Drop Shadows

[Rene Marker]

Here is some information I have learned about drop shadows in Affinity Photo from watching various YouTube videos and just playing around in the program.

@Corrie Kinkel asked how to do a reverse shadow.

I used a flower with a Radius of 13.9 px, Offset of 17.3 px and an Angle of 135.  My settings are exaggerated to show the shadow.

[Rene Marker]

For this example I'm going to show you that you can save your drop shadow settings to be used again.

In PSP, we save them as presets. In Affinity, they are called Styles.

There is a Style panel that you can have as one of your Panels on the right side of your workspace. I have mine with the Color and Swatches I have at the top of the column. You can make categories for your Styles. Affinity comes with Default styles. On the top right of the Styles panel, there is a drop down menu with multiple menu items.  The very first one is "Add Styles Category". I chose this option and named it "Shadows". Under the Search bar is a selection menu for these categories.

Now how to add the shadow style...

Create your drop shadow on a layer.

Go to the Drop Down Menu at the top of the Styles Panel.

Select the option "Add Style From Selection".

You will be given an opportunity name the style.

When you have named it and saved it, it will show up in your Styles Menu.

 

My naming format is much like my PSP preset format. I put the settings in the name.

M = Multiply

70 = Opacity

20 = Radius

25 = Offset

(Note these are exaggerated shadows. If you right click on the style, you can rename it or even delete it.)

[Rene Marker]

How to use the Style Shadows that you have created.

Simple! Once you have added your layer, click on the style name. The shadow is instantly added to your layer.

There is also a quirk in the way the shadow styles are applied. This post and the next one will show what happens when you use a style saved from one element and used on a different one.

I used this flower element to create the first Drop Shadow in my list. The size of the flower is 965x978 pixels.

[Rene Marker]

I then added this flower to my canvas and used the same drop shadow on it. The size of this flower is 692x656 pixels.

Note the Radius and Offset settings on this shadow. Affinity automatically adjusts for the pixel size difference. I also tested this by creating a shadow for a journal card and saving it as a style. I then used the style on a photo. It again adjusted the settings due to the pixel difference. I really like this!

[Corrie Kinkel]

Rene thank you for explaining what styles are and how to use them and for the reverse shadow as well, which confirmed my idea how that must be applied. Your did a lot of research already and gives us here the benefit of it.😍

[Cristina]

Thank you, Rene, for taking the time to explain in detail, with photos even,  how to apply shadow in Affinity. Very helpful.

[Cassel]

@Rene MarkerJust out of curiosity, why do you name your styles with the values and not the typical use for it, like "Paper", "Ribbon", "Flower", etc.?

[Rene Marker]

  On 1/27/2025 at 4:15 AM, Cassel said:

@Rene MarkerJust out of curiosity, why do you name your styles with the values and not the typical use for it, like "Paper", "Ribbon", "Flower", etc.?

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I don't remember why I started doing that all those years ago in PSP but it has worked out just fine because I don't necessarily use the same values for papers or ribbons or flowers. It all depends on how they are stacked on the layout. I have 32 presets for drop shadows in PSP. There are some that are not used as much but they are there. A few of them have the values with an identifier behind them like for a staple. Also as I go down my list of presets, the smallest are at the top. My first one is "0-0-30-5 Reverse" followed by "0-0-80-10 Reverse".

[DianeM]

Thanks for explaining your method for naming styles and for creating categories.

I'll be thinking of how I'll implement this based on the elements I use most frequently.

[Corrie Kinkel]

@Rene Marker Rene I followed your description to make my own list for the shadows in Styles and every time I make a new shadow I add it to my list. I understand your way of naming them but I follow the way I set mine up in PSP, otherwise I will get too confused!😉

[Rene Marker]

  On 2/3/2025 at 10:16 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

@Rene Marker Rene I followed your description to make my own list for the shadows in Styles and every time I make a new shadow I add it to my list. I understand your way of naming them but I follow the way I set mine up in PSP, otherwise I will get too confused!😉

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You have to do what works for you! The way I do it is the same as my PSP so I won't get confused 😉