Drop Shadow Question

SeattleSheri

SeattleSheri

Sweet Shoppe SugarBabe
I feel a bit silly asking this, but I'm curious what drop shadow settings most people use. I know it varies depending on the look you're trying to achieve. What are your standard defaults? I use PSCS3. I've been playing around trying to get mine just right. Do you typically start with black or a shade of gray? Do you use a blending mode?

Thanks!
 
I go with a dark grey and change up my blend modes depending on my mood :)
I swear by Misty's tutorials.
 
I'm with Col, I couldn't live without Misty's tuts for shadows! Use her method, you do the shadow as a seperate layer, not a layer style.
 
well y'all could give a girl a link :P

here's a link to Misty's tutorials..I use her method sometimes...I also use a style that when I do one I like, I just make a style out of it and tend to reuse it a lot (esp on paper)
 
I live by Traci Murphy's Drop shadow actions. But, I may have to check out Misty's tuts and give that a try :)
 
Meg when you create your own style, are you altering a drop shadow style? Is it possible to take a layer shape (how I do the shadows) and make it into a dropshadow style?
 
I'm THE worst with shadows... I'm checking out that tut link now! But I usually use a style that I picked up for most of my shadows (I don't know how to differentiate shadows enough)!
 
Thanks ladies, I will definitely check out Misty's tuts! I have a gazillion (okay, maybe 10) custom drop shadow styles I've made and I've made some shadows by hand, but usually I'm quite lazy about it. I also have some 3rd party plug ins, but haven't used them in ages. Maybe I'll make an action, since it's basically just duplicating the image, adding a gray overlay, reducing the opacity and adding a slight gaussian blur.
 
BrodoNY0123 said:
Meg when you create your own style, are you altering a drop shadow style? Is it possible to take a layer shape (how I do the shadows) and make it into a dropshadow style?
Click to expand...

well i double click my layer and the choices come up, I click drop shadow, normally do 43-90 in there then 6,5,8 or something and play til I like it..then I save it as a style so i can reuse it on that type of element or paper (like I save one as paper strips, ribbon, misc elements, etc)

It's not duplicating the shape..but it does the same thing on whichever shape I happen to use it on if that makes ANY sense lol
 
I mostly use PSP for scrapping and shadowing is a lot easier (I think) than PS. I use a plugin called Eye Candy 4000: Shadowlab for most of my shadows except for when I need it on a separate layer, then I just use PSP's drop shadow tool.
 
I just put together a customize drop shadow action, if anyone wants let me know. I made it interactive so you can adjust the opacity and gaussian blur dependnig on the image. :)
 
Sherri... did you make on action that you can run on the item IN the LO? I've tried and tried and I cannot figure out how to do it. I can do one that works on an item if it is open alone... does that make sense?

Editting to add: I do all my shadows last, so that's why I'm wanting to do it this way, instead of shadowing things before I put them in a LO.
 
mrs_jb said:
Sherri... did you make on action that you can run on the item IN the LO? I've tried and tried and I cannot figure out how to do it. I can do one that works on an item if it is open alone... does that make sense?

Editting to add: I do all my shadows last, so that's why I'm wanting to do it this way, instead of shadowing things before I put them in a LO.
Click to expand...
Yes, it can run within the layout. The trick is to make sure and rename the layer within the action, otherwise the action will seize up because if your layer is named something differently from when you wrote the action vs when you run it it won't be able to find the proper layer (unless there is a trick I don't know about, lol --- which is probably the case).
 
No, I thought that too about the layer name, but for some reason I still can't get it to work. It would save me SO much time though, so I'll keep at it.
 
Wish those actions would work with PSE 6. clicking on the FX on the layer gives you a fair amount of control, but you can't put it on a separate layer, at least in my experience.
 
I think both Sheri and Meg should ul their actions to YouSendIt and then post the links here for us truly lazy scrappers. :p
 
haha mine is just a style not an action :P I just click on the layer then the style haha

umm i'd upload them if i could find them lol...where do they save?
 
I usually have mine set at:
opacity: 75% unless it's a clear element or lace, then I set it to 15%
angle: -45
distance: 5
speed: 0
size: 5
 
Brooke W said:
Wish those actions would work with PSE 6. clicking on the FX on the layer gives you a fair amount of control, but you can't put it on a separate layer, at least in my experience.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wish we could separate our shadow onto a new layer. I wrote a little tutorial on my blog for PSE about making your own shadow layer if anyone want to check it out: http://littlebitscrappy.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-pet-peeve-so-tut-for-you.html

BTW, I don't have settings I use over and over. I change them A LOT depending on what I'm going for. I do wish I had some actions and such. At least one for paper that I want to look like it's sitting flat against the page.

I also change the color of my shadows, especially when layering on light colored papers. I like brown shadows on some pages too.
 
Last edited:
I set mine at this usually...
opacity: 45% most elements and pics...20% for journaling
angle: -45 {almost always}
distance: 5 {I play with this until I like it}
speed: 0 {I play with this until I like it}
size: 5 {I play with this until I like it}

I use really high numbers when I want alot of depth....and I don't do any of my shadwoing until I am done with putting everything on my LO as well~
 
I don't have Photoshop on my MAc yet, but I use PSE6 on it. I use the generic settings and then I fiddle with the sliders until I get the look I want. If it isn't working, then I create my own shadow on it's own layer, just like in Misty's tutorial, :)

YOu just have to play around until you get the look you want, :)
 
LeeAndra said:
I think both Sheri and Meg should ul their actions to YouSendIt and then post the links here for us truly lazy scrappers. :p
Click to expand...
lol .... okay, here it is! I made it in PSCS3, so I'm not 100% sure it works in PSE, for those of you that use that program. I think all of the elements of the atn are avail in PSE. Back in the good old days when I used PSP, I'd made a script similar to this for bent photos, but it's long gone, so I can't share it.

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=RXNpcXlwbWd3TGhFQlE9PQ
 
FlirtatiousBrat said:
well i double click my layer and the choices come up, I click drop shadow, normally do 43-90 in there then 6,5,8 or something and play til I like it..then I save it as a style so i can reuse it on that type of element or paper (like I save one as paper strips, ribbon, misc elements, etc)

It's not duplicating the shape..but it does the same thing on whichever shape I happen to use it on if that makes ANY sense lol
Click to expand...

This is what I do also, I have certain "settings" that I use for certain elements. It took me about 6 months before I started doing my own shadows, I used Traci Murphy's before that, and they were GREAT for me.

I keep my angle at 120, that is default, because *I* like the light source coming from that direction. I do my stitches at around 90 most of the time, Flergs recommended this to me once before. The distance/size depends on the size of the element, the color of it, etc. I also adjust the opactiy depending on the color of the paper behind it, if the element is ON something else (ie, button on a ribbon).
 
I need to start saving mine as a style, too. That's a good idea. The color of my shadows vary, depending on the color of the bg. If it's a dark bg, I use that color at 85 - 100 %. Light bg, I keep it a shade of grey and lower the opacity.
 
Saving them as styles is great because then you can have a bunch of different ones -- I have smaller/sharper ones for items "close" to the background, and bigger/fuzzier ones that are for things that are supposed to look further off the page.
 
I'm always up for better ways on doing dropshadows! I use CS2 and usually set mine at 75% opacity, color 3d2908, distance - 7, spread - 0, size - 12. It varies with different elements. For elements that are more raised off the page, I turn the dropshadow into another layer and (here's my favorite bit) use the Warp tool to bend them to submission :)
 
Just read through it, and Misty's tut should be easily adaptable for PSP users as well. I'll have to play with it tomorrow.
 
How's this for you ... I didn't know there was any other way to do a shadow beside a layer style. Maybe that's all the options there are for PSE 3.0? I know I have a pretty old verison.

I always set my layer style to 2 or 3 for the pixel depth or whatever it's called. I don't like big drop shadows on my elements.

Melinda
 
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