Creative Fuel

Creating a drop shadow using layer style.

The simplest way of creating a drop shadow is to use a layer style. As it is the simplest, it is the one used the most. With a little manipulation you can refine your shadow and stand out from  99% of all the other drop shadows.

Note for Mac users: this tutorial gives commands for PCs. On the Mac, it's almost the same command just make the following substitutions.

Windows	Macintosh
Control	Command (Most of the time); Control
Alt	Option
Backspace	Delete

Open a Photoshop file, or create a new one. For the purpose of this tutorial I'll be using an image of a couple of marbles.


Copy the background layer then fill it with white or the color you prefer. Select the layer with the marbles and name it Marbles. Unless your image already has a clipping path or has the marbles separate from the background you'll need to separate them.

Tip: As a working practice, never erase parts of the image. It's a destructive method, that will usually make you want to kick yourself later. Instead, use a mask.

To create a mask for this image use the magic wand to select the white background, then go to Select and Inverse, or Shift + Ctrl + I, and then click the mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette.



Now you should have a solid colored background layer and a layer with the marbles on a masked background. Notice in the layers window there is an icon of the image and an icon of the mask, click on the mask.

With the mask selected, go Layer, Layer Style and then Drop Shadow. This is where most people gratefully see a drop shadow and consider the job done. However the default drop shadow is too dark for most situations. Here's the default settings.

If you have to use the layer style method you can make it lovely with three adjustments.

First – deselect the Use Global Light option and move the angle until it matches the image lighting. Be sure to keep this consistent throughout the composition.

Second – change the opacity. The opacity depends on the image an the background color, but like I said most of the time 75% is too dark.

Finally, adjust the size, spread and distance.
The further the shadow is from the object the higher it will appear to be from the background. If the shadow is directly under the object, it will appear to be sitting on the background.

Taking the time for these adjustments will make your drop shadows really work.

BEFORE

AFTER

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and if you would like to see more of my Photoshop work please check out my portfolio at http://creativefuelweb.com/portfolio/print