QOTD - Shadowing Secrets - 09.25.15

[LeeAndra]

So I have been digitally scrapping for eleventy billion years, and I still can't get my shadows to look just right. Sometimes, it's on the big JPG, and sometimes they look okay until I go to resize them for the gallery. Either way, my little perfectionist heart rages when I look over my gallery & the shadows are just 'okay.'

Teach me (and everyone else) your ways, O Wise Shadowing Scrappers!

We need step-by-step instructions/directions for how you shadow. Do you use someone else's shadows or have you made your own? What angle do you shadow at? What color are your shadows? Do you shadow as you go or at the end? How do you decide what kind of shadow each element & paper & photo gets?

Link us up with sample pages/your shadow heroes & whatever you use from the store, too, please!

I am so looking forward to reading through this thread tomorrow & putting all your tips 'n' tricks to use on my next layout!

[jak]

I use styles that were freebies from somewhere - Krystal Hartley and two other designers. I've had them on my computer for ages.

Angle - 135 degrees (most people shadow on the other side which I sometimes think looks better, but this is how I started out and it wouldn't look right in my albums to change now)

Colour - mid grey
Blend mode - linear burn
Opacity - varies from about 15% to 65%

I shadow as I go and use the styles that match the element, paper, etc, though I often tweak them myself.

I would say overall my shadows are fairly subtle, e.g.:





My shadow heroes though are SeattleSheri and Jenn (catgoddess).

One day I'll take the time to learn how to shadow like that!!

[ClaudiKnits]

what program do you use Sandy?

[SeattleSheri]

I wrote a couple tutorials on my shadowing techniques a few years ago, which I still utilize.

https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/t...omy-of-a-page/

https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/t...-layer-styles/

[LeeAndra]

C'mon, ladies! It says this thread has had 75 views... and only FOUR replies!

I really do want to know your process even if you don't think you are the Sultan(ess?) of Shadowing. The smallest thing may shave 5, 10, 15 minutes off someone else's process, KWIM? Maybe you use some shortcut that someone else doesn't know or maybe you use a certain angle or color that's going to make someone else's pages shine!

Step up to the virtual bar, ladies, and share your story!

Don't make me sic Pixel Peeta on you!

[ClaudiKnits]

I have some styles from a CT of mine which I really use often.....I play with them and use them like I feel it look right for me...

the next thing I really would love to learn is to have the shadow on a seperate layer and change it like Traci showed in a tutorial video at Creative Live .... but it looked never like I wanted it too and since I have only CS2 on of the tools isn't available....

[kristijoy]

I scrap in PSE, so the shadowing abilities are more limited.

I downloaded Krystal Hartley's set. And read a few tutorials on SSD (Thanks!). After that I made a 'sample page' of Shadows. I put everything in there I would need to shadow (button, ribbon, paper, flag, acrylic, etc.) and applied my favorite shadow. I shadow at 120 degrees.

I scrap in PSE and find it much easier to open my 'sample page' and copy the layer style from the sample page and apply it to my new page. I've streamlined my scrapping process to be simply 'copying' the layer style from my sample page. On most of my pages I don't adjust them otherwise it would just take too long! (For me life's too short to spend the day tweaking shadows.) Occasionally I will adjust the opacity if a shadow is on a really dark paper, but that's rare.

I also do a special technique I picked up somewhere... (I can't remember where...SSD maybe?) for shadowing BIG pieces of paper. I create a new layer, fill it with the color and then do a Gaussian blur of 12 pt. That makes a fuzzy shadow around the whole piece of paper so it pops out from the background. I only do this when there is a large piece of paper covering most of the background, but not all.

[JenM]

I don't have a process and I feel a lot like LeeAndra. I feel like other people do it so much better than I do. I've recently learned how to make the shadow it's own layer but I still have problems make it look right now more "dimension" embellishments.

[**Holly**]

I use some styles from Meghan Turnidge from years ago. I will warp and stuff to fit strings/bows and such.

[LeeAndra]

How do you warp them, Holly?

[**Holly**]

I use photoshop so when I apply the style I right click on the fx and click create layer.

Then I will either click on that whole layer or use the lasso tool to select a certain part of the shadow (the end of a string or curl on the string)

Next I go to edit > transform > warp. From there I warp the shadow to my liking and just hit return/enter.

Sometimes I will change the opacity or blending mode as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jacinda]

I primarily use Krystal's shadow style, then tweak to suit. I'll apply the shadows to all my elements and then go around and tweak/warp individual ones if I need to. If I want the leaves to look further away from the page I'll increase the size and distance settings. To warp a shadow you have to separate the shadow to it's own layer in photoshop then Edit>transform>warp.

I wrote a tutorial on lighter shadows here, after seeing how Krystal's shadows were so natural looking: https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/t...ghten-up-baby/

Honestly though - all the shadow tutorials at SSD are awesome. Very descriptive with steps and settings: https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/t...ory/shadowing/

[ripal]

Originally Posted by kristijoy

I downloaded Krystal Hartley's set. And read a few tutorials on SSD (Thanks!). After that I made a 'sample page' of Shadows. I put everything in there I would need to shadow (button, ribbon, paper, flag, acrylic, etc.) and applied my favorite shadow. I shadow at 120 degrees.

I scrap in PSE and find it much easier to open my 'sample page' and copy the layer style from the sample page and apply it to my new page. I've streamlined my scrapping process to be simply 'copying' the layer style from my sample page. On most of my pages I don't adjust them otherwise it would just take too long! (For me life's too short to spend the day tweaking shadows.) Occasionally I will adjust the opacity if a shadow is on a really dark paper, but that's rare.

I really like this idea of making a sample page. That would save so much time! Thanks for sharing that tip!

[~Cindy~]

I bought a basic shadow set from a digi store not this one. So I don't think I can share. I just change the numbers on them if I don't think they look right or click different ones until I like it better. With as many kids as I have it just isn't possible for me to do more than that.

[JenM]

I really need help with things like buttons and thicker things.

[hosanhelwa]

Some really great tricks, tips and tutorials!! Thank you so much everyone for sharing. I oh so miss photoshop for being able to have someone much wiser than me design the style, and I just apply it and tweak... But since my PC went to heaven and I switched to Mac, I'm trying to make do. I can do styles, I just can't import the ones premade for photoshop. I really do like Kristi's idea of having a page full of premade styles and just copying the styles, that would certainly save me lots of time!

[misfitinmn]

I don't consider myself a shadowing goddess but when I have time, I like to tweak shadows and play around with customizing them. I use a mix of shadow styles I've acquired over the years, but I often tweak at the very least the opacity, and I set the angle to 45 degrees. The one thing that I'm kind of anal about is keeping it at least somewhat realistic. So I'm not going to put a tiny shadow on an object (even a photo) that's sitting on top of a big bulky item like a flower.

I also like to use the wave tool on my shadow layers on some layouts (again, if I have time) as described in this tutorial by Jacinda. I usually hit the randomize button for each new layer and sometimes adjust the number of waves or the wavelength settings for each new layer that I'm using this process on, just so it looks more random and natural.

[kristijoy]

Originally Posted by ripal

I really like this idea of making a sample page. That would save so much time! Thanks for sharing that tip!

Glad my suggestion was helpful!

And Jacinda...your page is just amazing! What a challenge to shadow that was...you rocked it!

[Sherri Tierney]

My shadows have changed a few times over the years as I have developed different tastes in shadowing and learned new techniques. I have pretty much always shadowed at 120 degrees though. It looks most natural to my eye. I will adjust slightly if something appears to be blending in to the page too much when shadowed from that angle. I use styles by a few different designers and I will often tweak them once they are applied anyway.

[cherrygutz]

I also love the shadow works on layouts I see in the gallery, and whenever I comment on a page I always have this secret wish they have blogs and shadow work tutorial or something