How to Create a Realistic Drop Shadow – Want to know the secret of how a product turns into a top-selling product online? Because the shadow makes the photograph look professional and realistic. Creating a realistic shadow with camera settings is quite tricky and challenging sometimes. If you know how to create a realistic drop shadow in Photoshop, your online shop will enrich professional product photos to lure customers.
If you have enough Photoshop skills, then creating and editing images with the necessary settings gets easier.
In this article, you will get a step-by-step guide to realistic drop shadow Photoshop. You have to follow every step with patience, time, and skill to get a perfect picture.
How to Create Natural Shadows in Photoshop?
In Photoshop, you will find two types of drop shadow – one is form shadow, and the other is cast a shadow. When you apply to cast a shadow on the object, the shadow will appear on the floor. On the other hand, the form shadow will appear on the item. While applying shadow, you have to work with different tools like blur, gradient, transform, layer mask, different layer styles, and alpha channels.
The Step-by-Step Guide to How to Drop Shadow in Photoshop
In this section, you will get the steps of creating a drop shadow on an object. You have to follow every single step correctly to get a perfect drop shadow on your item. So let’s start playing with shadow:
Step 1: Open the Image
First, open the image in Photoshop from the file option.
Step 2: Removing The Background
Next, remove the original background using a pen tool or lasso tool, or magic wand tool. After removing the background, create a new layer and apply a white color background.
Step 3: Create A Duplicate Layer
Make a duplicate layer of the image layer by pressing the (Ctrl+J) button. Give it a different name.
Step 4: Make The Foreground Color Black
You have to change the foreground color by pressing (Shift+X) or manually selecting the black color from the color panel. You can apply a different color. Then you have to work with opacity, and angle to make the shadow real like from the dialogue box.
Step 5: Change The Duplicate Layer Color
Select the duplicate image and turn the color to black by pressing (Shift +Alt + Delete). You have to work on this layer as it will not damage the original one.
Step 6: Create and Distort the Shadow
Select the black color image layer and press Ctrl+t. By this free transform will get created before starting to create a shadow.
Step 7: Drag The Image Down
Now click and drag the image from the middle down to cast a shadow of the image. Now keep this layer under the original layer.
Step 8: Quit Transform Tool
After creating a cast shadow, release the transform tool to adjust the shadow layer.
Step 9: Creating an Alpha Channel
After shadow creation, to give a realistic effect, use the alpha channel. You can do any effect by creating this channel. All the edit options will appear in a dialogue box.
Step 10: Apply Gradient Color
You can apply gradient color while working on the alpha channel. Pick the color you want to apply, select the gradient tool, and change the foreground color to black. Draw the gradient from the furthest point of the shadow.
Step 11: Adjusting The Shadow
Now move and place the shadow layer by dragging it in the right place of the object. Make sure the placement creates the shadow to look perfect.
Step 12: Filtering The Shadow
After placing the shadow in the position, it is time to play with the filter menu. Go to the filter menu and apply motion blur on the shadow layer.
Step 13: Making The Shadow Smooth
After adjusting the distance from the blur option, you have to set the angle to 0. This angle will help to smoothen the shadow. Make sure to save all the changes by pressing the Ok button.
Step 14: Applying Gaussian Blur
After using the motion blur, now use Gaussian blur on the shadow layer. You have to keep the radius pixel 3 for perfection. Then save the changes.
Step 15: Adding A Layer Mask
Image:15.jpg
After applying the filter, now you have to add a layer mask in the shadow layer. It is for musking purposes.
Step 16: Using The Brush Tool
For a perfect touch, go to the brush menu and select the brush tool. While using the brush tool, change the opacity to 53%. You have to change the foreground color to black and pick the brush size per requirement. Use the brush on the shadow.
Step 17: Final Touch On the Shadow
After applying all the colors and fixing the shadow, now it is time to check whether the shadow is perfectly seen or not. If you see extra shadows, then use the eraser tool to remove them. To match the object and surrounding shadow, you can use the blend mode to multiply and opacity.
Your shadow-creating task is done.
Conclusion
Nowadays, a flat image doesn’t lure any customers online. The much you can give a professional 3D look to your product image with Photoshop Image Editing Services, the more you can sell your product from your online shop. If you know how to create a realistic drop shadow in Photoshop, you can give the image a 3D look. With this look, your eCommerce website will come with a professional look and encourage customers to come and buy your product. So try to follow every step given in this article while applying the shadow effect to your product image. Trust me; you will find it fun and exciting to edit in Photoshop.
How to Create a Realistic Drop Shadow
Published By
CPP Graphics Media
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