TIP SHEET #8 How to Create Fake Shadows As well as the colour, it s the shadows in a picture that help to give it mood and atmosphere so in this tutorial I want to show you how you can add in extra shadows. In this example we ll create a shadow that looks as though it s coming from light shining through a window frame and casting the shadow onto the background. This technique makes use of shapes that come pre installed in Photoshop and with the combination of Smart Objects for flexibility and giving the option of making adjustments at a later stage, a Blur Filter and Layer Mask they can be quickly and easily transformed.
Step 1: Blank Layer Begin by making sure that your Foreground and Background colours are at their default of Black and White by pressing D on the keyboard. Then click to add a new blank layer to the top of the layer stack and rename this layer window Step 2: Custom Shape Tool Now choose the Custom Shape Tool that you ll find in the Tool Bar and then in the options bar that appears at the top of the screen there is a Shape drop down menu. In here there are lots of different shapes preinstalled in Photoshop and one of them is a 3 x 3 grid of squares; this is what we ll use to create our window frame shadow. Choose the 3 x 3 Grid by clicking on it and the also in the options bar ensure that Pixels is selected.
Step 3: Place the Grid Now click in the upper left hand corner of the image and drag out the grid shape. Note: holding down the shift key at the same time as dragging will ensure that the grid remains proportionate. Once you have the grid in place we ll now make it appear slightly thicker so that the final effect looks more realistic by pressing CMD/CTRL + J to duplicate it. Then, with the Move Tool (V) and the RIGHT arrow key on the keyboard press to move the duplicate to the right 4 times and then press the UP 4 times. Repeat this process one more time. Step 4: Smart Object With the upper most copy of the window layer active, hold down the shift key and click on the first window layer so that now all three layers are active/highlighted. Then go to the fly out menu in the top right of the layers panel and choose Merge Layers or go to Layers > Merge Layers. Then go to Filter > Convert to Smart Filter because we ll be using a blur for this effect and having a Smart Filter will enable us to adjust it quickly and easily at a later stage.
Step 5: Gaussian Blur Now that we have our window layer converted into a Smart Object go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and because we want this effect to be quite subtle, add in a Pixel Radius of around 150. This will blur and soften down the window frame / grid. It s your choice now whether you want the shadow to be on the male subject or not. If you wanted to remove it then simply add a Layer Mask and paint with a Black Brush over the male subject. To reduce the shadow falling on the male subject as opposed to removing it completely, paint with a Black Brush but with a reduced opacity amount. Step 6: Warp If you wanted to make it appear as though the window frame was slightly misshapen due to it being cast onto the wall from the side, we can add a little Warp. To do this first of all click on the chain icon between the layer thumbnail and layer mask to turn it off / unlink them both. Then click on the thumbnail of the window frame and go to Edit > Transform > Warp. This temporarily reveals the grid without any blur so we can easily see what we are adjusting. To warp the frame simple click and drag inside the Warp adjustment.
Step 7: Finishing Touches At this stage the only finishing touches I apply here are to firstly with a soft edged round brush and a black foreground colour, paint around the outside edges of the frame to help it blend in much more natural with the environment. Also we can now use the layer Opacity to control how subtle, or not, we want the effect to appear. Bonus Tip: Colour As well as shadows giving a picture mood and atmosphere so does the colour / tone. In this example a warm to cool gradient has been added to give the impression there is a warm light source from outside the right hand side of the image. To create this effect a new gradient was added using Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient. From the various gradient presets I used the Violet/Orange (5th gradient) and adjusted the colours then changed the blend mode of this gradient layer to Soft Light. CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE PAGE FOR 100 S OF FREE TUTORIALS