Creating shadow in Photoshop – please help

NH
Posted By
Neil Hindry
Oct 17, 2004
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320
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I wonder if you can help me.

I have a figure which is a cartoon type character and I want to create a shadow that will be on the floor. I want the character and its shadow to creates almost an ‘L’ shaped image (shadow is approx 80-90 degrees from the person. The shadow can either be at the left or right hand side of the character.
The vertical part of the ‘L’ is the character and the horizontal part of the ‘L’ is he shadow.

The sort of thing I am after is the thing you see in old B&W movies where you see the shadow on the ground but not the person.

Does anyone know how I can do this?

I hope you understand what I mean and I hope you can help me.

I appreciate any help or information given.

Thanks!

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How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

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N
noone
Oct 17, 2004
In article <41728bf4$1$22748$>,
says…
I wonder if you can help me.

I have a figure which is a cartoon type character and I want to create a shadow that will be on the floor. I want the character and its shadow to creates almost an ‘L’ shaped image (shadow is approx 80-90 degrees from the person. The shadow can either be at the left or right hand side of the character.
The vertical part of the ‘L’ is the character and the horizontal part of the ‘L’ is he shadow.

The sort of thing I am after is the thing you see in old B&W movies where you see the shadow on the ground but not the person.

Does anyone know how I can do this?

I hope you understand what I mean and I hope you can help me.
I appreciate any help or information given.

Thanks!

First, make a Selection of your character and Save_Selection (for later use, or to re-do your shadow, if you don’t like it), then create a New Layer. Load your Selection to the new Layer and Fill it with black. Drag the new Layer to a position below your character’s Layer. You may have to double-click and re- name your character’s Layer, if it is "Background." You will want the "shadow" to have a soft edge, and this can be accomplished using various methods, but let’s just leave it hard edged for now. Adjust the Opacity of the shadow Layer to ~60% for a start and then choose Edit>Free Transform. Rotate the shadow to suit your concept, and Ctrl-click-drag the corner handles of the bounding box (make sure that Show Bounding Box is checked. You can Skew the shadow, as you wish, and position it as you wish. Now, use one of the Filter>Blur filters ( Gaussian works well and is easy to modify the effect). Play with the Opacity, and the Blur, until you are satisfied. You can always go and Edit>Free Transform it again. One thing you might want to do is Duplicate Layer, after you have done the Fill, and then work with one, or the other shadow Layer, so you have the "original," as a backup.

A note: you may wish to Fill the Selection with a Gradient Mask, or Fill with a Gradient, to create the illusion that the shadow is "fading" as it gets farther from your character.

There are also some plug-ins that will do much of this for you, but they cost $ and don’t offer much, that I can see, beyond what PS includes.

Hope this helps,
Hunt
K
Kingdom
Oct 17, 2004
"Neil Hindry" wrote in
news:41728bf4$1$22748$:

I wonder if you can help me.

I have a figure which is a cartoon type character and I want to create a shadow that will be on the floor. I want the character and its shadow to creates almost an ‘L’ shaped image (shadow is approx 80-90 degrees from the person. The shadow can either be at the left or right hand side of the character.
The vertical part of the ‘L’ is the character and the horizontal part of the ‘L’ is he shadow.

The sort of thing I am after is the thing you see in old B&W movies where you see the shadow on the ground but not the person.
Does anyone know how I can do this?

I hope you understand what I mean and I hope you can help me.
I appreciate any help or information given.

Thanks!

—
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.778 / Virus Database: 525 – Release Date: 15/10/2004

Art Transplant has just posted (friday) a very good tutorial on this very subject in alt.binaries.pictures.wallpaper.

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WW112_walrus_walrii_Shadowing_Technique

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How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

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