Breaking it down…
For this blog post I want to focus on one more technique for creating cast shadows. There will be times when your light source is very close to your object and that will require the objects shape to be reflected in its shadow. In those instances, where you need that detailed shape, having an action set for it would be a huge time saver. There are 100’s of tutorials that demonstrate how to do this. Creating cast shadows using PS tools is very duplicatable. It is the same steps, pretty much, over and over again, no matter what the object is. Which makes it an ideal candidate for an action. The tutorial I am sharing with you, I believe, is one of the best demonstrations I’ve seen on this subject. The technique is simple and the tutorial is quick. The perfect combo… This tutorial is by Blue Lightening TV entitled “How to cast realistic shadows”.
The “Cast Shadows” Action in Photoshop
Now that you’ve seen the basic steps for creating cast shadows, you can see how easily you could set up an action for it. But the good news is you don’t have to! Photoshop has a default action that already does it. (Default meaning it came with Photoshop) To find the action, open the actions panel, scroll down to the folder called “Default Actions” and look for the action called “Cast Shadow”. Photoshop comes with a lot of default actions. If you haven’t sat down and futzed around with them, I highly recommend it. Actions are a true time saver. If you find you don’t like the default action for creating shadows, there are thousands more on the internet. Or, you could create your own action based on the tutorial above. That would work as well. Here is a quick tutorial for creating your own actions… Create Actions from Scratch by Infinite Skills
Keep learning and keep #SharingItFoward
Caroline
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