Anybody hate shadowing??

[momtutu]

UGH!!! I usually do all my shadows at the end. I just want to be done with my layouts but I have to go back and shadow everything. It seems to take soooo long. It's easier if I have a bunch of stuff that would seem to all be the same distance away from my base, then I could just paste the layer style and go but nooooooo....I have to do a bunch of clustering and then shadow accordingly.

It's.....so.......painful......

[nun69]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!

[Brandy]

I agree, I can't get mine right and it takes forever lol.

[jessica31876]

shadowing is the worst!! I leave it to last too because it the part I dislike the most. The rest I pretty much like doing but shadowing is just boring and tedious and I just end up playing with each shadow forever to get it the way I want it to look

[carriesmom]

I have to shadow as I go, otherwise I would go crazy. I started using Flergs shadows and then I tweak them from there.

[neenee]

I too shadow as I go. It changes the whole look of the page as I manipulate things to give me a better idea of if it actually will fit where I put it. I use Kristen Rice's shadows and tweak them.

[joelsgirl]

I shadow as I go, too. I used to use Traci's Acrylic Style, and with a little tweaking, it made shadows so easy, but I lost it when I changed computers and I haven't found a method that is easy yet. I am hoping to get the hang of pse 7 shadows soon.

[missemmie]

Woah, woah, woah....where are you ladies getting all of these Shadow styles you speak of? This sounds like something I need. I have shadow issues. (I am a shadower as I go kind of girl.)

[jovi_girl]

i tend to do a bit of both - sometimes i shadow as i go, and sometimes i shadow at the end. But either way i dont like it. And i know my shadows tend not to look as realistic as they could because i just couldnt be bothered doing it properly! lol. im such a lazy scrapper!

[SeattleSheri]

I love shadowing! It adds so much value to the page, I just love to see a page come alive! I shadow as I go too. I've created all of my own shadow styles and I just make mild tweaks. I warp some more complex elements, but mostly I just use a handful of styles. If I have several elements that will all have the same style, I'll just select them all at the same time and add the style to save time. Sometimes, I'll even group them and apply the style to the group ... but I'm still a slow scrapper, lol.

[WalkersMommy]

I shadow as I go and use these by Megan Her shadows are AMAZING!!!

[krystalhartley]

I used to shadow as I went along, but now I tend to heap on all my elements and just select all the layers and apply a basic shadow to "see what I'm working with." (excuse the preposition at the end of that sentence...conversational grammar tends to overlook it, but the editor in me still struggles.)

Anyways... I end up tweaking my shadows individually as I get the elements situated where I want them. Until then, I just don't really know how much depth or darkness it needs.

I generally use linear burn mode rather than multiply, and I adjust the color (not black) and opacity as needed.

But then again...I'm no expert. Just a wannabe.

[xboxmom]

ugh I just freaking stick with like the same numbers on my shadowing all the time. I suck what can i say.

[Nathalie]

Originally Posted by krystalhartley

... but now I tend to heap on all my elements and just select all the layers and apply a basic shadow to "see what I'm working with."

Anyways... I end up tweaking my shadows individually as I get the elements situated where I want them. Until then, I just don't really know how much depth or darkness it needs.

...

That is how I do it, too! I do it at the end, because very often I create the shadow on a separate layer to warp it, or because I need to remove a bit. If I would do that as I go and then start moving elements around the shadow won't fit anymore and I would have to start over again, kwim?

[littlekiwi]

Originally Posted by xboxmom

ugh I just freaking stick with like the same numbers on my shadowing all the time. I suck what can i say.

Me too! I need to get better at shadowing with PSE, hoping to have PSCS4 later on in the year though

[mummytothree]

I shadow at the end since I do all my shadowing my "hand" and the color of the shadow in always a darker color of what ever is underneth it. I'm always sticking things in or taking things away so if I shadowed as I went I would be forever shadowing!!!

[Darcy Baldwin]

I have to admit when it comes to shadowing, I'm quite lazy. I have Traci Murphy's shadow actions, Kristin Rice's shadow styles, Megan's styles, and a few that I created for myself to fill in the gaps. I tweak like mad, but I can do shadowing pretty quickly and am usually quite happy with the results. For me, the actions and styles are definitely a time saving tool on a job I don't want to spend a ton of time on.

[MissKim]

I use Miss Tiina's styles. Sometimes I get all fancy and will change the color of the shadow, but usually... no.

[junebug]

I do mine as i go; i can't stand to see something without a shadow. and i usually use the same shadow on everything, save for maybe a few certain things. so i do the copy and paste layer style and adjust as needed.

[4noisyboys]

I'm with Darcy on this one! I shadow as i go, and I'm lazy...so I use a few styles and maybe tweak if necessary!

[Kara]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

I have to admit when it comes to shadowing, I'm quite lazy. I have Traci Murphy's shadow actions, Kristin Rice's shadow styles, Megan's styles, and a few that I created for myself to fill in the gaps. I tweak like mad, but I can do shadowing pretty quickly and am usually quite happy with the results. For me, the actions and styles are definitely a time saving tool on a job I don't want to spend a ton of time on.

Ditto that. I have Traci's and Flergs', and I've been pretty happy with them.

[tuneskids]

I do mine at the end (or pretty much the end, sometimes I end up changing things around after shadowing. lol).
I use the tutorial by our very own Misty Cato, with a few tweaks, since I am using an outdated version of Photoshop and don't have a warp function.

[Lyd]

I am in the process of changing how I do my shadows. I'm like Krystal in that I usually apply some sort of basic shadow to everything as I go so that I can see it better. Once I'm happy with how everything is on the page, I go back to look at each element and tweak the shadow. There are usually several elements that I can give the same shadow to, so I just copy and paste those. (Krystal, you're giving me preposition anxiety, but I'm just going to leave my preposition where it is.) I have almost come up with my own set of styles that I can use most of the time, but I'm still working on perfecting those. And, I'm sure I will still tweak them from time to time.

While tweaking all those shadows does seem tedious sometimes, I have noticed that the more attention I give to the details, the more happy I am with the finished layout. But, I'm still learning!

[mrs_jb]

I leave my shadows until the end also. I've never had luck with shadowing with layer styles and actions... no idea why, maybe I didn't try hard enough. I do all mine from scratch, on their own layer, so I really have to leave them until the end, otherwise it's a nightmare to try move things around and remember to match up and move the shadow layer.

I use a version of Misty's tutorial and I have to say, that the more you do it, the faster and easier it is. I can normally shadow a LO in about 5 minutes or so.

[Keely~B]

I have a love/hate relationship with them, sometimes it gets a bit tedious but I'm pretty detail oriented and I like my shadows just so, but so much depends on the layout KWIM?. I always do my own, I have some of my own base styles but it's not unusual for me to have two or three layers of shadows for an element. I made my own shadow brush that I have saved in my tool presets, I use it a lot too.

[LeeAndra]

Add me to the lazy scrapper list. I couldn't be bothered with changing shadows until this past year, and now I just add one of Meeeeeeeeeegan's shadows and am good to go.

[mlrw70]

Can anybody suggest any good shadow styles for PSE6? I play around with my own, but having a style/action would help a lot.

[alien21xx]

I do my shadows as I put my elements there, BUT it's a complete pain! I really suck at looking at perspectives (so I got wonky shadows a lot of the time)

There needs to be a shadow magic wand invented to give us awesome shadows! LOL

[DawnMarch]

I shadow as I go because it makes a difference as to how I place things. I use a few shadow styles I created myself, then tweak and warp them if necessary (mostly with string), but usually not.

[digideb]

Originally Posted by WalkersMommy

I shadow as I go and use these by Megan Her shadows are AMAZING!!!

I use Meeeeegan's too! I won't scrap w/out them! lol

[Kiki]

Oh, I'm checking those out. I've been using my own for a while, but these might make things a little easier.

[newfiemountiewife]

Originally Posted by SeattleSheri

I love shadowing! It adds so much value to the page, I just love to see a page come alive! I shadow as I go too. I've created all of my own shadow styles and I just make mild tweaks. I warp some more complex elements, but mostly I just use a handful of styles. If I have several elements that will all have the same style, I'll just select them all at the same time and add the style to save time. Sometimes, I'll even group them and apply the style to the group ... but I'm still a slow scrapper, lol.

This is almost exactly what I do. I made my own few that I use, and tweak from there.

[kscwgirl]

I use Kristen Rice's and Megan's styles. I will occasionally warp things but usually I don't.

[switchwiz]

I tend to do do my papers first, then shadow some, then do some elements then shadow some more, but I'm in no way any good at them!!!

[sczos911]

I wait until the end to shadow and I use preset styles that I've made and bought and tweaked. I create my page and once I have it set how I want, I turn everything "off" and then start at the bottom layer & work to the top - merging, shadowing and warping some shadows.

[Nettio]

I used to wait until the end to do all my shadowing but since I'm such a slow scrapper I used to dread doing it because I just wanted to be done by that point. But awhile ago I switched to shadowing in stages and it doesn't annoy me as much anymore.

I get my base layer (basic design and papers) down first and then I shadow all those. I tend to do shadowing as I place elements in groups, so all alphas, all flowers, all buttons, etc, are placed and then shadowed at the same time. I've actually found that shadowing while I'm placing elements has made layering overall a lot easier because I can see where I want to add different elements to add dimension to the page.

I use a combination of actions and styles and since I use a lot of repeating shapes, I tend to adjust one item to the shadowing I want and then copy that layer style to anything that is similar. I'm all about copying and pasting layer styles, it's so much faster than doing them all individually.

If I have any warping to do, I do that last so as not to have to track all the individual shadow layers when I'm still moving stuff around. I don't do too much warping though, just for an occasional flower that doesn't look quite right.

[WalkersMommy]

Originally Posted by mlrw70

Can anybody suggest any good shadow styles for PSE6? I play around with my own, but having a style/action would help a lot.

Try these by Megan I use them in PSE5. You can't warp them like she does in her tutorial, but they are still awesome just on their own! HTH!

[NettieB]

I'm mind meld agreement with all Lynette posted, except that I'm hanging on to PSE 6.0 and I can't warp shadows without backing into it some convoluted way I'm usually way to lazy and time-constrained to bother with... but Elements ladies if you want to read about it... here you go.

k studio rocks.. Bless Kristen Rice ! and luv Camilla Designs' as well, WendyZine has several that create a separate shadow layer for those programs that do not... have got to check out Megan's now...

one thing i like to do... rebel against using a shadow for just the purpose it's listed as in the style/action. Acrylic? sure looks ok on that stitch. Fabric leaf? let's try it on that photo.

[4noisyboys]

Originally Posted by NettieB

I'm mind meld agreement with all Lynette posted, except that I'm hanging on to PSE 6.0 and I can't warp shadows without backing into it some convoluted way I'm usually way to lazy and time-constrained to bother with... but Elements ladies if you want to read about it... here you go.

k studio rocks.. Bless Kristen Rice ! and luv Camilla Designs' as well, WendyZine has several that create a separate shadow layer for those programs that do not... have got to check out Megan's now...

one thing i like to do... rebel against using a shadow for just the purpose it's listed as in the style/action. Acrylic? sure looks ok on that stitch. Fabric leaf? let's try it on that photo.

Oh...you are such a rebel Nettie! LOL