Rules of the shadows

[monia13]

What are the rules of the shadow placement? Sometimes I see them on the left and bottom, sometimes on the right and bottom. And sometimes on top and right or left.... If you pick one direction/placement, should you stick with for all your objects on the layout? Can you mix and match?

 

[Nixenkind]

I'm not aware of any specific rules... I do what I want . I like shadows best on the left and bottom, but that's just my taste. I choose the same position for all elements on a layout (because I find it looks strange otherwise), but go for a smaller shadow for paper on paper than I do for elements, which I like to look a little more three-dimensional. I also take smaller shadows for pocket pages with a lot of elements on them, because big shadows often fall on other elements, and I like to keep the pocket pages (my favorite) a little bit more graphic, diary-like, so a smaller shadow works for me.
But: almost all of my shadows are on the bottom and left .

 

[MommaTrish]

The majority say pick one direction and stick to it.... and then they tend to stick to it for every page. I'm slightly looser with my shadows. If you look at actual paper layouts you'll notice most shadows do go in the same direction, however some shadows tend to be slightly off others because of other parts of the layout blocking the direct light source. Also, you could always look at a page as having multiple light sources. When I work with the kids with their paper scrapbook pages their shadows tend to be skewed by 2 sources of light causing certain elements on one part of the page to have totally different shadows that elements on the other side.

Really it all just comes down to how nitpicky you are. lol

 

[jacinda]

Yep, what Trish said. I generally use a 45 degree angle for my shadows. I figure if I was sitting down flipping through a scrapbook album, my reading light would be slightly to the right and front of me.

 

[rachaelsscraps]

I personally do 120-130 degrees, because when I do the scanning for the pieces I extract, the shadows end up naturally on the bottom right side of the pieces. So say I scan a flower, the shadow does get extracted off of it, but the shadows under the layers of petals in the flower itself tend to stay on the bottom and a little off to the right side, so I keep my shadows going that way on my pages so it blends together. I hope that makes sense. lol. Also, when I hold my scrapbooks, I hold them upright so the lighting would come down from the top, placing my shadows to the bottom of the elements anyways But really it comes down to personal taste.

 

[krystalhartley]

I personally do 120-130 degrees, because when I do the scanning for the pieces I extract, the shadows end up naturally on the bottom right side of the pieces. So say I scan a flower, the shadow does get extracted off of it, but the shadows under the layers of petals in the flower itself tend to stay on the bottom and a little off to the right side, so I keep my shadows going that way on my pages so it blends together. I hope that makes sense. lol. Also, when I hold my scrapbooks, I hold them upright so the lighting would come down from the top, placing my shadows to the bottom of the elements anyways But really it comes down to personal taste.

This!! Of course, a lot of those elements can be flipped and rotated to put the shadow in the right spot, but some things are directional--things that clearly have a top and bottom or right and left (words and trees for instance).

Also, we rarely ever have only 1 light source in a room. For instance, I currently have a lamp to my left, but a lot of light is coming into the room from the door on my right. They will both cast shadows, just different strengths or intensities.

 

[Stacey42]

I stick with lower right shadows. Mostly because of where my desk lamp is. When I was creating a script to do the shadows I made a mock paper layout, set it on the desk and used those shadows to create the script.

But if the layout has a lot of paper layered so the bottom right is covered I'll up the blur or even change the direction a bit so those pieces get a more visible shadow than they ordinarily would.

 

[jk703]

My shadows go to the lower left.... I sat with my paper scrapbooks, and flipped through those to figure out how I wanted to have my shadows on my digi pages. After I printed an album, I checked them out, and made some tweaks... but for the most part I liked how they looked.

I do find it funny that my boys "pet" the pages... lol. They like making sure they are flat or something, it made me laugh. I also realized that while they aren't as nitpicky about shadows, and they look more at the pictures, and like hearing what I wrote... but they DO notice the shadows.

 

[d2vasquez]

I always look to see what looks realistic - you know not so high or obvious that the elements look like they are floating off the page lol. When my girls create a page, I smile when I hear them ask if the elements look like they are floating away......and I know they do listen to me once in awhile!

 

[Sherri Tierney]

Back in my early days of paper scrapping, I scanned or photographed layouts a lot to share them online. My shadows always seemed to end up at the bottom right side of elements. That is where I put them now. Sometimes I switch it up, but I still find I go back to that kind of shadow a lot.

 

[staciahall]

It makes me smile when I see somebody touch the page protectors to SEE...