop up the next diagram.

#4 Fill with Black: with the non-luminosity selected, and the blank layer selected,
Tap the key "D" to reset default colors, and
Option / Delete (PC: Alt / Delete) to fill the selection with black.

#5 Don't let what you see confuse you. The layer fill (#5) will look like a ghost, and your image (#4) will suddenly go very dark. This is the way it's supposed to be.


somewhere around 3 and 4 nothing works, I can't see my shadow image etc doing the D thing.

any help would be great