Wall/Floor Shadow

[RTF]

I'm inexperienced with Photoshop and was hoping someone could tell me how to create a realistic (or as realistic as possible) shadow between a wall and a floor as a background image for a web page, to give the impression of a room for a more three-dimensional effect.

I've tried using two separate black gradients with reduced opacity where the "wall" and "floor" meet, one at the bottom of the "wall" and the other at the top of the "floor". The result isn't great, I'm sure it could be a lot better, but I don't really know what else to do. Any tutorials I've checked out regarding shadows are more focused on shadows for objects or drop shadows for text, things like that.

Can anyone help me out with this, or maybe point me in the direction of some good tutorials?

 

[RTF]

Sorry, I should have mentioned, I'm using Photoshop 7. It's old.

 

[iDad]

I agree with you.

say what??
RTF
Post an example of what you've done I have a hard time seeing what you're saying... If you know what I mean

 

[ibclare]

I have dealt with this before.

A. The way I do it is to make a marquee selection, feather it with a fairly large number, make a new layer.

B. Select the gradient tool and set up a black to grey gradient in the editor. Black in the middle, light grey on each end. Position the gradient tool below the marquee, hold down the sift key so the line is straight, and drag the gradient tool.

C. Set the blend mode, reduce opacity some, add a guassian blur. Then adjust the opacity further if needed.

D. Using a soft black brush, position the brush at the intersection of the floor to ceiling, hold down the shift key and click the brush tool at the other end. Now play with the opacity of this line to deepen the shadow at this point between wall and floor.

You'll have to play with the feathering size, marquee size, shadow color, blend modes, blur size, opacity, etc., to get it to what you want. My example is a bit dark. I would probably transform the gradient selection, shortening it, then evaluate the opacity, probably make the feather bigger, etc. This is a quick example, not a finished product. :mrgreen:



Hope this helps. Let us know if it doesn't, you need more advice, etc.

 

[RTF]

I actually ended up using what I had originally created, which was something like this:



It's actually only really about 10-15% of the left and right of the background that will totally visible (under most circumstances). I wouldn't say I'm completely satisfied with the result, but it could be worse. The background is for an app that looks like this:



It's a personal project, but I might go back at some stage in the future and make some changes if I have time. Thanks for the replies, particularly for the tutorial ibclare (if I do have time to have another go at it, I'll use your advice).

 

[IamSam]

A little later here, but you can try this as well.

I created a document and added a BG.
I then created the floor section (with perspective).



Then the back wall section.



Combined the two...



Now for the gradients. I created a new layer above the floor layer and named it floor gradient.
Set your foreground color to black.
Choosing the Gradient Tool, I opened the Gradient editor and chose the "Foreground to Transparent" preset.
With the (empty) floor gradient layer highlighted, I then made a selection of the floor layer by holding down the command key and mouse clicking the floor layers thumbnail.
I then pulled a gradient from top to bottom while holding down the shift key.
I then lowered the floor gradient layer to 45% opacity.



Repeat for the back wall layer.
I created a new layer above the back wall layer and named it back wall gradient.
Set your foreground color to black.
With the Gradient Tool and the preset on "Foreground to Transparent".
With the (empty) back wall gradient layer highlighted, I then made a selection of the back wall layer by holding down the command key and mouse clicking the back wall layers thumbnail.
I then pulled a gradient from bottom to the top while holding down the shift key.
I then lowered the back wall gradient layer to 45% opacity.



All that's left to do is add the display.