Transparent background

[ibejiart]

Hello,

I make often photos of African Art statuettes that I sell. In order to show depth I like to keep the shadow of the statuette, but I also need to change the rest of the background of the photo to a certain color or making it transparent. The attached file is an example.

Of course I know how to select the statuette, but how can I select also the shadow of the statuette so I can insert both statuette and shadow on another color and more uniform background ? For instance I need statuette and shadow to stay completely the same but on a white background. 

Thanks a lot for the help

Michele

Edited September 12, 2020 by ibejiart

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @ibejiart
I have attached a short video showing one way you can do what you want, quickly but not expertly.
I went through the process very quickly without many refinements so the more time you put into making the selections as good as you can get them (I completely missed out the gaps) the better the result will be, but it probably won’t be perfect using this technique.
I’m sure one of the experts will be able to post a better technique so keep coming back to see what they post.

P.S. I used a yellow background (to show I wasn’t ‘cheating’) but you can change the rectangle colour to white instead.

[thomaso]

Depending on the background you also could try the filter "Erase White Paper". Since it doesn't offer any options and appears to affect the entire image you might need a copy of the isolated statue.

[smadell]

Here's another take on it.

I selected and copied the statue to a new layer. I also selected and copied the shadow to another new layer. In selecting the shadow, I tried to make a larger selection that included all of the shadow and some of the background. I feathered the edges, but then re-established a sharper edge where the shadow and statue meet. I then use Blend Ranges to get rid of the background portion of the Shadow layer, and set the Blend Mode to Luminosity to neutralize the color(s) in the Shadow layer. I used a Levels adjustment to darken up the shadow a little.

There's many ways to skin a cat...