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Day 5. After reading the comments from others about this assignment, I'm in good company. The first two were done entirely with the warp brush. The third one required a hand-drawn shadow. I was using a mouse, but I suspect it will be easier with a tablet. I'll go back and see if that works better.

I am not very happy with the results and drawing my own shadows by hand and have them nicely fit with the existing ones is very difficult. Like Rene my hand isn't steady enough to make this into a succes! I'm sorry and will try to avoid using this kind of ribbons unless they are already properly shadowed by the designer. I'll check in the store if Carole has a script for such curly ribbons that have a shadow!! There is a tutorial that explains the making of a curly ribbon with shadows and that is a bit of work but gives a nice result. I did one for the Build a Kit from last year. With using the warpbrush I'm more or less oké now and use it when necessary. What I show here is by no means my first attempt and I forgot how many times I started anew.

I really struggled with this lesson 5. I don't have a steady hand and trying to get the shadows right is very difficult for me.

I am certain I will NEVER use a curly ribbon! 😆 If I find I have any, I may just have to delete them to save my sanity!

I first did it the way I used to shadow (but am not posting it) because I wanted to see if there was any difference in how the shadows worked. To my eye, I saw no difference on the elements so all the extra deleting above elements was just extra work. On the practice I used pretty much the same shadows as Carole for this posted version. The only difference between her version and my other was the shadow on the flower and the frame was a different opacity than Carole's settings. The second image is a cluster I made using elements from a Christmas kit. The shadows used on it were the shadow settings given to me by Jill with some tweaking as I felt needed. As you can see I had a base of a journal card then started layering above it and even included a curly ribbon. This is how I use curly ribbons on my layouts... hide most of it in a cluster. One piece of advice I got about clusters was to always have an odd number of elements in the cluster. Carole's has 5, mine has 11. My cluster will be used on a cover page layout for a series of layouts I do every December called "Document Your December". A layout for each day of the month. I've done this every year since 2017. I also spent some time looking at layouts with clustering in a gallery and I could not see that any of them went the extra steps of deleting parts of shadows. And, they all look realistic to me! However, I can see that it could be useful in some clusters so won't rule out never using it in the future.

Ok, number 5 and it's the best I can do after many goes at it and deleting several times. Shadows are definitely not easy. Didn't really enjoy this one.

Shadow Workshop - Lesson 4

and now the with 2 other ribbons

Lesson 5 This was tough one, following the ribbon to see which part should be lifted. I need lots of practice especially where it meets at the bottom. I kept making the brush line too short and then I couldn't get it to match nicely with the reg shadow. I tried 2 extra ones and they were harder.

my day 5 , I think also that I need more practice with it,

I really hate unusual shadows. 😄 I did download the page for future use. I have some tomatoes that I have to make into sauce today, so I'll save the practice for later. Carole, I know I make a lot of mistakes with shadows, but will keep practicing. I find shadows harder that vectors. Maybe you should make some preset shapes so we don't have to draw them by hand. LOL

Lesson 6 Whew! Call the fire department, cause my grey cells are sizzling! I'm going to try a number 2 version, but I need to put my head in the freezer for a bit. I too, kept going to the wrong shadow layer and I'm looking at the shadows thinking I don't see a difference. I knew right away I wasn't doing it right. I started again and paused the video for each step, kept track of the settings and named the layers as well. I'm glad to know how to do this, despite not using clusters very often. If I could make nice ones, I'd like to be able to shadow them myself in this way. I think this is one of those techniques that if you do it a lot, then it makes perfect sense. You really have know where you are at all times and don't get distracted by cute furballs wanting a cuddle.

here are my Clusters I used BFCoffee by Just Because Studio

Lesson 4

Lesson 6. It was a bit tricky and if I did it again I would label each layer for better reference. Interesting to do depth shadowing this way though.

I did this one and it seemed to go more easily than I was expecting. Of course, I started out and in the 3rd iteration of the first element, I chose the wrong shadow...wasn't paying attention that Shadow 2 was on top of Shadow 1. But I Zeee'd out and started over and kept it straight.

I just wanted to say this has been very informative. I have watched each days vid and played around some. I don't do a lot of clusters, ribbons etc. but if I do, I have all the links saved including the link to this page. I have read a lot of Cassel's comments to each member and some of the comments by other members. There is a lot of useful info in them that I may use at some time. Thanks Cassel and everyone that posted there projects and or commented on others.

It was a tough one for me too.

I don't usually have a problem figuring out which drop shadow in the edit history is for which element. I do all shadows as the last thing. And, I always go from the bottom to the top of the layers palette. So when looking at the edit history, if I scroll all the way to the bottom then scroll back up slowly, I can tell what shadows (or bevel settings if I used a bevel) that I used on each item... last drop shadow = top layer of layers palette. Thanks for the compliment on the shadows... I still don't like them!

I didn't have to think long which photo would be my photo of this week. This is an extremely lucky shot which I took last Sunday when I was staying with our son and daughter in law. It was taken during a walk in our National Park "Hoge Veluwe" where the heath is in bloom at the moment. I didn't even realize there was a bee in this much bigger photo, only at home when I looked at my photos of the weekend on the PC I noticed it. I was taking a photo of a nice clump of blue harebells (grasklokje) and found a little bee too.

Well, I have found something that I don't like. My hand is just not steady enough to draw a shadow. IMO, mine look like crap and this is not my first try at it! I did also try just using the push brush on those areas (not shown here) and I can live with how they look. When I use curly ribbons on a layout, they usually are encompassed within a cluster or as a base for a flower/foliage so only the end shadows are what need to be tweaked. I'm sticking with that from now on!

Lesson5 I've added the ribbons to a project but all three on my design are a bit much but show how versatile they can be.

Oh...I don't like the curled ribbons LOL. Here are the three from the lesson plus an extra that I downloaded.

Lesson 3 I still have to practice a lot !

Day 4 Need more practice 🙂

Exactly! Just looking around my office I have shadows coming in from all directions. Some are harder than others. And they go all directions since some are from windows and others are from lights. One item on a wall actually has shadows on both the left side and right side. Window is to its left and a lamp is to its right. As one scrapper told me once shadowing is subjective and to develop a personal shadowing style. She also said that there isn't always one single light source... unless you are in a controlled environment (like a studio). Also coming from a paper scrapbooking background, there were differences in shadows when looking at the page depending on something as simple as how you are holding the page as well as what time of day or whether you are inside or outside which have different light sources. She uses PS to scrap and always starts with the same basic settings but tweaks them as she builds her layout. I always used to stick to the top left light source on my layouts but as I've progressed and learned from those I admire over the last 15 years, I've become more subjective about shadowing. Funny thing is, when I give the books to my cousin that I do for them, the layouts that get the most compliments are my more recent layouts where I've experimented with shadowing. That makes my heart happy. This workshop though has taught me some new tricks that I can use to further refine the shadows on my layouts. I used the warp trick today on a butterfly on a layout. It looks like it is flying!

What a good idea, Rene! Very effective, too. And the advice to use an odd number of items. Excellent!

@Susan Ewart Your shadows on the flowers are pretty good. Is one shadow purple or is it an optical illusion? @Euka The flower shadows are good. For the lifted corners, be careful that the push is ALWAYS toward the bottom right even if it is a top corner. And yes, using the Warp brush needs a steady hand. I am grateful to have a graphic tablet as it is easier (for me) to control than a mouse. @Jen Brown Great start. All the shadows look like they are correct on Lesson 1. On Lesson 2, I think you might have moved the white square between the wavy element and its shadow. Do you see that? For your Lesson 3, the lifted shadow looks very good! @Michele you are doing great! Yes, more practice will make the process easier over time. @Marie-Claire Those lifted corners look very good. They are perfectly angled! The flowers are well shadowed too. Good job! @Rene Marker I agree that the Edit History is not very intuitive to use. And if you have several elements that were shadowed, you have no way to know which one was which either. Although you might not be happy with the curly ribbons' shadows, I think they are quite good! @Daniel Hess I don't blame you for hating curly ribbons! They are a nightmare. Yet, they are available in many kits and if they are used they NEED those scary shadows. A "regular" shadow would look even worse! The shadows on the top three ribbons are very good. For the fourth one, you might look at "curving" the ends of the hand-drawn shadows to meet the other pieces. But for the assignment, it is quite a good start. @fiona cookThat is nice to see the ribbons "in action". For the green ribbon, just like I mentioned above to Daniel, see if you could "curve" the ends of your hand-drawn sections to meet the other "flat" pieces. @Donna Sillia Preset shapes for those shadows would be impossible to use as you would never have the same size, thickness, height, or angle for each "loop". For the red ribbon, the shadow is pretty good, although it seems a little thick. For the green one, if you added more blur, it would look even better. @Corrie KinkelEven with a not-so-steady hand, your result is quite good! And no, a script would not be feasible as each loop would need to be custom, and remember: a script cannot SEE the image so it can't tell whether that loop is up or down. @Gerry LandrethI have to say that those shadows are quite good! I do find it easier with a tablet than with a mouse, but I am also more comfortable with it for everything. I know that curly ribbons are very hard to shadow correctly, but from what I see, you are all doing a good job. One important lesson I hope you will remember is that curly ribbons CANNOT have a regular flat shadow. That is the obvious mistake. So, if you choose to just not use those ribbons, that is fine too, but you also know what to do if you really like one of those ribbons and you want to use it. Of course, it is a matter of practice and only a handful of exercises might not be enough for you to feel comfortable yet, but it will come. Tomorrow, we will look at clusters. Don't be scared. We will go through the process one shadow at a time.

I have been working on this DIY for a couple of days between the Shadow Workshop lessons and some things at home that needed my attention. But in the end I got there. For me the "paper" stripes and the background called for a symmetric layout and I took my colors from the photos. The background papers and scatter are from a kit called Dandy dandelion from cpjess and for the title I used the Shaped Text script by Carole. It was a bit of a puzzle to get all the elements arranged in such a manner that I can live with.

Now there's a good idea. I tend to label the layers anyway but adding the values, brill!

This is a good idea. Another way to find the settings that works only if you save the file as a pspimage... check the edit history in the image information. Yes, it is a little overwhelming to see all that stuff at first but once you know what you are looking for, it is easy. I just wish that the edit history had a search function! I prefer using that easier than the history palette.

Thank you about the cluster! I've struggled for years to get them to look right. Jill, the gal that I got the shadow settings from said she never uses a warp on her shadows. Another scrapper that does fantastic clustering does (she uses PS). Both look great so I think it is a personal choice.

They are logical to me and a good base to start with. Sometimes an adjustment is needed depending on the size of th element of course.

Shadow Workshop Lesson 3 I need more practice on how to do lifted corners from the artistic point of view. The method of doing the lift is straight forward and easy to follow, it need practice to make the lifted corner look more realistic. It was a fun lesson to do.

Shadow Workshop Lesson 2

Shadow Workshop Lesson 1

Thank you. I picked the colors from the photo of the duck. I know you often use that method. I also use the newer color palette which helps you choose appropriate colors.

I think I need a new mouse/mouse pad or maybe just steadier hands! I like how manipulating the shadow creates a more realistic effect - BUT - being able to move them to good effect is the tricky bit! @Susan Ewart We do have wombats but not many in my area - being nocturnal unfortunately we mainly see them as roadkill :(.

This is my Tortoiseshell cat, Brandy, who has been living in quarantine with us for 3 weeks until she had her final vaccination, microchip and de-wormer. I have kept her confined to my bedroom and Tuesday, Aug 20, Robyn Stuart from Dumped/Stray Animal Rescue came to the house, gave her the necessary treatments and said I could introduce Brandy to my other two cats on Friday Aug 23. Robyn said the vet estimated her age at about one year. I know she only weighs 5 pounds now and when she started here she was only 3 pounds so I've been stuffing her. Luckily, she's a good eater. She presented me with a large tapeworm so I know the treatment worked. She is rather exotic looking, with those intense yellow eyes and mottled coloring. I tell her she's ready for fall. She was one of the strays I was feeding so you can see her ear has been clipped for TNR when she was spayed but I wanted to keep her inside with me. She's not at all feral.

These are really nice! Maybe you had cross lighting, yet still from overhead, just angled and one light with more intensity than the other. I use it in photography. It depends on the light; hard light soft light, the size of the light source, light bouncing in either by ambient light or a reflector (scrim) and especially the distance of the light to the subject which will determine the light drop off (think of the inverse square law) and how hard and/or soft a shadow is. for example, in side lighting you can get a hard shadow and fill some of it in with a reflector and keep some of the hardness in an area with a flag or a black reflector (which of course doesn't reflect at all). Since I work with continuous lights and low shutter speed my stuff is very contaminated with ambient light bouncing all over. At least I'm practicing set ups for when one day my pipe dream comes true and I own studio strobes. So, really I guess we shouldn't sweat it cause somewhere a real life situation will look just like that and you'll be like hey, check that out, life imitating my layout!

It probably is, I accidently clicked on it and didn't realize it turned purple. And then I realized, hey, how the heck did that get purple, thinking it was PSP acting up because I never take it off black....then common sense prevailed, I laughed at myself knowing that I had clicked on it by accident and changed without realizing it. I had fixed one purple shadow and missed the other one I guess.

Sad to hear about the wombats. They are so cute. And a steady hand I have to agree. One little wobble of the mouse and it looks weird.

Thank you Ann, I agree this DIY wasn't the easiest and it took me quite some time to come up with the idea for the layout.

Outstanding, Corrie! I've been struggling with this challenge myself and IMHO you've nailed it!

Lesson 4 I followed the lesson for the Tutorial layout and used the warp brush on the two as shown in the video, pretty much the same settings. the second one was harder, guessing how thick the flowers could be. I used the warp brush on the lower right one only as the other ones I thought would look weird if I did. Also I need to get more aggressive and pull the shadow down more. I like the warp brush though, almost more control it seems...well, sort of. Here are the settings I used (I tried a lot of different ones, sat back and looked and tried more until I thought it was okay) Practice layout settings: Top Left 50-50-45-85 Top right 40-40-40-55 Bottom Left: 35-35-35-65 (then still thought it was too dark and lowered the opacity) Bottom Right: 20-20-55-40 (this one I used the warp brush on. Wondering if I should have pushed in the petal, like Gerry might have done on his layout. His looks lifted and nice)

@Cristina I am glad my feedback is well received and useful. @Michele The "normal" shadow on the light green paper looks like it is missing. Is it the case or is it just due to the resizing (which is possible)? For the lifted shadow, try to just make it smaller. I find that the larger it is, the harder it is to make it look right. @Sheila HoggIs it possible that the mode for the Warp Brush was not on the Push? Maybe a different mode was set? Can you check that? Using the Pick tool is a good alternative in many situations. Good work. On your flowers, it LOOKS like the shadows are a little wide on the top right and bottom right ones. The others look great. @Daniel Hess Those flowers are looking good. Do those shadows start to make sense? For the bonus flowers, the offset looks appropriate for those but the opacity seems high and the blur a little low. @Rene MarkerYou are bringing up a good question about where to make the selection. The answer is simple: you make the selection wherever you want based on where you plan on starting the curl of the corner. You want the shadow to gradually go from "normal", where the paper/photo is flat to gradually get blurred where it is lifted. So if you want a large area to be lifted, your selection will be larger than if you want a slight, subtle lift. Does that make sense? For the clusters, that will be on lesson 6. Stay tuned! (but yours looks good) Warping the shadow on flowers is not always necessary. In fact, I usually don't do it, but it is an option that could add a touch of realism in some situation, with some flowers (not all). @Donna SilliaFor your flowers, be careful to NOT bring shadows upward. It looks like that on middle right flower. Do you see what I mean? the others are all in the correct angle. @Mary Solaas Your lifted shadows look good. I think the main "issue" (and that is probably because I never explained it) is how the photo is pushed. I will need to add a lesson or a tutorial for that. In the meantime, try to not touch the photo with the center of the brush, but keep it OFF the photo. See if it helps to "curl" the photo better. @fiona cook The shadows of those flowers look good. It seems like you are getting the hang of them. There is no SIMPLE way to retrieve the settings you used, however, if it was not too long ago, you can check in the History palette (F3), right-click on the Drop Shadow you did, copy to clipboard, and then paste it on another document (Notepad, Word, etc.). You might recognize the settings. Another way would be to check the Image Information. The settings might be saved there and you could see them. @Corrie KinkelI am glad that these lessons are making you "think" more about the shadows. That is the goal since it will allow you to adjust each shadow based on what is logical for any particular element. @Julie MagerkaFor your lifted corners, have a second look at the angle. Draw an imaginary line between the shadow corner and the photo corner. Does that get directed toward the light source on the top left? The other thing is that you can lower the opacity a lot on those shadows. Remember that the further the element is, the lower the opacity. On the other hand, your flowers look great. @Jeni Simpson Despite all that work, you managed to pull out fairly good shadows for those lifted corners. For the next ones, try to add even more feathering to make a more gradual transition between the "normal" shadow and the "lifted" one. The flowers are pretty good too. @Anja PelzerYour flowers are well shadowed. If you have a flower (or an element) that is transparent, you would likely need to lower the opacity since it would let the light through. But you have a good solution. @Gerry LandrethVisualizing the shadows that should be associated with each element is a great start. Of course, applying it is another thing, but at least, it will allow you to decide if it matches your vision or not, so you can always tweak it as needed. @Linda J WalkerThose flowers are quite good with their shadows. Good work. @Carolyn RyeYou did a great job on those flowers! Get ready for another challenge tomorrow! You will have to use that Warp Brush some more!!

I was planning to work on this early today, but I got distracted and pulled into something else....sigh...

I agree, the 2nd one looks very lifted.

My day 4 "bonus" flowers:

Day Three I could use some practice. 🤣