Help with blending layers

[Red Sky]

I'm working on a project where I am putting copies of layers onto a background, specifically Tin Man ornaments onto a Yellow Brick Road, and I am not happy with the results. The tin men seem to be floating on top of the brick and not looking like the foot is touching ground. I applied a low drop shadow from layer styles and that too looks like it is hovering. Do I do something with the eraser to make the foot appear more in contact with the ground? I'll keep working on the project and check back later to see if anyone has some suggstions. Thanks.

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

The best way of grounding something is to use a shadow ... rather than a drop shadow I tend to create a new layer below and then just draw a rough shape in black on the layer. A little gaussian blur then reduce the opacity ... you may need to do the same thing again with a smaller shadow above that one and this time don't reduce the opacity so much ..

If you could post a link to the image that would be a great help :)


Wendy

[Red Sky]

Thanks for helping me on this Wendy. Below is the link, here's the story behind the picture. There is a woman I rarely ever see or talk to, but for the past few years she has been sending me an ornament of the Tin Man from T.W.ofOZ. Long story. Anyhow, I wanted to let her know they were all doing fine, and thought a photo would serve. I don't like how the two ornaments on the left look. They seem suspended over the brick, and not "grounded." I figured getting a shadow under the feet might help, but wouldn't I need to erase some of the shadow to give it realism? Or is it too much to ask to make a tree ornament look like it's walking down a brick road?
Speaking of ornaments, we have 5 indoor cats and gave up on any holiday tree. Smashed bulbs and decorations, not to mention one of them did some territorial marking on a fake tree. Do you have any luck with your feline(s)?
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1ou768DKFJpiiSprOjrdMsOZHiqkcT0

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

OK the effect you want is subtle ... but imagine what the tin man on the right hand side would cast as a shadow if the light was directly above him. He wouldn't just have a drop shadow on his feet ... he would have an inner deeper shadow around his feet and a softer larger shadow coming from his body.

I did two layers ... a deep shadow on one and the larger shadow on the other. I just used a soft brush to do them, sligh blur and then lowered the opacity.

Same thing for the other one ...

It was difficult to work on this one without having the layers but it should give you some idea of what I mean .. the shadows probably need to be a little darker.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=17AHkY810GIZsVLkbBvjzdLwXrR

Wendy
PS ... my cat Tansy is really good with the Christmas trees ... I sometimes catch her looking at them but she hasn't done anything else :)

[Red Sky]

Hey thanks Wendy. You come to the rescue for a lot of people it seems, including me. I found making one's own shadows, as you suggested, to be much better than the layer- style -drop, and it was pretty easy too. I'm not used to making these kind of happier photos so I was kind of stuck and I appreciate your help. Now I want to go back to doing something weird, which I don't seem to have trouble with! Thanks again.

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

Glad that it helped ... and by the way I really like the image. It looked good :)


Wendy