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Understanding the basics for creating your own drop shadow presets for Digital Scrapbooking elements which; if you read this and follow along will lead into you knowing all you need to know to do them yourself!!
First understanding the basic setting for creating your own drop shadow presets for Digital Scrapbooking elements; Which if you read this and follow along, it will lead you into knowing all you need to know!!
You know me and I will show you the easiest way to do this, it is so fool proof that and anyone can do this!
Next we have a few setting to look at and what they do.
Offsets: - Change the direction that your shadow appears to come out of your element.
Vertical: Numbers range from –100 to 100 (top - bottom)
Horizontal: Numbers range from –100 to 100 (left - right)
NOTE: if you set them to say 45 you get a shadow that falls diagonally from your element.
We have two settings for each the vertical and horizontal. Below you will see the vertical setting first set to positive number of ( 7 ) and the second one the vertical is set to a minus number of ( -7 ). This determines which side of your element your shadow is going to affect. It works the same way with Horizontal, except the shadow will then affect either the right side or the left side of your element.
Note: It is better to use a smaller number with these two settings.
Attributes:
Opacity: Of course lowers the density of the shadow from full color to a translucent one.
Blur – Affects how much your shadow will “blur” out the shadow color of your Vertical & Horizontal edges. Settings are decimal 0.00 (NO blur) to 100.00 (full blur) effect.
Color – Usually a black shadow is standard (but if creating a shadow of a gel or see through type element that might transmit a colored shadow, choose a color that matches the element.)
These settings are so easy to figure out if you just move the slider up and down to see how they affect each other. These settings are so easy to figure out if you just move the slider up and down to see how they affect each other. Have fun playing with the Blur & Opacity!
Ok here is the BIG KICKER…
Shadow On New Layer (is Very Important) to have checked and in almost 100% of all your shadow needs. Once you learn how this layer functions you can almost throw out everything I said above!! With the exception of Color and blur … Happy Dance!!
Now lets see if I can explain this… ;-)
Here I have checked the Shadow on New Layer box. The settings are minimal at most, for a button such as this it would have a small tight blacker shadow directly at the side so I adjusted my Vertical and Horizontal settings. I almost always leave the Opacity at 100%, and just give a slight Blur of “10” to my shadow.
Click OK.
Notice in your layers palette you now have a new Raster Shadow layer that is exactly the same shape as the button.
The first thing we have to do is unlock the Layer Link Toggle mode. See where it has the little blue chain links and the Number 1? This tells you that the Raster 2 layer and the Raster Shadow layer are linked. To unlink them click right on the little white area of your palette where you see the chain and number  and you might have to click it a few times until you see the word “None”  You will have to do this to both the layers that have the blue chain link on them.
Ok now this means we can use any tool/deform tool/*Gaussian Blur/Blend Modes and the Opacity on this new Shadow layer.
In an instant you can change your mind where you want the shadow to fall and depending on the height of the element, you can adjust the depth/width/direction of the shadow just by using the move tool.
This is also where you can turn down the Opacity of your shadow.
If you want your shadow to fall completely around your element, use your Raster Deform tool to enlarge your shadow or if you have too much shadow hanging out there deform the shadow to a smaller size.
You can Adjust>Hue & Saturation>Colorize your shadow and depending on what type of background you are using this on you can adjust the shadow with the Blend Modes. For instance on dark background papers sometimes setting the Blend Mode to Burn looks fantastic.
You can also duplicate your shadow layer and position the second one different then the first and apply a different Opacity to lighten the one side more then the other. You can see the example of a duplicate shadow on the tassel at the top of the page. The shadow on the left is lighter in color then the shadow on the right side.
Or move your shadow layer on top of your element and change the blend mode to give your element the look of actually being placed under another element. I erased the wire element in the two places, but I did NOT erase the drop shadow layer. Example of this can be seen if you look at the image below and the wire element where the raffia weaves under the two areas of the wire element. Also for this drop shadow on the piece of raffia, I placed the shadow layer above the raffia layer, blend mode set to burn, this also gives the raffia a shadowed more rounded look to it, but yet the shadow also falls on the background paper behind it.
Ok so once you get the hang of this check out my video tutorial for learning how to fine-tune your drop shadows for different types of digital scrapbooking elements. Whether it is a thin wire shape, piece of paper, raised item like a flower, eyelet or patch, a piece of ribbon, stitching or string. Or something you just want to “Pop” from the page.
Hopefully I will also be able to give out some drop shadow presets for different types of elements so you can easily recreate your own drop shadows in seconds, both for dark papers and light papers!!
*Gaussian Blur Note: this blur gives a bigger wider blur to the drop shadow then using the blur in the drop shadow dialog box itself.
Have fun and I am hoping to get the video parts of this tutorial done shortly. I will show you how to do the steps listed above. This makes shadows for both dark and light background papers.
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