This effect, when deconstructed, consists of a transparent black layer
above the layer to which it is applied. It overlaps the layer below just
enough to create the inner shadow effect. Its blend mode is Multiply,
and opacity is 75 %. It is grouped with the layer below, so that
the shadow only shows where it overlaps the objects on that layer.
Here is the inner shadow layer, alone, extracted
from the image at the bottom of the page. Background was turned off so
you could see the transparency.
Shown below is the inner shadow dialog box.
And here is an example of the effect applied using all the default settings.
The circle it was applied to was white, with a one pixel black stroke
around the edge.
Dialog box settings are as follows. All examples shown used the default settings for all but the one featured.
- Blend Mode - As with all the shadow effects, the default is Multiply. Vary it for unusual effects.
- The Color box - To the right of the blend mode setting is the color square which you can click to change the color of your shadow.
- Opacity - The default of 75 % is a good value for shadows. Increase the setting to make a darker shadow, or decrease it to make a fainter shadow.
- Angle - Click on the little angle line within the circle to
drag the shadows angle.
This will cause it to appear to be lit from a different direction. You can also drag directly on the image to change the shadow’s angle and distance. The example below had the angle set at -56.
- Distance - Causes the shadow to appear longer, or the object
casting it to be apparently taller. See the example below, where the
distance setting was increased to 15.
- Choke - This determines what proportion of the shadow is more
opaque, and what part is more transparent, or blurry. Larger settings
increase the proportion of more opaque tones, and make the shadow appear
larger and darker. This setting works in concert with the Size setting.
- Size - This determines the extent of the shadow. Be sure and
adjust the Choke setting when you change this if you want to make the
shadow appear larger, and not just blurrier as it does in the example
below where Size was increased to 10.
- Contour - Allows you to create variations in the tones within
the shadow. In the example, I used the Cone-Inverted contour which is
the third from the right in the top row of the contour pop-up palette.
See the Contours page for more information
on this feature.
Here’s that same contour applied to the red circle.
Below is an inner shadow effect applied to the example image using the
default settings.
And here is the Layers palette after the effect was deconstructed by choosing
Layer > Layer Style > Create Layers.
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Elements Tips | Shadows and Light
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Table of Contents | Animal Rights
jay@arraich.com | Unreal Nature