How To Create Realistic Shadows In Photoshop For Product Images

How To Create Realistic Shadows In Photoshop For Product Images – When placing a person or object against a new background, you often need to add shadows to blend in with the new environment and adjust lighting between scenes.

Fortunately, creating realistic shadows isn’t particularly difficult, and you can mostly do it with just one tool: the Brush tool!

How To Create Realistic Shadows In Photoshop For Product Images

Since this most often happens when something is placed on a new background, you’ll need an object that was clipped from the original background.

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There are countless ways to select and cut objects from their background, so we won’t go into them in detail. Remember: the more accurate you are in your selection, the better the final result will be.

We chose a relatively simple image that allowed us to quickly cut out the object.

Since this is a bright, colorful subject against an almost pure white background, we can use one of our favorite auto selection tools, Select Subject, to quickly make a precise subject selection.

If there is excess, just open the layer mask and fill the unwanted areas with black. This will remove them from the image.

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Once the selection is made, simply load it as a layer mask onto the image containing the object. Place a layer with a solid white fill below the image layer and you’re done!

We’ve cut out the object and placed it on a plain white background, and now we can add a drop shadow.

Believe it or not, selection is usually the most difficult step in the process. Creating the shadow takes a bit of time, but the process is relatively simple and mostly just requires a brush to make the magic happen.

Before we get started, there is one very important thing to keep in mind when creating your own shadows in Photoshop. Shadows are rarely just black and gray. Since a small amount of light is still reflected from the surface of the object, a small amount of the original color goes with it. So when drawing shadows, make sure you use colors that come from the darker shadows in the original photo.

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Notice how we zoom in on the edge of the fruit to capture some of the original shadows cast from below.

Also, shadows become darker and sharper the closer they are to the subject. We want denser, tighter, darker shadows right at the edge of the subject, and the further away the shadow is, the brighter and more diffuse it is.

Let’s make shadows. Create a new layer below the layer with the object. Try the darkest shadow color from the image and start painting along the edge (and bottom) of the object with a medium-sized brush set to a light flow.

It may take you a few tries to get something natural. Do not forget to pay attention to how the natural light and shadows of the image fall on the object. Then try adjusting the direction and intensity by drawing a new shadow.

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Once you see a thin dark shadow at the bottom, it’s time to move on to the next steps.

What are the next steps? Now to do almost the same thing you just did, only with a slightly lighter shadow color (again taken from the photo) and with a slightly larger, softer brush.

The whole process may require you to create several layers, each with a slightly different intensity and a slightly lighter color. The goal is to create a natural gradient from dark to light and hard to soft that spreads out from the subject.

As you work, you may notice that some elements of the original lighting don’t work with the new shadow you’ve created. In our example, we detected a small glare at the bottom of the fruit.

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To fix this, simply create a new layer and add it as a clipping mask above the object layer. Now this layer will only appear where the object appears. Simply draw the shadows inside the object the same way you drew the outer shadows.

If you want to further refine your shadow, Gaussian Blur can help give it a softer, more natural feel.

You apply a Gaussian blur to individual layers or group everything together to soften things up a bit. Just zoom out often to get a better idea of ​​whether the effect looks natural or not. By using shadows correctly, you can take your product images from amateur to professional. This helps the product look more natural and realistic, adding a sense of shape and depth to your products.

The best part is that you don’t need a big budget or a big team to create professional product images. All you need to do is spend some time on product photography and the post-production process.

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There are many types of eyeshadows, but in this blog we will focus on the most versatile type of eyeshadow that works for all types of products – eyeshadows.

When you’re photographing your product in a studio, it can be difficult to create the perfect shadow, especially if you’re not a professional photographer. Fortunately, adding a drop shadow during post-production using Adobe Photoshop is quite easy. I will explain to you exactly how to do this step by step.

Although the steps I share here are easy to follow, you need to make sure that these two basic rules are followed in the end. Otherwise, your online store will only have unprofessional product images.

First, open the image in Photoshop. Make sure you start with a high resolution image. I will demonstrate the process on a white plate already on a white background. As you can see, it looks a bit flat.

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In the Layers panel on the right side of the Photoshop window, select the Background layer and duplicate it. You can right-click the layer and choose Duplicate Layer or press Ctrl+J (Windows) or Command+J (Mac) on your keyboard. “Background Copy” will appear. This allows you to modify the duplicate layer without fear of accidentally damaging or distorting the original image.

Under Background Copy, create a path around your product and remove the background. You can see that the background has been removed if you look closely in the Layers panel. Your product should have a gray and white checkered background on the top layer (the Photoshop method shows transparency). You can also hide the original background layers.

You also need to duplicate this layer. A little organization goes a long way in Photoshop, so get into the habit of organizing your layers. Name this layer something like “Product”. I would also suggest renaming the Background Copy layer to something like Shadow.

Select the Shadow layer, then press Ctrl + Command + T to select the Transform tool. Hold down the Ctrl or Command key, then click the top center control point (the point at the top of the image) and drag down to position the transform at the correct angle for your subject’s light source. If necessary, use the Move tool to reposition the transformed image by clicking and dragging it to the desired location. Don’t worry about it being perfect, you’ll have a chance to change its position later.

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In the Layers panel, click the Lock Transparent Pixels button next to the word Lock. This ensures that the next step only affects the transformation you just did (which becomes your shadow). To learn more about the powerful Lock Transparent Pixels feature, check out this quick tutorial from SitePoint.

Select the Gradient tool (shortcut G), then select the third option for a black and white gradient from the drop-down menu next to the gradient panel at the top of the Photoshop window. Also select “Linear Gradient” from the icons in the menu bar on the right.

To apply a gradient, simply click on the base of the shadow closest to your subject, then drag to the other end of the shadow. This should turn your transformed image into a smooth gradient, but it still doesn’t look natural. Let’s clean up now.

Just above this button, use the drop-down menu to select Multiply as the blending mode. If you’d like to read much more, click on this tutorial on Blending Modes from Photo Blog Stop.

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From Photoshop’s main menu, click Filter, then choose Blur, then choose Gaussian Blur. Select the pixel radius for the blur. You can experiment here, as this effect will look different depending on the resolution of your image file and its specific shape. If you overdo it, use Ctrl+Z or Command+Z to undo the mistake, and Ctrl+Shift+Z or Command+Shift+Z to go back more than one step.

Now you can make further conversions. Enable the “Free” option.