Drop Shadow Settings

familyhistoryscrapper

familyhistoryscrapper

New member
I've been curious about this for awhile....I love to see how everyone uses their shadows on their layouts and I know we often use different settings for different papers or elements, but I'm curious. What are your favorite drop shadow settings?

Do you use pre-made drop shadows from someone's store? If so I'd love to hear whose, or do you set your own?

I use Photoshop elements 10, so I don't think I can save my own styles permanently (boo), but I've been playing around lately with my shadow settings to see what works best.

So what shadow settings are your go to settings? Do you use a certain lighting angle? Distance, size, opacity or maybe a color?

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts and settings :)
 
I love to use purchased shadow styles - right now I am using some by Traci Stroud. They give a great starting point and are fast to tweak. I like 120 degrees and no more than 50% opacity. I sometimes like to tweak the colors a little bit.
 
I make my own shadows most of the time. I tend to use a dark shade of whatever element I'm using rather than black all the time. I use small shadows for papers, journal spots (say 8), even smaller for tape (3 ) and larger and more distant for flowers, butterflies, ribbon, etc. Softer shadows for butterflies and harder for ribbon, say.
 
I have a few presets but never use them. I normally just play with the shadow until I get it the way I like it.
 
I use this one from Wendy Tunison Designs. I use PSE11 which makes it easier to load styles, but in PSE10 there is a way to load them so that they stay & you don't have to do it over and over again--I'm not a techie so I can't tell you how-there *might* be instructions in the kit, but if not, I've seen lots online.
I love it because it gives 4 different angle options and lots of different element options. I HIGHLY recommend it! It's only $2.50 on sale right now :)
https://store.gingerscraps.net/Me-And-My-Shadow.html
wt_MnMS_gs.jpg

 
craftytam said:
I use this one from Wendy Tunison Designs. I use PSE11 which makes it easier to load styles, but in PSE10 there is a way to load them so that they stay & you don't have to do it over and over again--I'm not a techie so I can't tell you how-there *might* be instructions in the kit, but if not, I've seen lots online.
I love it because it gives 4 different angle options and lots of different element options. I HIGHLY recommend it! It's only $2.50 on sale right now :)
https://store.gingerscraps.net/Me-And-My-Shadow.html
wt_MnMS_gs.jpg

Click to expand...

Oh I LOVE Wendy's shadows! I use them ALL THE TIME in PSE 11!!
 
Ohhh I will have to check Wendy's out!
I have an awesome set from one of our retired designers Wyld Web Designs.
I'm excited to play with Wendy's now though!!
 
GingerScraps said:
Ohhh I will have to check Wendy's out!
I have an awesome set from one of our retired designers Wyld Web Designs.
I'm excited to play with Wendy's now though!!
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing Ginger, I have Charmaines and I use that a lot, but I'm excited to try out Wendy's!
 
GingerScraps said:
Ohhh I will have to check Wendy's out!
I have an awesome set from one of our retired designers Wyld Web Designs.
I'm excited to play with Wendy's now though!!
Click to expand...

I have Charmaine's too! I also have a set from Mommyish, from her Facebook.
 
I use shadows that I got from a designer at another store! I get compliments on my shadows now! I would definitely suggest purchasing Wendy's shadows! Makes things so much easier and quicker! After reading this though, I may have to start tweaking colors and opacity and see what happens!
 
I make my own every single time and they're always different, every single time! Sometimes I use linear burn, sometimes just a normal drop shadow, sometime close, sometime further away, different angles, etc. The only thing that's consistent is flatter elements that would normally be ON the paper have less shadow than a bigger button or something that would have more dimension, those have more shadow.
 
oh I think I might have to get Wendy's too.. I was just looking through the gallery and wondering this same question.. whohooo glad I peeked in here.
 
I have shadows from several including Wendy. However hers is currently lost on my computer. Sure hope it's in the other EHD ...
I often, just do my own.
m
 
I use Wendy's too, as a starting point. They're gorgeous and often they are perfect on their own. Sometimes I like to tweak them a little depending on the element or the colour of the background paper.
 
Ambelleina said:
I make my own every single time and they're always different, every single time! Sometimes I use linear burn, sometimes just a normal drop shadow, sometime close, sometime further away, different angles, etc. The only thing that's consistent is flatter elements that would normally be ON the paper have less shadow than a bigger button or something that would have more dimension, those have more shadow.
Click to expand...

oh Tina... Always the difficult one aren't you? LOL j/k!!
 
I use PSE so there's only so much I can do - Like I know you can warp in CS etc. To be honest I have no idea if I can change the color of a shadow in PSE or not!

As far as settings go I never go above 60% opacity and less for certain things. I just think of the layout as a paper layout and think about what things would be chunkier and have a larger shadow. Papers don't have a thick shadow so I usually either use 10 and 8 or 12 and 10. I really dislike papers that "float" way upon a page because to me that just doesn't look "real." KWIM? Oh, and I usually use a 45 degree light angle - no idea why but that's just what I do hehe
 
I've been using it for a while now and I've gotten used to the new interface. I just have no idea how to change the shadow colors but I'll find out! :D
 
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