Providing Photo Objects With Shadows

The photo objects images in the Photos.com collection all have a precise, clean path, perfect for pulling an image into another one without the need for time-consuming background deletion. But what else can you use that path for? Shadows! A good, well-placed shadow adds an anchor to your image, giving it a sense of reality, and grounds it to the background. In just a few easy steps you can make a perfect perspective shadow. I used Photoshop, but most image editing applications should be up to the task.

Step 1: Open your image and click on the Path tab in your Layers pallete. Highlight the Path layer and at the bottom of the pallete click on Load Path As Selection. This will make the "marching ants" appear around your image. Step 2: Go to Select > Inverse and delete the background. Step 3: Click back to the Layers tab and make a New Layer. Make sure your foreground color is set to black and fill the selection with black, as shown in the illustration at right (click to enlarge). Step 4: Move the Shadow layer so it's behind your image. Go to Edit > Transform > Distort. Now you can begin to bend and distort that shadow into shape and position. Take note of where the light source is, so it looks natural. Step 5: Once you have it to your liking, select the shadow by holding your Control button and clicking on the layer (see the marching ants). Now add a gradient of 100% black to a 40% gray. Deselect and add a Gaussian Blur, as shown in the final image (click to enlarge). You may also want to lower the opacity, depending on the location of your image and shadow. Barbara McGunigal is the art director for The Industrial Projects Report magazine, She also heads up LeapFrog Type & Design Studios, where her main focus is on book cover design and promotional art. You can see her work at leapfrog-designs.com

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