MissBehaving: Shadows – Part I
April 9, 2010 by BlogTeam
Filed under Miss Behaving, Tutorials, Weekly Features
I’ve had a LOT of requests for shadow tutorials and my wish is your command. Oops … I mean YOUR wish is my command. 
I’m going to start you out nice and easy. In fact, it’s SO easy, you’re gonna LOVE this tutorial. Welcome to the Dark Side of Shadowing. *insert evil laugh here*
Let’s take Morgan here (I love this picture … she looks so innocent. Looks can be VERY deceiving. heh):
Let’s take a closer look. Note the natural shadows here. I’ve marked in red the underlying shadow … the shadow underneath Morgan that her body makes on the concrete floor. I’ve also marked the shadow her body makes falling on the floor between her arm and torso.
Your mission should you choose to accept it is to recreate this natural shadowing.
I’m going to extract my model and put her on a background. This background is from JenU’s Heritage and Traditions kit (who just happens to be having a HUGE sale right now 
)
If you need assistance on learning how to extract, please see the “Extraction for Dummies” tutorial. For help with creating hair, please see either: The “Mane” Attraction or “Combing” Attractions.
Now, I’ve seen a LOT of layouts that just add a drop shadow.
Do you hear that sound? That is the heart-wrenching sound of my heart breaking into a bazillion pieces. This is: Shadows Gone Horribly Wrong!
This shadow here is NOT the way to go. It does NOT look realistic in any way, shape or form. And if you use this type of shadow after you read this tutorial, I will cry. We want a happy tutorial writer so please … just say NO to bad shadows.
Let’s start over. First … create a Layer mask for your model. Highlight your extracted model and hit “Ctrl + Enter” to select your model. The ants should be marching around your model.
Then hit “Create a Layer mask” button (circled in red).
You have now created your layer mask. Why? We’ll get to that very shortly, I promise.
We’re going to paint our shadow under our model first. Create a new layer under your model and name it “Shadow Layer”.
Go to your Tool Box and Select your Brush Tool.
I’m going to choose a dark color to paint in the shadows. Set your foreground to the color of your choice. I like the dark color of the cracks in the floorboard.
Use a 25 pixels brush (this depends on the size of your model … I started with 25 because of the smallness of Morgan’s fingers), Hardness 25% and color black or a dark brown, Opacity @ 100%. The goal is to paint with the brush right along the edges of your model.
Paint so that you only see the bottom edge peeking out from your model.
The bottom of her dress and legs are larger and it’s easier to paint with the bigger brush along the curves, so I’m going to adjust the size of my brush to 35, keeping the rest of the settings the same.
Continue painting along the edge of your model. Looks pretty good but we’ve just gotten started.
I’m going to blur it a bit because my freehand painting can sometimes be a little lacking in refinement. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
I’ve used a Radius of 2.
Mommy likey. We’re getting there.
Duplicate your Shadow Layer by hitting “Ctrl + J” and place it on top of your model.
Umm … yeah … nice paint work, eh? LOL We’re going to fix the shadows in a second.
Remember the layer mask we made earlier? Here’s where it comes into good use. We’re going to clip our shadow into that layer.
Go to your extracted layer and Highlight the mask. You’ll see a black box around it.
Hold down the “Alt” key and take your mouse and hover between this layer and the Shadow Copy layer above it until you see a little icon that looks like a bug with a little arrow beside it. I’m not able to take a screen shot of it so I’ve recreated it as best I could.
Press Enter and your Shadow Copy layer should now be clipped to your Mask.
Highlight the clipped layer and change the Blending mode to Soft Light.
Ooohhh Pretty!
Almost done! The only thing we have left to do is re-create the body shadow on the floor between her arm and torso. Create a new layer under the model’s body.
Using the original photo as your guide, paint in the rough shape of the shadow.
I’m going to blur it as I did before.
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
I’ve used a Radius of 2.
I’m going to change the blending mode to “Multiply” and lower the Opacity to 70%.
Honestly, your shadows don’t get much better than this.
I added a couple of more goodies from JenU’s kits: “Heritage and Traditions” and “Vintage Lullaby” and Lorie Davison’s kit: “Before the First Snow” and used the same shadowing techniques for the elements.
Here’s the final result:
Shadowing is muy importante. It honestly can give a beautiful depth to your layouts. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and you find it useful. Depending on the feedback from this tutorial, there may be more. If you have a specific tutorial you’d like to see regarding shadows … please post it in the comments and I’ll do my best to help out.
Good luck and happy creating! Go forth and experience the shadows.
Awesome Thanks so much for sharing this
This is an excellent tutorial and very useful – Thanks so much!
This is a fabulous tutorial. Wow. Thanks so much.
wow this tut is really great :
I need to send link to this page to all my ct girls
Wow – that is awesome! Thank you so much for all the time you spend on the tutorials – they are excellent!
Love your tutorial, I always wondered how fantasy layouts looked so good with that awesome shadowing. Thank you for sharing it and I’m sure that with a bit of jiggling around, I can get PSE to do some of this, in a different way. Great inspiration!
Great technique. Thanks for sharing.
Very educational and of course, humorous (my favorite kind) tutorial! I learned a lot and have to confess, sometimes I am lazy and just do the standard drop shadow when I know better.
Sorry to make you cry–I don’t have a program that can do some of what you recommend YET. Maybe after the tax refund comes back…
Squealing with delight here in MD! Thank you, thank you, thank you Miss B,(can you tell I love it) for this fabulous shadow tutorial!
A million thanks, Ms B. this tutorial rocks and I have bookmarked it so I can follow along step by detailed step when I do my next 3-d extraction. Sorry for the heart-breaking token use of the Dropshadow style. Please forgive. We newbies don’t know any better.
OMG ya killin me girl!!! I haven’t even gotten to the hair tuts yet!! LOL! Slow down!!! LOL LOL! You seriously are the QUEEN of tutorials ya know!!!!!!!!!!
xoxoxoxo
I love your tut’s Melissa, thanks soo much … I am now officially banning bad shadows from all future layouts! lol
Loved it. I’ve often thought that I should paint the shadows in on a new layer but your admonition and example of my bad habits converted me from the easy way to your way. Love all the tuts
Your tuts are rockin’! I can’t wait to try this one out.
Thanks for sharing your talent with us.
Awesome tutorial, thanks. I now understand how to make a more natural shadow on my extractions.
Thanks for the great tut. Shadows are a weakness for me & I never knew or thought to do what you suggested.
I do have a request though… could you make your tut in a download form so we can reference back to them anytime?
‘Preciate it!
Aw, man…how did I miss this for what…4 days?! You know I’ve been dying for good shadow tutorials that I can refer to again and again. I’m going to have to practice these, then hit all my old los and redo all the shadows! lol
I just read thru about the 1st half of this one since I’m all sorts of backed up on layouts, but just wanted to say ‘thanks!’ and I’ll definitely go to town on these tuts at first avail opportunity. BTW, tried the ‘niche’ or nook thing. Went horribly horribly awry on the first try, but I think that’s more me than the directions you so generously gave
I was trying to get creative with shapes and fills, and really I just need to start with a niiiice simple one until I get good at the technique, i think! I’ll keep at it, though, cause I’m very into these shrines or dioramas, so nooks are a pretty essential task for me to know.
So, hopefully this will improve my shadow work, cause you know it needs some help. Even my canned shadows actions need help! LOL I just bought that gorgeous ‘before the first snow’ megakit by Lorie D, and I’d never really seen her work up close before, and I was just DROOLING at her perspective shadows. So, maybe now I’ll be clever enough to pull off my own, or that would be the goal, anyway, with some serious Miss B lessons!
Thanks again, keep up the tut tutting, and we all appreciate it!
I don’t recall the mask little button on PSE6.0, but I will check to see if it’s there and if not how to fake it.
Thanks a million and please keep them coming.!
– dalis
This tutorial will work in PSE with only small modifications to get a layer mask. Check out these threads for information on how to get and use layer masks in PSE:
http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/forum/showthread.php?p=54317
http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?p=50280
and there are a few others listed in the advanced tutorial section if you are feeling adventurous. http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?4577-Photoshop-Elements-tutorials-in-the-SBG-forum&p=47135#post47135
You are mahhhvelous!! Thanks so much! Keep them coming!
wowwwwww this Tutorial ist really Perfect Thank you very Much
Thank you so much for doing this in detail…I have been searching for a while for a tutorial like this…wanting so badly to improve my skills on realistic shadowing…You helped me tremendously. Thanks a million
P.S. Keep the tutorials comin
Thank you sooo much, this is a big help!
I’d like to know why I had to pay $19.99 in March for the class and now the info. on making shadows is free!!!
blush, blush…my mistake