Sweet Shoppe Designs

junebug · #1 08-22-2010, 10:07 AM

what are your settings for putting shadows under stitching? i always get frustrated with this. i know you obviously don't want it really blurry cause its not floating lol. do you blur it at all? just curious.

MichaelsMomJo · #2 08-22-2010, 10:21 AM

I'm on DS's computer right now, so no Photoshop. I can't tell you my specific settings. I can only tell you that I keep my shadow very small and very light. I like to give it just enough "lift" that it seems that if you touch the page, you'd feel the little bumps. It also depends on the thickness of the thread used for the stitching too. If it's very narrow, like typical sewing machine thread, I barely use any shadow at all, since that type of thread isn't really raised much at all. When you get into string (which is what most of the stitched elements that we buy are) my settings are something like: Distance 3, Size 1, Spread 2. I usually use black for the shadow color, set the blend to multiply and keep the opacity at around 50 for darker backgrounds and adjust lower for lighter backgrounds. All of that being said, I play with these settings A LOT. I could probably pull out 5 different layouts with stitiches, look at the settings, and find 5 different settings. But that might give you somewhere to start.

junebug · #3 08-22-2010, 10:28 AM

yah, i play around with it a lot. i use elements 8 so unless i make a shadow layer by hand seperately i cannot adjust the blend modes.

. little reasons like this make me wish i could get the full photoshop version.

scrappurple · #4 08-22-2010, 10:49 AM

I also change to color of the shadow to match the paper. Black shadowing doesn't look good on yellow paper ... KWIM?

junebug · #5 08-22-2010, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrappurple

I also change to color of the shadow to match the paper. Black shadowing doesn't look good on yellow paper ... KWIM?

yes i do this with everything, not just stitches. white paper can be a bit tricky; there is no 'dark white' lmao. so i use grey.

MichaelsMomJo · #6 08-22-2010, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by junebug

yah, i play around with it a lot. i use elements 8 so unless i make a shadow layer by hand seperately i cannot adjust the blend modes.

. little reasons like this make me wish i could get the full photoshop version.

Since you're using PSE 8, you could duplicate your stitching, clip a solid color that's a couple of shades darker than the background to the lower stitching layer, apply a very small gaussian blur, then change the blending mode to multiply, and adjust the opacity until you're happy with the result. Play, play, play!