Shadow help
- Thread starter nehmelman
- Start date
Becca Bonneville
Sweet Shoppe Designer
Nikki Epperson
New member
I am going to have to take a look at that too! 
mixedclawzz
New member
suzyqscraps
New member
I can't say I'm fabulous at shadows, but here are a few things I do. I use PSE 5.
First off, I usually zoom in until my LO is about 25%. (I've heard more than once that at this %, it looks similar to how it will look printed.)
(Once you've added a shadow, you double-click on the little sun-like icon on the layer to open up the window to adjust the shadow's properties.)
I always change the color of the shadow to a darker shade of the background.
I try to think of how it would look in real life. Paper casts a really small shadow, so I usually use somewhere around a distance of 2 and a size of 2.
For things like buttons, they'll have a thicker shadow, so I'll change the size to somewhere between 10 and 16 (depends on the size of the button). The distance I keep between 2 to 5, since you don't want it to look like it's floating off the page. I use the same reasoning for other elements, like ribbons, etc. I keep the distance between 2 and 5, and then adjust the slider on the size until it looks about right to my eyes.
For stitching, I keep the distance at 0, since I don't want the holes to look like they're floating off the page. I use a size of 1 to 3, depending on the thickness of the stitching.
Just remember, thin items cast a small shadow (so small size) and big items cast a larger shadow (so larger size). Adjust the distance for how far off the page you want it to look. If you don't want it to float, keep the distance small. (If you're trying to make something like a butterfly look real, you'll want both large size and large distance.)
Anyway, that's what I do. Works for me. I'm sure I could make them look even more realistic, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much time. Good luck!
First off, I usually zoom in until my LO is about 25%. (I've heard more than once that at this %, it looks similar to how it will look printed.)
(Once you've added a shadow, you double-click on the little sun-like icon on the layer to open up the window to adjust the shadow's properties.)
I always change the color of the shadow to a darker shade of the background.
I try to think of how it would look in real life. Paper casts a really small shadow, so I usually use somewhere around a distance of 2 and a size of 2.
For things like buttons, they'll have a thicker shadow, so I'll change the size to somewhere between 10 and 16 (depends on the size of the button). The distance I keep between 2 to 5, since you don't want it to look like it's floating off the page. I use the same reasoning for other elements, like ribbons, etc. I keep the distance between 2 and 5, and then adjust the slider on the size until it looks about right to my eyes.
For stitching, I keep the distance at 0, since I don't want the holes to look like they're floating off the page. I use a size of 1 to 3, depending on the thickness of the stitching.
Just remember, thin items cast a small shadow (so small size) and big items cast a larger shadow (so larger size). Adjust the distance for how far off the page you want it to look. If you don't want it to float, keep the distance small. (If you're trying to make something like a butterfly look real, you'll want both large size and large distance.)
Anyway, that's what I do. Works for me. I'm sure I could make them look even more realistic, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much time. Good luck!
MikkelPaige
New member
Yes, that's a great tutorial.
What's the problem specifically? Maybe you're not going dark enough (be brave!)?
Sometimes it just takes a little bit of understanding and imagination of knowing where your light source is coming from (photoshop takes care of this for you but it helps to understand the concept) and the depth shadows of items should be? The larger the shadow, the further away from the page the item is (hypothetically). I hope that helps a tiny bit and makes sense!
Don't forget you are your biggest critic so don't be hard on yourself either!
What's the problem specifically? Maybe you're not going dark enough (be brave!)?
Sometimes it just takes a little bit of understanding and imagination of knowing where your light source is coming from (photoshop takes care of this for you but it helps to understand the concept) and the depth shadows of items should be? The larger the shadow, the further away from the page the item is (hypothetically). I hope that helps a tiny bit and makes sense!
Don't forget you are your biggest critic so don't be hard on yourself either!
Nikki Epperson
New member
Isn't that the truth???
nehmelman
New member
I use PSCS 3 and just can't seem to make them look right, when I look at them they look okay then I print and my page is flat. I usually use black to be dark so it looks shadow like. I even bought Misty's shadow action she had and I just can't get the hang of them. I want my pages to pop and look realistic.
ColleenSwerb
Brodo gettin her Swerb on
Black is actually usually too dark for shadows. I got with a deep grey and adjust the opacity. Color burn is also a good option. I usually test it with color burn to see it it'll look weird (sometimes it looks way weird, lol).
Do you use drop shadows, or do you make a seperate layer for your shadows? I make a seperate layer for every single item on my page, and then adjust the gaussian blur to my liking, and the distortion to my liking.
Then again, I've also never printed my LO's so I don't know if my shadows look o when printed or not, lol.
Do you use drop shadows, or do you make a seperate layer for your shadows? I make a seperate layer for every single item on my page, and then adjust the gaussian blur to my liking, and the distortion to my liking.
Then again, I've also never printed my LO's so I don't know if my shadows look o when printed or not, lol.
My advice is to make your shadows a little more dramatic than you think they should be. I had the same problem when I printed and and once I started doing that I've been much happier with my printed pages.