More Photoshop Layers Effects
by Piero Desopo
Phoenixart

Part 1   Part 2    Part 3   Part 4  Tips

The shadows

A very important basic thing to remember is the light source. This will be still more important when we'll make 3D interfaces.

Look this example:

The shadow here is incorrect. The light come from the left side and the shadow should be shifted to the right side.

Look now this image:

Now the shadow is on the right side.

A last word: try several opacity values. Many times a hard light give a dark shadow: a soft light give a soft shadow.

The perspective shadow

There is not a filter in Photoshop that can make perspective shadows. If you want a plugin to make this effect you must find a third-party plugin.

As you have read in the example 2 we can make the perspective shadow with the distortions features. But with the transform commands you should try several times to get the right distortion. Some times you must use different distortions together.

Remember that you can add a new different distortion to the current without apply the current. Simply start with a distortion and then call another: Photoshop will add the new to the previous.