Removing Background Flash Shadow in Paint Shop Pro X2

Hi. I have a few home studio shots where there is a shadow on the plain white background that I would like to remove. The background was close to the subject, so the subject overlaps the shadow a bit. (Lesson learned...)

I don't have PhotoShop, but I do have Corel's Paint Shop Pro X2. I have been using the Paint Shop Pro's background removal tool to remove these shaddows, which is tedious to say the least, and the results are sometimes (usually?) not pretty. Is there a technique using layers or some other feature of Paint Shop Pro X2 that would do a better job in removing the shadow on a plain white background? Step-by-step instructions would be very helpful and much appreciated.

Thanks!
~Dom

I can't help you with Paintshop, but can give a tip to help your hotshoe mounted or onboard flash photography to eliminate/hide the shadow.

Either bounce your flash or if you can't bounce shoot in landscape then crop as portrait in post processing. When you shoot in landscape the shadow is hidden behind the subject where when you shoot in portrait mode you get a deep/ugly shadow beside the subject

Just from reading it sounds like maybe you could use a Drop Shadow effect. Just use white instead of black to cover the shadow. I have PSPX2, but haven't used it in so long I couldn't give a step by step.
Let us know if this helps.
A picture is worth a thousand words if you could post at least a small one.

I've been playing about with using two 580EX flash units off camera. I've never done this before, so I know I have a lot to learn.

The shadows on the close up portraits aren't that bad, but they are quite a distraction to me as the photographer, but my wife doesn't seem to mind them. I am working on my lighting technique (I will no doubt post something in "Small Flash and Studio Lighting"), but I do want to fix this series of photos which have already been taken.

Thanks,
~Dom

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