PSE Drop Shadows

Megan Turnidge · #1 03-31-2009, 10:39 PM

Hi scrappers! I know one of the questions I get most frequently is, “how do I make my shadows more realistic?” The amazing thing with digital is that we really can make our pages look real and 3-dimensional…. if we do our shadows right. I think shadows are so important and can really make or break a page.

So, here’s a basic how-to for Photoshop Elements users. I am using PSE 5, but this will apply to versions 6 and 7 as well (please let me know if you run into problems with other versions).

So, you can find your shadow layer styles in your Artwork and Effects palette. Mine sits in the upper right corner of my workspace. Find the drop shadows under Layer Styles (left pull-down menu in the palette) and then click on the right pull-down menu and select Drop Shadows. If you cannot see your Artwork and Effects palette, go to Window and make sure Artwork and Effects has a check mark next to it.

To apply a drop shadow, select your layer and then select the drop shadow style you’d like in the special effects palette and click APPLY. Out of habit, I always select LOW or SOFT EDGE. If you use HIGH, your stuff will look like it’s flying off the page (not really what we want) and hard edge is too harsh and doesn’t provide a realistic effect.

Once your style is applied, you will likely have to adjust the settings. To do this, double click on the FX icon next to the layer in the layers palette. Mine looks like a little sun.

Then you should get a window like this:

SIZE: This will control how hard or soft the shadow is. Low settings will make the shadow have a harder, sharper edge. Higher settings will make the shadow more soft or fuzzy.
DISTANCE: Controls how far away your shadow is from your element.
OPACITY: This controls how transparent your shadow will be. You will want to change this depending on the color of your background (bring it down for very light colors).
You can also select the angle you’d like the light source to come from. I like my light source from the lower right, so I use around -45 degrees.

Those are the settings I used for the frame: size – 16, distance – 17, opacity - 69. Paper and paper frames, since they’re thin, need smaller, lower shadows. Bigger, bulkier things will have larger, farther shadows. I do not have settings I use consistently. I change my settings on every page.

I personally like to change the color of my shadows. Naturally, not all shadows are black. ;) I click on the color picker box (circled in the shot below) and then I hover over my canvas and the eye dropper appears. I take a sampling of the background layer and then I take that color much darker in the color picker so I have a darker shade of my background color. Then I click OK and then click OK again on the Style Settings window to close it.

Here are the settings I used for a flower. Since it’s bulkier than a paper frame, I brought up the size and distance a bit.

For something like a string, their shadows are smaller. Here are the settings I used on this string:

So there ya go! The very basics of drop shadows for PSE! :) A more advanced tutorial coming soon for making more realistic shadows using custom shadow layers will be coming soon!

littlekiwi · #2 04-01-2009, 12:09 AM

Thank you Megan for the great tutorial!

montmeag · #3 04-01-2009, 07:48 AM

Thanks Megan. I forget about changing the color. That and I guess I've been too timid to get my numbers up that high. On the string, is your shadow offset because of the distance? I love that look and just have not been able to recreate it. Can't wait to see the custom shadows tut, thanks again!

Megan Turnidge · #4 04-01-2009, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montmeag

Thanks Megan. I forget about changing the color. That and I guess I've been too timid to get my numbers up that high. On the string, is your shadow offset because of the distance? I love that look and just have not been able to recreate it. Can't wait to see the custom shadows tut, thanks again!

Yup, just don't go TOO high on the distance or it will look weird. My next tutorial will be especially helpful for getting realistic shadows on those strings. ;)