Important tip after unlocking the mask is ALWAYS LINK IT BACK after editing the position. Otherwise the next time you move a group of layers with one of them having an unlinked mask, the mask will not follow and mess up that layer. Especially if the mask is too subtle to notice.
This is definitely easier, especially when using keyboard short cuts for simple things, e.g. z for select, ctrl +, I for eyedropper, things like that. If your affiliated w/ PS then that's a lot easier
It is best to remember that shadows change drastically with the lighting of the background, so it would be better to try and see where the light is coming from, and take a color from the background rather than the body. Even then, for the sake of perspective it is sometimes better to draw in shadows yourself, like when the shadow would be below the person. The softness of the shadow also depends on how bright it is. The brighter the light the more solid the shadow will appear, and if there are multiple lights, there will actually be multiple shadows.
That shadow is ok...if it was an overcast day or diffused light source. A shadow cause by direct sunlight would be a darker harsher shadow with barley any blur. Sometimes looking up some references can help in getting the right type of shadows to match. In this case "desert sun light shadows" are a good set of key words to use.
As an artist, it pains when people add this warped shadow without an obvious lightsource that will make a shadow that way, if we actually consider the environment and how the girl herself looks, the shadow will be from above thats tilted to the side which will give a shadow on the bottom that is *slightly* to the side and probably wont show the proportions
This is a tutorial to "Create Realistic Cast Shadows in Photoshop", not to show us how to draw a perfect shadow for that specific picture. Focus on the relevant.
I mean as someone who has actually used this technique once you get it down, it only takes like 5 mins tops,, this tip is also really good for beginners who struggle with drawing shadows by hand,,, by using a mixture of this and drawing not only can you teach them to draw by hand, but also allow them to make something solid in the process.
@@brutusthebear9050 For me, it's less of a shortcut and more of a "one of the many ways to Rome". If you want to draw by hand, go ahead. If you want to use this method, it's fine, too. Everyone has their own way of making art, and there's no "right or wrong" and "better or worse" at doing it.
this is definitely NOT harder than doing it by hand wtf are you on about 💀. doing a decent realistic shadow by hand can take hours to get right, whereas after doing this a couple times it take 5-10 mins tops.
@@kllause6681 doing it by hand and pressing Ctrl+z a few times itsn't as complex as go to multiple dropdown menu's multiple times, drag here drag there, nah, hardest part is gradient but thats still quick, idk, i don't use PS, i can see the usage being helpful, so i don't think its useless or anything, just more tedious for something as small as one persons silhouette on a completely flat surface.
This works so long as you have a light source hitting from the right direction and don't mind fuzzy shadows, but we all have a shadow, we see it all the time, is it often that blurry and faded toward one end? I'm looking at mine right now, slight blur around the edge but nice and crisp for the most part. This type of shadow is more similar to early video game shadows.
@@TapJegi yeah that's why I opened with "this works" and followed up with extra words to indicate that, while it will paint an effective shadow, it doesn't look perfect. Like you said. I don't really see the problem.
i didn’t understand how to do the second one so i’ll just stick to the one that you simply draw 😅 fun fact: i don’t know how to do the first one neither 😂
@@Acurites it’s about the sun and how the shadows are on her face compared with the lighting of the sun everywhere else. Not the shadow added behind her
Another tip to make the shadow more realistic is to make a very tiny black outline around the point of contact between the subject and the ground like a second shadow.
If you are an occasional photoshop user, sure. But if you want to regularly do image editing, then its really important you learn these things to do a job quickly.
This only works if youre looking in more or less the same direction as the sun (Think about someone standing with their side facing you and arms spread. You don't see the arms in the outline, but for sure in the shadow)
Friendly reminder that any kind of blending or masking an area based on pixel count shouldn't be a hard value but rather a ratio. Some images might be 600 pixels wide, and others 20,000
You can also just use the opacity tool to make it sit on the background more realistically as you'll also be able to see some of the floor texture. Notice he edited the hardest bit, actually getting the shadow to sit properly in perspective
You're the only other person (other than Joss Rossi) who I've seen who applies a gradient mask so the further the shadow is, the fainter the shadow is. This is really attention to detail 👍👍
Copying the subject would also copy the rest of the image and Layer Mask. You would then have to either, apply the mask, or keep both and unnecessarily bloating the file size.
Consistantly making layet masks helps in the long run Say you're making a big project and when you're already so far in you realized you cropped it wrong or whatever, instead of meticulously redoing your selection you can easily make adjustments to the layer mask And there's also tons of other applications for the technique aswell
To make it EXTRA realistic, make it blurrier the further away it goes, that how shadows are in real life. If you try it, the shadows of your feet are not blurry but your head is blurry
Thank you! Great tutorial! Now I have to find a way to create the same for basketball players with multiple shadows and then create an action to to batch 950 different photos 🙂 😞. This would be a great start though. Cheers!
This is so informative! Thank you for telling me this! I will never use this information in my life! Mainly because i don't have photoshop nor i have ever wanted to learn it lol.
a shadow is clear and seeable on the places near the contact to the shadow and the farther it gets for example to the head it would slowly get blurrier
On ibis paint I just make another layer try to bucket to whole character and change the perspective to the floor lower opacity to how I like it, (sometimes I blur it), and I'm done
