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Creating a Shadow


Dumbo

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Am back again, so Happy New Year to you all........

I've got a slight problem with creating a shadow. Not normally a problem and I don't normally have problems with them, but as you can see from the attached photo, the piece of lego has been added later (the quality's nothing special but this is just an exercise). You can see the shadow of the arm on the table but how do I create a shadow of the piece of lego that makes it look like the arm and lego are all one? I've tried all sorts of things but nothing seems to work so any thoughts, tips and advice would be very welcome. Thanks.
 

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Bosch232

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Well I'm new and not super great at PS, but the first thing that comes to mind is this:

1. Make a new layer and put it on top of your photo layer.
2. With the new layer active, choose Edit>Fill> and I believe then choose your color (which you'd make black or dark grey, or use the color picker eyedropper and sample your "real" shadow in the photo).
3. Use the brush tool and paint away all of that fill layer that you don't want, until the only thing left is the shadow shape that you do want.
4. Change the blending mode to perhaps Overlay or something like that. Try more than one.
5. Add some blur Filter>Blur> to soften it.

Again, I'm sure the vast majority of members here will come up with a better way, it's just what I would try.
 

chrisix

Guru
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just draw it on with a soft brush, and change the layer blending mode?
 

egosbar

Guru
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use the burn tool to darken the areas you want ,i use that tool as shadows a lot
 
Last edited:

ibclare

Queen Bee
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All of those methods will work. My suggestion is the first one with bits of the others to perfect it.

Here's how I do it. New layer; ctl/cmd click thumbnail of lego; fill selection on new layer (below lego) as noted above (usually with black). Transform the shadow so that it is distorted similarly to the arm. Usually warp and scale do this. Now set it to hardlight (that usually works best for me). Decrease the opacity as needed. Move it around to line up as you want it. Use transform again if necessary.

Once you have done that, you can make another layer below with a very soft brush and paint the edges so they look blurred at the apporpriate places. Remember, closest to the arm and on the arm/wrist, shadow is darker. Make a mask on the original shadow layer, paint in black with a soft low opacity black brush to soften the sharp edges of the shadow. Or as also stated above jut work on the original shadow layer and use the blur tool on the edges. My method is non-destructive; taht is the only difference. Might save time if you screw up and want to make changes easily.

Good luck, post your results.
 

Dumbo

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Tkx guys. Bit late for me tonight as I'm on European time (01.18) but will test it out tomorrow..........
(or today, whichever way you perceive time..............):rolleyes:
 

Dumbo

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Haven't forgotten just had too much on my plate the last couple of days.
Will be back.......... (now there's a threat................) :cheesygrin:
 

Paul

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Why are you asking for shadow techniques, when you have already applied the 'arm/hand' shadow?
 

Dumbo

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Why are you asking for shadow techniques, when you have already applied the 'arm/hand' shadow?

Errrrrrrrrr............ I took the original picture with my arm but without the Lego piece, therefore the original shadow of my arm is in the original picture. Since when I've added the Lego bit which is why I'm looking as to how to add the Lego shadow to the original picture. Does that make more sense?
 

ibclare

Queen Bee
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Yeee-eeeess, it makes sense and I understood your question from the first post. The answers you've been given by our senior members do a good job of explaining the problem. If you are still not sure, let us know and we can post psd's or make you a tutorial in some fashion. Pau-aul?
 

Dumbo

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No prob. Still haven't got round to trying the suggestions yet as ystdy was more a day of meet & greet and then changing colours on clothing but that's another story. (Note to Self: Remember to post abt the Colour Replacement Tool...........)
 

Dumbo

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OK. Here we go. I admit it's more Cliff Richard then The Shads but fine. Attempt No 1 having used a new layer, a bit of cut & paste, a bit of opacity change, lots of twisting & turning and a bit of fade. Tried using Blur on the edges but, for whatever reason, the picture suddenly got covered in white speech bubbles...........:cry: Not too sure what happened there, so I backtracked........Shad1.jpg
 

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dv8_fx

Retired Administrator
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From what I see in your file, you have 2 problems.

First it would have been better to create a duplicate of the lego arm, fill with black, apply gaussian blur and lower the layer opacity. after which you position it and warp a bit to suit the shadow angle.

Second is the lego hand.The shadow should have a grasping C shape. This will need a bit of imagination. rather than have a solid fist shadow, you have to shape the hand as if you were viewing it from above.
 

Dumbo

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Tkx Dv8,
I'll go away and try that. It's just that when I tried filling in with black etc I finished up with a shadow that was grey and not the brown colour that the "real shadow" has. Will try again with your suggestions and see how it goes. It's hissing with rain here so it's not as if I've anything better to do.........:rolleyes:
 

Paul

Former Member
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Blazing late afternoon sunshine here and i still chop a pop, when is iDAD back on?
 

Dumbo

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Shad MkII Trying out what you've written Dv8, except I coloured in Brown otherwise the shadow was grey. I know it's still not there but practice makes perfect, right? Or at least as perfect as I'm going to get :rolleyes:

Shad2.jpg
 

dv8_fx

Retired Administrator
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I forgot to take into consideration to take a sample from the photo's shadow... lol...

tweak a bit more to bring out a bit of shadow by fingers and make the lego's shadow narrower. Delete where needed at the hand area.

Now I must say that light has a peculiar way of throwing shadows based on an object's shape, distance from the main light source and distance from the surface where a shadow is cast and whatever ambient light source there may be.

You may have to create 2 layers of shadows one with more blur on the edges and the other with less blur.

The shadow spreads along the edges. Use the arms shadow as your basis of how the Lego arm's shadow will be. It is not the perfect shape of the piece rather it should be a bit distorted. You may have to lower the opacity of the lego shadow more as well as thin out the shadow at the ends (lego shoulder and hand) with a large size eraser tool set at airbrush low pressure.
 

Dumbo

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Tkx Dv8, again. Will check it out but poss not today as I need to make some Ginger Schnapps (not Ginger Snaps, this stuff is liquid and 80º proof). Am saving your advice for future reference.........
 

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