Flat Shadows

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

Another super-simple shadow trick in Photoshop for looking down on objects.

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.

Finito

All done

Hopefully you can reproduce this effect without too much trouble. Just remember it's all about making gentle changes. Good luck with it.

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15 Comments

  1. This is a really helpful tut….thanks much!!!

    1 John SteinkampReply
    May 12th, 2009 at 10:37 PM

  2. Oooh, that’s pretty sexy. I will be using this technique soon.

    2 Adam SmithReply
    May 12th, 2009 at 11:17 PM

  3. @John: I agree

    3 John WilliamsReply
    May 12th, 2009 at 11:36 PM

  4. First of all, great tut! I was not aware of what “motion blur” does for objects! Very nice information.

    I also want to comment on how you arranged this tut. I love the text on the left and illustration on the right! It’s clean, easy to understand, and well organized! Very, very nice! I’ve looked at quite a few tuts in the last month or so and this is quite possibly the best layout I’ve seen yet! Really! Thank you from the bottom of my soul! :)

    Do souls have bottoms?

    4 EmilyReply
    May 13th, 2009 at 02:56 AM

  5. Your whole header is done that way, right? Nice and easy technique! Thank you for sharing!

    5 Ed HardyReply
    May 18th, 2009 at 08:24 PM

  6. this tut is not only useful but beautiful. well done.

    6 JohnnyMcKennaReply
    May 18th, 2009 at 09:48 PM

  7. (Sorry this comment doesn’t relate to this post): I just ran across a site that was teaching people how to rip others’ designs off. After reading your earlier post about people stealing your designs, I thought you might be interested to see that your site is included in their list of good ones to steal. :)
    http://www.nerdless.com/designemulator.com/index.php/worthy

    7 Nate WaltonReply
    May 19th, 2009 at 07:17 AM

  8. I usualy just duplicate the layer, fill it black, set the opacity to like 10% and then rotate and scale it till I get the results I like. It’s pretty similar.

    8 DietyReply
    June 10th, 2009 at 09:00 PM

  9. holy cow, you can turn a shadow into its own layer… you just saved me so much pain. Wish I’d known sooner. Amazing how easy it is to miss basic stuff in Photoshop when you aren’t a designer.

    9 Nicole SullivanReply
    June 13th, 2009 at 05:31 AM

  10. Dammit. This site is just tooo clean!! I cant stop looking at it. Im a designer for a living and I can only hope to make such clean, easily absorbed content someday.

    10 JeremyReply
    June 18th, 2009 at 09:05 PM

  11. Pretty creative, I gotta give you that. Though for shadows I usualy just copy the layer, fill it with black, set the opacity way down and then I can do whatever I feel like with that “shadow” - no restrictions.

    11 TipsyReply
    June 30th, 2009 at 02:45 PM

  12. Small graphic tricks like these often make a large difference. Thanks for the tut. Bookmarked.

    12 OliverReply
    July 3rd, 2009 at 08:27 PM

  13. Thask :) good work

    13 jackReply
    September 22nd, 2009 at 01:41 PM

  14. i just wanna say that your works are so very cool and inspirated!
    I’m your fan!

    keep work!

    14 AndersonReply
    September 30th, 2009 at 12:13 AM

  15. Wow, this was really helpful..I cant wait to try this out…I always felt that shadows on typography always looked better than on any other figure…But I like the end result in this tutorial…It is neat and has a clarity which I never found in such designs…I love the effects and it is amazing…Thanks for this post…

    15 Ashely Adams : Online PrintingReply
    November 30th, 2009 at 02:05 PM

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