Selecting & masking shadows

[harryjsaddler]

I photograph images of paintings and drawings and prepare them for publishing on the web. I prefer to have the image edges pure white so that the image doesn't appear to have a border on a white web page, but I do want to preserve their shadows against the wall they're photographed on, without resorting to fake drop shadows. See the before and after pix attached.

My technique is to hand-select the edges of the artwork – just barely 'cropping' the edge; invert the selection to select just the wall; create a pure white levels layer; then use different paintbrushes to reveal the edge and the shadow (it usually takes 4 different custom brushes). Note that in the final (rightmost) image, there appears to be no wall, but the shadows are (more or less) accurate.

The question is: is there an easier way to do this, especially the selection part? Unfortunately, I usually can't use the flood select tool to select the wall, since it and the artwork are usually too close in value / color. I considered shooting against a green screen (for easier selection), but then I'd have green shadows  Any ideas?

[David in Яuislip]

1 hour ago, harryjsaddler said:

without resorting to fake drop shadows

Your call but some of the fakes can look pretty good and it's a darn sight  easier with a hard crop and css shadows

[harryjsaddler]

Thanks, David! I agree, that looks pretty good. How about this one? This painting is on a 2" deep stretcher, so the shadow makes that evident to the viewer.

This one is on a cigar box…

And then there are works on paper with ragged edges, which are a pain to select:

d

 

[David in Яuislip]

I don't see why the first image can't have a box shadow like the one above it, the cigar box is a cinch to cut out with the pen, no idea about wobbly edges. At the end of the day, images on a web page are only going to approximate what you'd see in a gallery. It's a case of experimentation but I prefer speed using a hard crop and css rather than struggling to select the flamin' thing. Patience is a virtue I'm a bit short of. Actually I've scanned the bottom edge, a couple of ideas in the svg. The screenshot shows a hard crop with the bottom edge replaced. Needs more work but might be an idea

WobblyEdges.svg