Shadow Workshop 2024

[Euka]

No, I am not able to access it either.

[Cassel]

I am sorry for the inconvenience. There was a little issue and I have fixed. Can you try again?

[Euka]

Thank you it is there now !! 

[Ann Seeber]

Here is my first lesson. The instructions mention a string but there is no string visible for me. There is another raster layer at the top which was hidden. It had a completely finished page, including a string, but no way to shadow it. Also, there was another .pspimage file included labeled "Shadows-Lesson One-Tutorial.pspimage" which had the exercise Carole used for the demo but still, no string.

[Cassel]

36 minutes ago, Ann Seeber said:

Here is my first lesson. The instructions mention a string but there is no string visible for me. There is another raster layer at the top which was hidden. It had a completely finished page, including a string, but no way to shadow it. Also, there was another .pspimage file included labeled "Shadows-Lesson One-Tutorial.pspimage" which had the exercise Carole used for the demo but still, no string.

I have modified the file to include the string. Good catch again. If you want to re-download it, you can, but you don't have to.

[Ian Fenton]

I assumed it was too simple to simply add drop shadows so I added drop shadows for all elements except for the photos. For the photos I selected them, promoted selection to layer, filled layer with dark colour, changed layer transparency to 65, moved the layer down a level, manually moved the layer down & right to give it a shadow look.

[Cristina]

Here is my Lesson 1.

I have to say that since I started here, I have saved Carole's shadow settings as presets. Depending on the color, size, etc., I tweak them as needed.

I added the usual shadow to the photos. Having said that, I would not have photos on top of a ribbon. There would be a distortion because of the thickness of the ribbon.

I didn't add any shadows to the doodle elements.

I am already enjoying this workshop. Sometimes, I am unsure if the shadow I added is correct; this way, Carole will give her feedback immediately.

Edited: " I would not have photos on top of a ribbon"—unless they were made of thin paper. In the layout below, I considered the ribbon to be thick.

 

 

 

Edited August 20 by Cristina

[Rene Marker]

Since I've been using PSP for digital scrapping since 2008, I have set up presets for my drop shadows. I currently have 28 presets. Over the years I have learned and changed the way I do shadows. Which is to say that my shadowing on my actual layouts is quite different than what we are learning here.

That being said, I did try to do the lesson as Carol presented with a few tweaks of my own.

I used a basic shadow of 10-10-70-20 on the 2 papers. This was my basic paper shadowing for years.

For the string I used a shadow setting of 15-15-60-15. 

For the button, I went off script and used a setting I got from a scrapper that is on the creative team at a store that uses PSP. It is 20-32-67-59.

For the sequin scatter, I used a setting of 3-3-70-20. This gives a little definition but it still appears to be flat on the paper.

For the ribbon, I used a setting of 15-15-50-25. With it being a thicker ribbon, I felt it needed a larger shadow setting to show depth.

With the photos being on top of the ribbon, some depth needed to be added. On one of my normal layouts, there would be additional elements nearby in a cluster so I have no problem with the ribbon being under the photos. My setting for both photos is 20-20-50-20.

Lastly is the chalk. I did nothing to the top chalk. But I did add a small shadow to the bottom chalk just to show the difference. That setting is 2-2-35-1. That setting happens to be the setting I use when using washi tape. 

[Daniel Hess]

I moved things around a little bit before I turned it into a jpeg so mine is going to look a little different.  

[fiona cook]

Nifty Cassel tips for settings values helps a lot so now I have updated my methods. The string I treated like thick card stock so 20:20:70:20 and the sequins thicker so 30:30:60:30

[Linda J Walker]

Lesson 1 - Shadows often frustrate me....but I do recognize they are often needed. Not sure exactly what I used on the string, I tweeked it until I felt it looked right. Do you want to know the numbers? I would have to go back and check. And maybe I need to keep better notes as I work...

[Sheila Hogg]

I thought about giving the rope shadow some more dimention but I guess that may be another lesson tut so didn't want to jump ahead if that is the case so just gave it a basic shadow that was pleasing to my eye.

[Corrie Kinkel]

I have my own shadows as a preset and they come from tutorials for different elements. My shadows for papers and photos are the same as in this lesson. I have no shadow on the chalk scribbles because even the tiniest of shadows makes that chalk a bit less opaque and it looses its texture. I noticed that when I shadowed the sequin scatter the shadow only appears on the outside of that scatter and not on the parts that are on top of each other. On the top right blue parts of the scatter there is a shadow on the left side which looks funny because all the other elements have the shadow on the right side. The settings for the string are offset 14,14, opacity 68 and blur 14 because the string is thicker than paper and thinner than the button.

Edited August 19 by Corrie Kinkel

[Anja Pelzer]

Hi , I think we need a new folder inside the gallery for this Workshop

I used mostly the shadows from Tutorial, on the string I used the Push-tool, I played with the blur and the opacity to get a nice look

 

 

Edited August 20 by Anja Pelzer

[Donna Sillia]

I listed my settings. Mostly, I followed Carole's settings, but I have several saved from her various projects. I made up my own for the sequins. I had a cass setting for the string, and I used a cass setting that I call translucent for the chalk.

[Anita Wyatt]

I am in too. I find it hard sometimes to apply just the right shadow and this workshop will help a lot. I may be slow in completing the daily assignments as I am just recovering from my right eye band keratopathy surgery. This has to be done before I can have cataract surgery due to the calcium buildups. The left eye went well and then I had some problems with the right eye which and am taking meds for that. It is slowly getting better and I have a great team of doctors. It hurts when I look at the computer screen for a long time. and the right eye is still a bit blurry. Please be patient with me. I will try and do my best and I am looking forward to see what all of you are creating with the shadow effects.

[Harmony Birch]

Here's my effort, I really liked the way the shadow made some parts of the string look as though they were curling further from the page than others

[Jeni Simpson]

I love how Harmony did the string, and don't have the information yet on how to do that.
For some reason, the shadows are not showing up on the photographs so well, so I have cropped to show them better.
 

 

Jeni

[Gerry Landreth]

Shadows Day 1 - I tend to overthink, well, pretty much everything. I'm looking forward to working solely on shadows this week.

[Jeni Simpson]

5 hours ago, Linda J Walker said:

Lesson 1 - Shadows often frustrate me....but I do recognize they are often needed. Not sure exactly what I used on the string, I tweeked it until I felt it looked right. Do you want to know the numbers? I would have to go back and check. And maybe I need to keep better notes as I work...

Linda, on the shadow layer, I renamed it with the settings so that I can go back and check what I did. I don't know whether that would help, it is my way of doing some things. Jeni

[Carolyn Rye]

Thanks Carole.  I have always had problems with getting Drop Shadows to look good.  This lesson has helped me, and also the trips for presets from other users.  I have had a go at the first lesson and have enjoyed trying.  Looking forward to the next lesson.

[Cassel]

I am glad to see your projects in the forum. Did you know there are more than 100 registrants? I hope to see many more assignments in this thread. And remember that if you are posting, you will get individual feedback from me. It is also a great opportunity to ask questions if you are unsure of something.

Welcome to all the newcomers to the Campus, including @Ian Fenton

@Ann Seeber Thanks for pointing out the "missing" string. 

@Ian Fenton Yes, the very first assignment WAS supposed to be "that easy". If you look at your assignment, do you see how the photo looks like it is either floating above the base OR is made of a thick block of something casting a shadow? In upcoming lessons, you will see that large offsets are typically reserved for lifted or thick elements. For the scribbles, it is an element that has no thickness, so it should not have a shadow at all.

@Cristina You are correct that typically, one would not add a photo on top of a ribbon! It is a good thing it is ONLY a practice and not a real page! The thin shadows on the sequins are correct as, if you zoom in, you will see it matches the existing shadow where the sequins overlap each other.

@Rene Marker Yes, over time, you get comfortable with some specific settings, but even then, you might tweak them for a particular project, based on the background color and such.

@Daniel Hess That is a good idea to move things around. For a practice project, it gives you a chance to see the shadows in their entirety (or most of it). For the chalk scribbles, remember that it has no thickness (just like ink and paint) so it should not have any actual shadow.

@fiona cook You mentioned that you considered the sequins as thicker than other elements. Look closely at them: they already have SOME shadow where they overlap. In that case, you have to try to replicate that same shadow for consistency.

@Linda J Walker You don't need to go back to get the exact values you used. Overall, we can look at shadows and see if they make sense or not. That is the part that needs practice. The only element that might need more tweaking is the shadow of the sequins. Look closely at the shadows already on the overlapped sequins. What value would replicate that?

@Sheila HoggThe practice will make your eyes more skilled to evaluate when it is "correct". Did you add a shadow to the sequins?

@Corrie KinkelYou are correct: the sequins already have some shadows but when you add one, it will only apply outside of it all. That makes it challenging to shadow when there is already some "internal" shadows.

@Anja PelzerThank you for suggesting a new folder in the gallery. I have added one now. The Push tool will be shown later. I guess you already learned it in previous lessons/courses! Did you add a shadow to the sequins?

@Donna Sillia I am not sure the shadow on the chalk works. If you draw on paper, would you see a shadow?

@Anita Wyatt Glad to see you will give this a try. Do what you can but don't force your eyes!

@Harmony Birch Did you happen to add more than one shadow on one photo? It looks like the two photos have different shadows. They should be consistent. For the string, how did you move the shadow?

@Jeni Simpson Sometimes, resizing might affect how a project shows. It is a good idea to offer a cropped version. On the resized version, I would have asked if you had the same settings for both photo, but on the cropped version, I see that it is. And your idea of renaming the layer with the settings is great, at least for this workshop!

@Gerry LandrethOther than the chalk doodles that should not have an actual shadow, the other ones look quite good.

@Carolyn Rye I do hope that this workshop will help you get more comfortable with shadows. On your assignment, the chalk drawing should not have shadows: it is completely flat on the paper (just like ink would be).

If some of you have not posted, you are allowed to "cheat" by reading my feedback before posting your assignment 🙂

For those I already commented on, you don't have to repost any "correction" if you choose to try again.

See you tomorrow!

[Carolyn Rye]

As suggested my Carole, I have now removed the shadows from the chalk.  It definitely does look better flat. Have attached adjusted photo.

[Susan Ewart]

Lesson 1

Shadow settings:

Paper:  10 - 10 - 80 - 10

Ribbon:  15 - 15 - 75 -15 

Button:  20 - 20 - 70 - 20

Sequins:  7 - 7 - 80 - 7

Rope:  15 - 15 - 75 - 15

Crayon   I did not shadow, thought it had no thickness

I love that little math equation for getting a starting point (start at 90 subtract Offset amount to get the blur amount).  I played around with the settings, especially the rope and the sequins.  I found if I went larger on the rope (even though it's likely thicker than paper) the shadow separated from the rope and it looked like it was floating.  The sequins were just a guess, I tried lots of settings on that one.  the circles at the beginning of the video was neat to see the differences.

Now I'll go see if I'm in the same ball park as everyone else.  

[Anja Pelzer]

1 hour ago, Cassel said:

Thank you for suggesting a new folder in the gallery. I have added one now. The Push tool will be shown later. I guess you already learned it in previous lessons/courses! Did you add a shadow to the sequins?

yes I used 2-2-60-2 for the sequins,  I zoomed in to see them and tried a few setting,