Own Your Own Shadow!

I don’t know about you, but I always want to add shadows to my page elements. I started as paper scrapper 9 years ago, and tend to try to make my Digi LO’s look like paper scrapping. But I’m not always happy with the results. Sometimes the shadows look fake, sometimes it looks like I got a little carried away with the pop-dots (sometimes I like that look, but not always)

So I thought I’d give you a few ways to Own Your Own Shadows:

I use PSE 5.0, so I’ll be going over the various ways to make shadows using this software. You should be able to adapt them to your software too.

1.) Quick & Easy (all PSE users)….
The quickest & easiest way to make a drop shadow in PSE is to use the Drop Shadow Layer Styles from the Artwork & Effects Palate. This will give you a quick way to add a shadow. You just need to select the layer that you would like the shadow added to, and select the layer style that best suits your needs.

Here is an example using the Jessica Spragues Echoes of Asia Kit & the Drop Shadow Layer Style “Low”:


This method is quick & easy, and the results are not bad. But do this for me. Put your hand next to a sunlit window, or under a light. Now, look at the shadow it casts. What colors do you see? You should see a shadow that is the same color as the surface it is on – except in a darker tone. So if the floor is blue, the shadow is likely a darker blue – right? This shadow is black. Lets see what else we can do.

2.) Actions:
Another method that you can use to create a more realistic drop shadow is to use an action. I have seen a lot of scrappers using actions for their shadows. The results are pretty good. I do not have an action for this, so I can’t show you an example of it. Most drop shadow actions need to be purchased. One of the most popular is by Traci Murphy Designs . You can see examples of it at her link. This is one of the easiest ways to add a drop shadow. Some downsides of using actions are that you need to know how to install them (but, once done, just click a button to use). They require a purchase. You may need to purchase multiple actions to add shadows to different types of elements.

Overall, these are a good choice, if you can spring for the $$.

3.) Change Your Style Settings:
This is another easy way to add a drop shadow, and is very similar to the first method listed above. It allows for more customization of the shadow, and changing that black to another color. This is new for PSE 5 (it may be in 4.0, but is NOT in 3.0 or earlier versions)

After adding your element to the page, select the Drop Shadow of your choice from the Layer Styles Menu, just as you did above. Yes, you are going to see that black drop shadow. Now, select the layer you’re adding the shadow to in the layers palatte. Right after the layer name, there is a layer styles settings button – it looks like a flower, or small sun. Double click this button.

The Style Settings Box (pictured on right side) will pop up first. Click on the black square next to the size slider. Mine is circled (but blue) in the picture. When you click on this the color picker box will pop up next to the style settings box.

Place your cursor over the background layer. The cursor will change to the color picker eyedropper. Select a color next to the element. Now use the color picker box to select a darker shade of the same color.


Now we have a shadow that is much more realistic! And, it wasn’t too difficult. You can also use this style settings box to change the shadow direction & size

4.) Create a New Shadow Layer:
This is my favorite way to make a drop shadow, especially if the paper the shadow is resting on is patterned with multiple colors. It really isn’t all that much extra work either. Remember when I had you look at the shadow your hand casts? What if the shadow is cast onto an area with lots of colors? Try putting your shadow on a book or magazine. Do you notice that all of the colors are still there? They are just darker!

Grab a cuppa… there are a lot of screen shots for this one, but once you do it once or twice, it goes really quick!

I’m using the Tag Sale Kit by Retrodiva for this section. It has lots of color in the background. You can get it free here.

Once you have placed your element layer on your background layer, you will need to make a duplicate layer of your background layer. Your layers palate should have 1 element layer, and 2 background layers.

Next, you want to have your element layer selected. Use your magic wand tool to select the empty area around your element. Now Shift+Ctrl+I to select the inverse area. Your element should now have “marching ants” around it.
Okay, now, with your magic wand tool still selected, use your arrow key to nudge your “marching ants” 2 pixels to the right, and 2 pixels down. The element itself should not move here, just the ants. Shift+Ctrl+I again, to select the inverse area. Select the shadow layer (background copy) in the layers palate and hit the delete key. Your ants should now look just off the edge of your element, and the shadow layer in your layers palate should now be the same shape as your element.


Ctrl+D to Deselect the element. This will get rid of the marching ants. Your shadow layer should be selected in the layers palate. From the file menu, go to Enhance -> Adjust Color -> Color Variations.
Use the buttons to darken the Midtones, Shadows & Highlights until you get a shade color you are satisfied with. Click Ok when you are done. You will now see a very hard, shadowy layer. We need to blur it up a bit to make it look real.

With the shadow layer selected, pick a blur filter from the special effects palate. I like the Gaussian blur. Play with the blur until you get a look that you like. You can also adjust the opacity if you’d like.

Now you have a great looking drop shadow! Just one more word to the wise, DO NOT move this layer to adjust shadow. Because the paper is patterned, if you move it, it will move the pattern out of line. If you want a bigger or smaller shadow, you will need to go back and adjust the number of pixels you move your ants before cropping the paper.



So that’s it. Four ways to help you Own your Shadows! Pick which way you like best, or mix an match to suit your needs.

I hope that this tutorial is helpful. If you know of another way to do this, or adjustments that can adapt these ideas to another type of software, please leave a comment, you may just help someone else out!

Happy Scrapping!