This effect, when deconstructed, consists of a black filled mirror layer
directly below the layer the effect has been applied to. It is slightly
offset, and has a blend mode of Multiply with Opacity of 75 %.
The edges are widely blurred.
The effect layer alone, extracted from the
image at the bottom of the page, appears as shown below.
Since the layer to which the effect is applied is above, and obscuring
the majority of the black shapes, the part showing appears as a shadow.
Settings in the drop shadow effect dialog
box, from top to bottom, are as follows.
For reference and comparison to the changed examples given below, here
is a drop shadow applied to a white circle which had a one pixel black
stroke around its perimeter. This shows the effect made with the default
settings. In all examples that follow, only one setting was altered at
a time. All others were set to the defaults.
- Blend Mode - generally set to Multiply, since shadows are dark, but you can experiment with any of the modes for special unshadowlike results.
- The Color box - (to the right of the Blend Mode setting). Click on this to change the color of your shadow. You can use the color picker, or move the cursor over the image to sample colors from it.
- Opacity - Photoshop uses a 75 % setting for opacity on their default shadows, and bevel and emboss effects. It’s a good all around choice, but tinker with it if you need either a darker (increase the setting) or fainter (decrease the setting) shadow.
- Angle - this determines the direction in which the shadow is
cast. You can drag on the angle line in the little circle with your
cursor
or move the cursor over the shadow in the image, and drag there. You can change both shadow angle and distance by dragging the shadow in the image. Here is an example where the angle has been changed to 49°.
- Distance - Easier to show you this one than verbalize it. Below
is an example with the distance setting increased to 15. This makes
the object casting the shadow appear to be suspended above the surface
that the shadow is cast upon.
- Spread - This value is a percentage of whatever you have set
in the Size box, below it. It increases or decreases the proportion
of blur within the size. A higher setting makes the blur smaller, and
the unblurred area spread outward to occupy a larger part of the shadow.
This makes the shadow look (much) larger, even though it’s not.
- Size - Specifies the size of the shadow. Use this setting in
conjunction with the Spread setting to change the actual, as well as
apparent, size of the shadow. Increasing the Size, alone, will give
the impression of a fainter, blurrier shadow, rather than a bigger shadow.
See the example below, where the size was increased to 10, but the Spread
was left at its default.
- Contour - specifies the way the shading is applied. Below,
I have picked a deliberately bizarre contour, the Ring-Double which
is the second from the left in the second row in the Contour pop-up
palette. See the Contour page for more
details on this feature.
- Noise - Adds random transparency variations to the shadow.
This can be useful if you are trying to match the texture of an image.
Below, I have set the noise setting to 30.
When selected, as it is by default, partially transparent layer fill to which a drop shadow effect is applied will not allow the shadow to show through. In the example below, I have set the layer’s Fill opacity (not overall opacity) to be 50 %, and have checked the Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow box. Note that layer Fill Opacity is set in the Advanced Blending dialog box, not in the Layers palette.
As you can see, above, the shadow is not showing through.
In the example, next, I have unchecked the knockout box. Now the shadow does show through the layer to which the effect was applied. This is really a more realistic look, but apparently, not preferred.
Below is what the drop shadow effect looks like when applied to the sample
image. The default settings were used.
And, here is the Layers palette after the drop shadow effect, above, was
deconstructed by choosing Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer. The
shadow is on the middle layer, below the image circles.
Photoshop Tips | Filler Images
Elements Tips | Shadows and Light
Elementary School | Advanced Elements
FreePhotos | The Belief Game
Table of Contents | Animal Rights
jay@arraich.com | Unreal Nature