How to Create Advanced Shadows in Photoshop CS3

Creating realistic shadows in Photoshop used to be a lot of work. You had to make and feather selections, play with blend modes and opacity and rotate and distort the duplicate layer. With Photoshop CS3 you still have to do the same steps but you can take a few short cuts.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Open your Photoshop document. Select the object you want to add the shadow to and copy it to a new layer (Command + J.) You can also drag the selection from another file.

2. Add a drop shadow. Click on the "Add Layer Style" icon in the Layers palette and choose "Drop Shadow" from the pulldown menu. Don't accept the default settings. Soften the edges and adjust the distance to look more like a real shadow.

3. Choose "Create Layer" from the Layer menu Layer Styles submenu. Don't worry if you are warned that some effects can't be reduced. Your drop shadow will separate from the original layer and become a separate layer of its own.

4. Use the Distort and Free Transform commands to bend the shadow into a realistic shadow shape. Move the shadow to align with the casting object and position it where it would be cast by the image light source.

5. Tweak the layer blend and opacity. The settings will be copied to the layer from the original layer style settings. While "Multiply" blend mode will usually work best, some of the other darken blends may work better with specific backgrounds.

Tips & Warnings

• Study shadows in photographs and art to get a sense of what realistic shadows should look like. Pay attention to shadow edges, colors and how shadows from different objects overlap.
• You can take additional shortcuts with the Actions palette. Record adding a drop shadow and then creating a new layer from the style. After that, you simply need to play the action back, and your shadow layer is ready to modify. If you know how to add individual menu items, you can even create an action that lets you change the drop shadow settings.