Flat Shadows

So last week I wrote about shadows for upright objects and this week I’ll be running very quickly through shadows for objects sitting flat. The article I wrote for Smashing Magazine on light and shadow had a few examples that some people wanted explained more fully. So here we are.

Those with ‘skills to pay the bills’ in Photoshop may want to sit this one out. But for those not sure how I did the shading in the coke can examples, here is the second installment showing really simple shadow tricks you can use in Photoshop.

Step 1.

Make a drop shadow

Create a drop shadow using layer styles. In my example I’ve put the distance to 6px and kept the size and spread at 0 — later on, if we want to make the shadow more dispersed, we can groom it with the blur tool.

Put the opacity up to full (this simply gives us more darkness to play with should we need it).

TIP: Make sure your object is properly cut out (ie: no white edges) or this effect is going to fail.

Step 2.

Create layer

Right-click on the shadow and choose ‘Create Layer’. This will put the drop shadow on it’s own layer and let us play around with it.

Step 3.

Motion Blur

In the top menu go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur

You’ll see you’ve got just two variables to play with — Angle and Distance. The Angle should be determined by where your light source is coming from that’s casting the shadow. So in my example, the light’s coming from the top left, so it’s at an angle of 45°.

The Distance should be how long you want the shadow to be cast.

Step 4.

Groom

Using the Eraser tool, gently remove all the shadow that’s been blurred on side where the light is coming from. In my example, all the shadow that’s on the top left needs to go (but notice I’ve left the shadow being cast by the arm).

At this stage you can also drop down the opacity of the shadow layer so it’s a little more subtle and realistic.

Step 5.

A touch of shading

Lastly, in the layers panel Ctrl-click / ⌘-click the layer thumbnail with your object (to select it). Now create a new layer and with a softish round black brush on 30-50% opacity add a little shading to the side of the object where the shadow falls.

I’ve hidden the object layer to better show the shading.