How to Create Natural Drop Shadow
Natural Shadow is a method where the background gets removed and instead of that, put the image in a white background then creates natural shadow. With Photoshop you can easily create a natural shadow.
The natural shadow around objects makes photographs look real and professional. You may not create photographs in the right settings or correct lighting to get the shadow you need. With Photoshop you can create natural shadows for your product photos.
How to Create Natural Drop Shadow in Photoshop?
Before you begin to create shadows in Photoshop, it is important to understand how shadows work. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a natural shadow in Photoshop.
- Isolate object from the background
- Create a new background
- Create a drop shadow
- Create a layer from your drop shadow
- Distort the drop shadow
Step 1 (Isolate object from the background): Open the photo you wish to edit. Once you are in the new file, open Layers palette by going to Window > Layers. Cut out the object in your photo and place it on a new layer. Give your new layer a name such as background removed. Click on the eye icon next to your background layer to make the background invisible. This way, you will able to see your object in a transparent background.
Step 2 (Create a new background): In your Layers palette, select your hidden background layer. Go to Layer > New Layer (Shift + Ctrl + N), to create a new layer. Fill the new layer with a color by going to Edit > Fill.
Step3 (Create a drop shadow): Select your isolated object layer, click on the FX button at the bottom of your layers palette and select Drop Shadow. The Drop Shadow dialog box will pop up. Create a drop shadow by setting your shadow color to your foreground color. The opacity, distance, spread and size levels you can adjust as per your requirements. Once you are satisfied with your Drop Shadow settings, click OK.
Step 4(Create a layer from your drop shadow): Go to Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer to separate your drop shadow from its layer. This will allow you to modify the shadow independent of the object.
Step 5 (Distort the drop shadow): In your Layers palette, select the newly created drop shadow layer. Go to Edit> Transform > Distort to pull your drop shadow down to the floor.