Step 1 - What is advanced shadowing?
Advanced shadowing means taking the actual render and making the real shadow of it. Have sunlight hitting from the left, and the shadow to the right. This makes the render stand out more and look 3 dimensional like it's popping out at you.
Step 2 - Render or Cut out
Alright, some will understand this completely. Others will not understand at first. Renders, as most graphic forums call it, are cut out's of characters or main focal points in a image. Like for example: Say there's a image of a dog in a forest. A person would cut out the dog from the forest and make the background transparent. This way you can add it into other images without having the forest background.
Try to pick out a render that has a full body, so it will look like it's standing up and 3D.
Step 3 - Create a Shadow
For this step, i will demonstrate how to create the shadow. The next step will tell how to form / stretch / move it to the right position. First off, duplicate the render layer. Then start off by using the hotkeys CTRL+U. A Hue & Saturation window should pop up. If not, just go to Image > Adjustments > Hue & Saturation.
Referring to the image above, move the bottom bar (lightness) all the way to the right. You'll notice the entire render has turned straight to #000000 black. Now you have the shadow.
Step 4 - Distorting & Forming Shadow
Now the tough part. This part is unexplainable basically. With the black shadow layer selected, go to Edit > Transform > Distort. Now play around with the corners until you get something like the above image (click to see full image). It will be annoying at sometimes, but just grab the corners until you get a steady image.
After the shadow is set in place, lower the opacity to about 25% if using a white background.
Step 5 - Creating the light source
This part is fairly simple, just a filter effect. To add a source of light, I'm going to add a lens flare. To do this, select original render layer and go to Filters > Render > Lens Flare. Now use the settings in the image.
Brightness: 140%
Lens Type: 105 Prime
Make sure the lens is positioned correctly. If the shadow is directed to the right, add the light to the left. The + resembles where the light will be. Also, this light will only be on the render, not the background.
Step 6 - Finished & Terms
Well that's it. Simple, but much more advanced then the original drop shadow or outer glow that is usually done on stuff today. This can be used on many other things such as a earth globe or a piece of paper. Just hopefully it will come in handy for you in the future. Click the image above if you would like to review the terms very quickly. It displays where the lens flare was, what a render is, and how we distorted the render.
Congratulations, your finished! Here's a copy of the .psd file. Enjoy!
