How to Create Perfect Shadows in Photoshop 

+Shrey Butle Thanks for the kind words.

His shadows are in the wrong direction, towards the light source. Now you know who!

I know it's a year later @Shrey Butle, but you said you were generally curious so: Easily. Most people hate just so you read their comments, but if you do do this sort of thing there are many many problems, and people aren't actually being taught properly. So, I agree to disagree on "perfect", "second to none". But sure, the guy's pretty likeable. But. Inconsistencies with the sources, "I just do this" type statements that mean nothing in terms of context (which is the single most important aspect to really teaching). Where is the education on WHY? And the correct terms for them - umbra penumbra and so on? If you're talking about those sort of concepts already it makes no sense not to explain what you actually mean/why the shadows/lighting are that way, etc. And the joke is that his shadows actually don't work/aren't accurate to the lighting in the photo he's chosen - maybe you missed that others have pointed this out. That's a monumental problem right there that basically makes the entire video pointless. And the reflections and shadows on the patent leather shoes actually clearly tell you where the light is coming from and therefore where to cast the shadows! Rimlight too! So in the end it's sort of helpful if you can't think of this stuff by yourself, but falls short of real instruction. Tell someone why these things happen and why you're doing what you're doing (rather than redundantly describing what's already on the screen but with no insight), and the audience will retain everything because they'll have context. Rather than just parroting what they've seen on a youtube video and still not understanding the base reasons. Good retouching and photomanipulation is as much about painting/illustration/being an artist as it is using software or a graphic designer needing to do some touchups. But sure, PHlearn's videos are fun (the 60p makes things a touch creepy though! :D). And they're nowhere near as bad as all the 3d "tutorials" that just tell you to input some numeric value without explaining why/what the number means. I don't dislike the guy, nor his general approach. But the wasted opportunity to actually inform the viewer properly when he's already using the same concepts in a naive way relegated this to being just a youtube tut with no weight. It's giving someone a fish rather than teaching them to fish. Or the "I use this filter" school of (non) thought. I know that might sound a bit snobby, but it's just frustration talking. So again, I have no ill-will at all, but I do have very solid reasons for disliking the content/teaching. Just an (professionally informed) opinion to answer your query. Hope it helped. Cheers.

I second that! Would love photography lessons from Aaron - on a second channel called Photography Tutorials by Phlearn. Hopefully the Phlearn team can expand to handle this, because I'd hate to loose a single PS tutorial, this stuff is gold!

I always apply what I learn on Phlearn on digital drawings. Now that I'm getting more into photography, I would really want to learn photography with the guy that helped me understand Ps. Also, I think Aaron knows other CC programs, such as Premiere, and I would love to learn other software the same way!

thanks for watching!

true

if you may notice there is more than one light source, also there is no surface to cast shadows from that light coming from right.Also light is not a beam,it spreads no metter what and you can only see shadows on surface, they cant float in the air

your right!

key light is from left shoulder of photographer, look at the far knee / leg shadow cast. Shadows here would be complex but the main shadows are wrong, they should be cast to the right at 45deg behind the shoes not to the left. you have light bouncing too, but still the core shadows are off. he is right about one thing - building shadows in multiple layers.

Imo, Hard light source is clearly from the right of photo. There is fill from 45 left, but it's clearly a large soft light source and wouldn't cast a hard visible shadow, especially since light source from camera right is brighter. Remember inverse square law and quality of light when making analysis.

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking!

You're right. It may have to be a balance between realism and what looks good. The shadows aren't exactly correct but they _look_ realistic and will fool most people, as well as just look nice.

Tympanista But WHY work with a pic that does NOT have the right lighting for the tutorial???

tio borracho It would be very difficult to find a photo that would perfectly fit with the shadows he made. And like I said, realistic lighting (which includes shadows), isn't absolutely necessary or possible. To be realistic, it would be better to judge the direction of lighting and add shadows accordingly. In the video, the shadows were coming from a nonexistent light source from above.

Tympanista "It would be very difficult to find a photo that would perfectly fit with the shadows he made." Are you kidding??? Start with a DIFFERENT photo with a CLEAR light source and then add the appropriate shadows. SIMPLE.

That would be my comment as well other than that, great tutorial!

Yeah you are right! The light is in her right, slightly behind her, just so the light can hit her left knee. The shadows should give more of a backdrop to her left or in front of her left. But then again, he is mostly showing the technique, you can always move the shadows to fit better :)

It would be just a matter or rotating and aligning them to the right angle...

Yes indeed!!

fast flash You have no idea about image post production and photography obviously!

fast flash bye troll

I'm not talking about untouched photos. I'm talking about composite images. My point was to pay attention to the existing shadows of elements when compositing.

What type reflections? This is a city skyline shot of Boston, MA I took. I just made a copy of the image (pano) and then Used free transform tool to flip and then added a little to make it appear like water... 500px.com/photo/147182809/beautiful-boston-by-brian-pex?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=1794087

+Brian Pex wow that's really cool, yeah I pretty much mean like that I guess lol

Check to make sure you have your gradient set to 'Foreground to Transparent'