Drop shadows by Ann-Marie – Using Photoshop CS3 (easily adaptable to other programs)

Drop shadows are easily one of the more difficult things to get right on your scrapbook pages.  I remember when I first started digi-scrapping I didn't even use drop shadows! Needless to say, those pages have been re-scrapped! I have seen a lot of different ways to achieve drop shadows and have played around a lot to get them right.  The first thing I learned, however, was that drop shadows are very personal things.  What looks right to you may not look perfect to someone else.  I think that we all have to play around to make our drop shadows our own, after all it's our page and only we know how we want the overall effect to look!

So without further ado I'll share a couple of tips with you.  I use Photoshop CS3 but you should be able to adapt my steps to use in your own program.

I am going to show you two ways to create a quick and easy drop shadow.  For my first example I am using a journal box and a background paper from my Allure mini kit.

STEP 1

In Photoshop, place your element on your background paper. In the Layers Palette, select the journal box layer and double-click it.  The Layer Style options window should pop up. Click on Drop Shadow.

Quick and nasty right?! This is what I used to do all the time when I first started. The drop shadow is black.  What is off about this is that the drop shadow really should be a darker version of whatever colour it is on.  So to make this drop shadow a touch more realistic we are going to customise it a little.

STEP 2

Go back to the Drop Shadow section in the Layers Palette window and click on the box of colour next to the Blend Mode field.

STEP 3

A second window should pop up called Select shadow color.  Using the eye dropper tool which should be selected as the tool automatically, click on a dark part of the background paper, or if it is all a similar colour just click on the paper layer and then using the shadow color palette, select a darker version of it to make the drop shadow.

STEP 4

In my case I have chosen a browny-green.  And that’s it – you may, however, change the size and or shadow angle if you wish.

STEP 5

Now I would like to show you how to create a drop shadow on it’s own layer.  This comes in very handy when you have multiple colours underneath the layer that you wish to apply the drop shadow to.

For this example I am going to show you by using a striped paper underneath an alpha. The paper is from Splendiferous {the papers} and the alpha is from Splendiferous {the alpha}.

Place the alpha on the paper and then Ctrl+click (or Command click) the alpha layer – be sure to click in the picture of the layer in the Layers Palette to select it.  You should end up with marching ants around the shape of the alpha.

STEP 6

Making sure you have the Magic Wand tool selected, move the marching ants a couple of pixels to the right and the bottom by using the arrow keys on your keyboard.  Now your marching ants should be slightly lower than the alpha and slightly more to the right as well.  Once you have done that, be sure you are in the paper layer and press Ctrl+J.  What should happen is that above the paper layer and under the alpha layer you will have another layer in the shape of the alpha created in the paper. This will not be immediately noticeable as you are looking at the page because of the paper background layer so check in your Layers Palette to be sure you do.

Once that is done, press Ctrl+U to play with the Hue and Saturation.  Toggle the Lightness slider until you are happy with the darker section under the alpha.  Don’t go too dark as you will end up with a black shadow.  The trick is to get all the colours that are in the paper a little darker than they were to create the shadowed effect.

STEP 7

You could also play around with the Curves by pressing Ctrl+M and adjusting the colours there also or even the Brightness/Contrast controls.

Now that was super easy wasn’t it?!  For a finishing touch you want to Blur that shadow so it has a softer look, which is characteristic of a shadow.  Using a Gaussian Blur works quite well, play about with it to get the look you feel happiest with.  I have used the Gaussian Blur at 2.6px. At this stage you may even want to play with the Opacity of the blur layer as well.  Whatever you do DO NOT move the shadow layer!!  This is because you have a patterned paper underneath and you will move the pattern of the shadow out of kilt and end up with an obvious, unaligned pattern.  Just re-do your shadow layer from scratch if you feel you need to move it to make it either smaller or bigger.

There you go, two great ways to help you create drop shadows.  Go ahead and use them on your next layout...and don’t forget to have FUN!