How to Make Drop Shadow Photoshop Tutorial

Have you ever wondered how professionals make an ordinary picture into a masterpiece? This is all about the miracle of a drop shadow. Do you know the best way to make a perfect realistic-looking drop shadow? If not, this article could be the solution to this problem.

Today we are going to make you a pro-Photoshop editor. And you have to follow the following steps and apply them correctly. Drop shadow Photoshop is not a new thing. We usually use a drop shadow to create a custom shadow for the photo. There are many ways to make drop shadow here the easiest one just for you.

Drop Shadow Photoshop

Drop shadow is also known as box-shadow. This is found on advertising images, catalog photographs, and web pages. You can turn your 2D picture into a 3D picture. This is possible to change the entire look of a stock photo only using the drop shadow effect.

On the other hand, it replaces the images underneath itself to generate an impression and make the background life surface. Professionals usually use a drop shadow to change the outlook or create a view that is more realistic and perfect.

How To Make A Photoshop Drop Shadow: Easy Steps to Follow

If you want to make a drop shadow in your photo, you must follow some rules or steps to make your photo more attractive. Here’s the quickest and easiest way of drop shadow creation. All the steps are super effortless to understand. So let’s see how to make a drop shadow step by step:

Step 1: Select the Photo and Open it in Photoshop

First, you have to select your desired photo and then open the photo in Photoshop. Here you will find an option on the top called file, click on it and press the product image file location. Then search for the lock icon located in the background layer. You have to click on the icon for unlocking the layer. When you are all done, go for the next step.

Step 2: Removing Background

For the best output, you will have to make the background white. Let’s know the method of making the white background. Now reverse the selected picture. There is a shortcut to do that: “CTRL + SHIFT + I”. For deleting the blurry background, click on the delete key to see the change.

If the position of your photo is not correct for the drop shadow, the picture will not look so good and natural. So you need to change the position of the picture, press on “Ctr+T”. Last but not least, this is the time for white background; you will find a lot of color options below the screen.

Step 3: Duplicate the Image Layer

Step 4: Changing the Foreground Color

As you know, we are trying to add a shadow to our object, so we will have to set black as our foreground color—Let me know how to set the foreground color. Go to the foreground option and select the color black.

Step 5: Give the Layer Black Color

Now you have to modify the replica layer into black color to convert the layer into a shadow. By selecting “Layer 0”, you can turn off the sight of the image layer. You can also go the shortcut path to hold SHIFT + Alt and press the (Delete) option. Now we can start the shadow-making process.

Step 6: Shadow Creating

You can use the free transform option to bring the object from the copied layer to the shadow form. Now enable the feature by pressing CTRL + T and dragging the thing down in a state. You can see this exactly looks like a shadow. To make the shadow seem more natural, go to the next step.

Step 7: Releasing Transform Selection

Press the okay button to release the transform selection and save the change. Turn on both layers to make the shadow looks more realistic.

Note: Transform selection is better than free transform.

Step 8: Placing the Shadow in a Proper Position

If you feel like the shadow is in the wrong position, you can make it right. Select “layer 0 copy” and press on the arrow situated at the top of the left for doing this. Now you can move the shadow anywhere you want. Set the shadow in a suitable space cause the things should look actual.

Do not set the shadow too far or too close to the object; you should keep the shadow in a decent position. Otherwise, the image looks artificial.

Step 9: Making the Shadow Motion Blur

I know you may think the photo will never look realistic, but you will get to know how to make the picture look so natural in this step. There is an option named motion blur tap on it and then apply it to your object. After the next step, the picture will look more attractive.

Step 10: Smoothing Around the Object

Look for the pop-up window option and set the angle 0. You should not worry about the distance between the object and the shadow. You can fix it with 20 pixels depending on the requirements. Let me take you to the next step cause we still need some improvement.

Step 11: Adding Layer Mask

A layer mask is one of the important functions of Photoshop. So you need to mask your shadow by layer masking option. Alright, go to the layer mask option. you can unlink the layer from the “move tool” option.

Step 12: Applying Gaussian Blur on the Shadow

the shadow, change the radius. Now you see the shadow is looking so natural and pretty. Now the last step is the brush tool.

Step 13: Using the Brush Tool to Make The Photo Look More Realistic

Find out the brush tool and pick the soft brush. Paint over the shadow using a soft brush. After that, the shadow will start looking lighter.

Final Words

It was the step-by-step method to make a drop shadow. For your convenience, we try to add screenshots of each step so that you can follow the steps more clearly. Here we also add some information about drop shadow photoshop by which you can edit photos like a professional photo editor.

After this article, Photoshop drop shadow would be more fun and quick. We hope that you can create a proper drop shadow on your pictures with your wanted expectations. If you have any queries you can contact us through email or comments.