how to make shadow in photo shop

7/27/2019 How to Make Shadow in Photo Shop

1/23

Step 1: Select The Person Or Object

Before we can add a shadow to someone, we first need to select them. Using the selection

tool of your choice (Lasso Tool,Quick Selection Tool,Pen Tool,etc.), draw a selectionaround the person (or object) in the photo. When youre done, you should see a selection

outline around them. Here, Ive selected the girl:

Select the person or object in the photo.

Step 2: Copy The Selection To A New Layer

With the person or object selected, press Ctrl+J(Win) / Command+J(Mac) on your

keyboard to quickly copy the selection to a new layer. Nothing will happen in thedocument window, but if we look in the Layers panel, we see that Photoshop has copied

the selection to a new layer named Layer 1 above the Background layer:
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/lasso-tool/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/lasso-tool/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/lasso-tool/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/quick-selection-tool/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/quick-selection-tool/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/quick-selection-tool/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/pen-tool-selections/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/pen-tool-selections/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/pen-tool-selections/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/pen-tool-selections/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/quick-selection-tool/http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/lasso-tool/


2/23

The selection appears on a new layer above the Background layer.

Step 3: Add Extra Canvas Space If Needed

Depending on your image, you may or may not need this step, but in my case, I need toadd some extra canvas space to make room for the shadow. The easiest way to add extra

canvas space is with Photoshops Crop Tool. Ill select it from the Tools panel:

Selecting the Crop Tool.

To make it easier to see what Im doing, Ill switch out of the document window and intothe first of Photoshops fullscreen modesby pressing the letter Fon my keyboard. Then,

with the Crop Tool active, Ill click in the gray area above and to the left of the top left

corner of the image, and with my mouse button held down, Ill drag to the gray areabelow and to the right of the bottom right corner:


3/23

Dragging the Crop Tool diagonally across the entire image.

When I release my mouse button, a crop border appears around the image, with handles

(little squares) on all four sides and in each corner. I need to add more canvas space on

the left of the photo, so Ill click on the left handle and drag it outward:


4/23


5/23

Since my Background color is white (the default color), Photoshop fills the new canvasspace with white.

Step 4: Add A New Blank Layer Below Layer 1

Hold down your Ctrl(Win) / Command(Mac) key and click on the New Layericon at

the bottom of the Layers panel:

Click on the New Layer icon while holding down Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac).


6/23

This tells Photoshop not only to add a new layer to the document as it normally would,

but to add the new layer belowthe currently selected layer (Layer 1), which places it

between Layer 1 and the Background layer:

The new layer appears between the original two layers.

Step 5: Draw A Gradient On The New Layer

Lets create a new background for the effectusing a gradient, which will give it a little

depth. Click on the Foreground color swatchnear the bottom of the Tools panel. By

default, it should be showing black:

Black is the default Foreground color.

This opens Photoshops Color Pickerwhere we can choose a new Foreground color.

Choose a light gray. If you want to use the same shade of gray that Im using, enter 70%

for the Bvalue (B stands for Brightness) on the right. Click OK when youre done toclose out of the Color Picker:


7/23

Set the Brightness (B) value to 70% for a light gray. H (Hue) and S (Saturation) shouldremain at 0%.

Next, select the Gradient Toolfrom the Tools panel. Well be using the Gradient Tool a

few times for this effect:

Select the Gradient Tool.

With the Gradient Tool active, right-click(Win) / Control-click(Mac) anywhere insidethe document window to quickly bring up the Gradient Picker, and make sure you havethe very first gradientForeground to Backgroundselected by clicking on its

thumbnail (first one on the left, top row). Press Enter(Win) / Return(Mac) when youre

done to close out of the Gradient Picker:


8/23

Select the Foreground to Background gradient.

Then, click near the bottom of the document, hold down your Shiftkey and drag straight

up until youre just above the horizontal center of the image. Holding the Shift key as you

drag constrains your movements, making it easier to drag vertically:

Drag out the transition area for the gray to white gradient.

Release your mouse button and Photoshop draws the gradient, which becomes the newbackground for the image:


9/23

The subtle gradient adds a bit of depth to the image.

Step 6: Add A New Layer Above The Gradient

Click once again on the New Layericon at the bottom of the Layers panel (no need tohold the Shift key down this time):


10/23

Click again on the New Layer icon.

A new blank layer appears above the gradient layer:

Layer 3 appears above the gradient.

Step 7: Load A Selection Around The Person Or Object

Hold down your Ctrl(Win) / Command(Mac) key and click directly on the top layers

preview thumbnailin the Layers panel. Dont select the layer, just click on its

thumbnail:

Hold down Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) and click on Layer 1s preview thumbnail.


11/23

This instantly loads a selection around the contents of the layer. Here, we can see that the

girl in my photo is now selected:

A selection outline appears around the person or object that we first selected back in Step1.

Step 8: Fill The Selection With Black

Go up to the Editmenu at the top of the screen and choose Fill:

Go to Edit > Fill.

When the Fill dialog box appears, change the Useoption at the top to Black, then clickOK to close out of the dialog box:


12/23


13/23

Go to Edit > Transform > Distort.

Reshape the black-filled area by clicking on the top transform handleand dragging itdown diagonally, either left or right (depending on your image), until it looks more like

the person or objects shadow:

Drag the top transform handle to distort the shadow into shape.

You may also need to fix the bottom part of the shadow by dragging the bottom cornerhandles. In my case, the bottom of the shadow didnt quite line up with the girls shoes,


14/23

so I dragged the bottom right transform handle up and to the right until everything looked

good:

Drag the bottom corner handles if needed so the bottom of the shadow lines up with the

person or object.

When youre done, press Enter(Win) / Return(Mac) to accept the transformation andexit out of the Distort command. Your shadow should now look something like this:


15/23

The initial shape of the shadow is now in place.

Step 10: Apply A Slight Blur

The edges of the shadow look a little too crisp and sharp, so lets apply a slight blur to it.Go up to the Filtermenu, choose Blur, then choose Gaussian Blur:

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

This opens the Gaussian Blur dialog box. Increase the Radiusto around 1.5 pixelsfor avery subtle blur effect, then click OK to exit out of the dialog box. The edges of the

shadow will appear softer:


16/23

A Radius value of around 1.5 pixels is all we need for starters.

Step 11: Use Quick Mask Mode To Gradually Select The Shadow

For a shadow to look realistic, the edges need to become gradually softer the further awayit extends from the subject. To create this gradual blurring effect, well again turn to the

Gaussian Blur filter, but first, well create a selection using Photoshops Quick Mask

mode.

Select the Gradient Toolonce again from the Tools panel, then press the letter Donyour keyboard to reset Photoshops Foreground and Background colors to their defaults

(black will be the Foreground color, white the Background color). Then, press the letter

Qon your keyboard to switch into Quick Mask mode. Nothing will seem different in the

document window just yet. With the Gradient Tool active, click near the bottom of the

shadow and drag diagonally to the top, like so:


17/23

Drag out a diagonal gradient from the bottom to the top of the shadow.

Release your mouse button at the top of the shadow, and a red to transparent Quick Mask

overlay appears across the image. The transparent part at the top of the shadow representsthe area that is fully selected. The red at the bottom of the shadow is not selected at all,

while the area in between becomes more and more selected as the red color gradually

fades into transparency:

As the color fades from red to transparent, the area becomes gradually more selected.


18/23

Press the letter Qon your keyboard to exit out of Quick Mask mode and back into normal

mode. The red to transparent Quick Mask overlay will be replaced with a standard

looking selection outline that seems to do nothing more than divide the shadow in half,with only the top half selected. This is just an unfortunate illusion on Photoshops part.

Photoshop can only display selection outlines around pixels that are at least 50% selected.

So while it looks like we havent really accomplished anything here, that Gaussian Blurfilter is about to prove otherwise:

Photoshop cant accurately display selection outlines around pixels that are only partiallyselected.

Step 12: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter Again

Since the Gaussian Blur filter was the last filter we used, we can quickly bring it back up

by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F(Win) / Command+Option+F(Mac) on the keyboard. Thistime, when the dialog box appears, increase the Radiusvalue to around 10 pixels, thenclick OK to exit out of it:


19/23

Increase the Radius value to 10 pixels or so.

Press Ctrl+D(Win) / Command+D(Mac) to remove the selection outline, and we see inthe document that the edges of the shadow now appear gradually softer from bottom to

top:

The shadow edges now look more realistic.

Step 13: Add A Layer Mask

The shadow needs to fade out as it moves further from the subject, which is easy to do

using a layer mask. Click on the Layer Maskicon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Awhite-filled layer mask thumbnail will appear to the right of the shadow layers preview

thumbnail:


20/23


21/23

Choose a dark gray for the Background color.

Step 15: Draw A Gradient Across The Shadow On The Layer Mask

Then, with the Gradient Tool selected, click once again near the bottom of the shadow

and drag diagonally upward to the top, just as we did a moment ago when in Quick Maskmode. The difference here is that were drawing the gradient on the layer mask:

Draw a white to dark gray gradient from the bottom to the top of the shadow.

Release your mouse button at the top of the shadow. Since we drew the gradient on thelayer mask, not on the image itself, we dont actually see the gradient in the document.


22/23


23/23

The final result.

And there we have it!

how to make shadow in photo shop

Documents