Drop Shadow

[krm]

I'm trying to put a Drop Shadow behind a photo of a basket. I know it can be done in Photoshop, but not sure about Elements. I'm using Elements 2.0.

Any suggestions??

[TonyW]

You can use a layer style. Under styles and effects select layer styles, drop shadows and one of the options (probably high in your case).

Then double click on the little f that appears on the right of the layer and it opens up a box that lets you change the lighting direction, length of shadow etc. You don't get as many options as in Photoshop but probably enough to do what you want.

If that doesn't work there's a tutorial here somewhere on creating your own shadows but I'd have to search around to find it :)

Tony

[Pauline]

It's hard to tell without seeing a picture, but if a drop shadow from the effects palette is not what you want, you can make a selection of the basket and put it on it's own layer. Fill the selection with black. Ctrl D to deselect the selection. Apply some noise and gaussian blur. Use the transform tool to move the shadow where you want. You will also have to move the shadow layer below the basket layer.

I hope that all makes sense. Wendy is usually very good at answering these types of questions but she's away for a few days.

[TonyW]

Pauline:

Thanks - that triggered my memory of where I'd seen it - it's one of Wendy's mini tuts in the Helpful Links forum:

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19218#19218

Even though Wendy is away her posts are still with us :D

And I should have said that to use the layer style drop shadow you do need to select the "bucket" and put it on it's own layer or you won't get the effect you want.

Tony

[Pauline]

Glad you found the link Tony. I was tired and off to bed when I read it last night. I knew Wendy who would usually answer was gone, so I thought I would give it a stab. Some times I have trouble explaining things unless I'm actually in elements and I can check what I'm saying.

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

Glad you managed to find it :)


Wendy