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Into the Shadows: Photoshop Shadow Basics
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There have been some changes in Photoshop shadows. For version 5.5
users, I will again refer you to Photoshop
Layers: The Freedom Tool, since I cover standard adjustments to
the default shadow in that article. The next heading applies to Photoshop
6 only.
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Photoshop 6 Layer Style window. You must have the style
you wish to work on checked and highlighted to reach the style options
in the right section of the window.
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The Layer Style window
The layer effect function in Photoshop 6 is radically different from
version 5.5. In fact, it has changed so much it no longer exists. The
Layer Effect function is now known as Layer Style. You can reach it
through the menu by selecting Layer>Layer Style and choosing the
style you wish to add. You can also reach the Layer Style window very
quickly with a double-click on the layer that is to receive the style.
The appearance of this window is radically different from the old Layer
Effects window, and it can be a little confusing. You must choose the
effect you would like to add or edit from the left, or Styles, column
in order to have the options for that choice displayed. See the small
section of the Layer Style window at the left. Note how the Drop Shadow
selection is checked and highlighted, which brings up the Drop Shadow
options in the right portion of the screen.
You can still add or edit many style changes at one time. The number
of styles has increased, as has the number of options for each style.
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But the principles are still the same for drop shadows, which is our
focus today. There are some name changes. Size replaces Blur, and Spread
replaces Intensity (as nearly as I can determine). There are also two
new features. You can add noise to your shadow, which can be great for
special effects, and quite valuable if you will be exporting as a GIF
file (you can often use limited colors in a shadow effect if there is
a small amount of noise added). You can also use the contour function
to change the way the that the shadow is calculated. See the samples
at the left to see the difference that changing only the contour style
can make.
And that's the quick wrap up on the new look and features for the drop
shadow function in Photoshop 6. From here on, I will give commands for
both version 5.5 and 6 where necessary.
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Default shadow at 75% for the top sample and opacity
reduced to 38% for the second sample.
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First, do something!
I will be thrilled and forever delighted if you will commit to never
using a default shadow again. If you make that commitment, then you
have to look at your shadow. Once you look at your shadow, and I mean
really look, you are halfway to better work. So, I propose a
motto for any shadow: First, do something!
In almost every case, the first action should be to reduce the opacity.
The default is far too dark for most applications (we will use this
a little later). I automatically reduce the default opacity in Photoshop
to less than 50%. The "stop" samples above have an opacity
of 21%. The default is 75%. Dark shadows not only look unrealistic,
they also tend to interfere with the design lines of the shadow, or
the legibility of text.
But you can go much further with a shadow than simply making it more
realistic through distance and opacity adjustment. Try using a different
color for your drop shadow. This effect can really help when you are
looking to create a glass appearance. In the image at the left, notice
how the light seems to be traveling through the text. Without the colored
shadow, the text appears to be textured, but not translucent.
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White rectangle on a white background with a drop shadow
effect.
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Using the shadow command creatively
It is pretty standard to use the shadow command to add a little life
to text or an image, but we often miss the other effects that can be
created with shadows, like page dividers.
A shadow recently saved the day for a Web site I was working on. We
had a strong graphic in the header, but the rest of the page was very
clean, neat and quite monotone. It was well balanced. However, we needed
to add a side menu that would fit with this page, plus several others
that were graphic intensive and much more "busy."
The answer was to use a white on white menu style. The menu was constructed
with white on a white page. The only divider created the illusion that
the menu section was a separate layer. Worked like a charm on all the
different pages.
The basic idea is shown to the left. Carry on to the next page, and
we will do some interesting things to our shadows that will make you
wonder why you ever considered shadows to be an automatic function.
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Next
page
Into the Shadows Tutorial Index
Into the Shadows: Isn't a Shadow a Shadow?
Photoshop Shadow Basics
Photoshop Shadow Tricks
Paint Shop Pro Shadow Basics
Edit Paint Shop Pro Shadows
Separate PSP Shadows from Objects
  
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