Re: Drop shadows on a .JPG

The drop shadow is created in Photoshop using layers. In this 
example, the background layer is white.

1. Open your graphic in Photoshop and determine its size (Image/Image Size).

2. Create a new Photoshop document, about 20 pixels larger than the 
first document, with a white background (Contents = white): e.g., if 
your first document was 200 x 300, make this new document 220 x 320.

3. Drag the first document onto the white background. You now have a 
2-layered document, with the white background layer larger than the 
graphic. The drop shadow will fall on this white background.

4. Position the graphic so that the white border is sufficient for 
the shadow: e.g., if the shadow will be down and to the right, 
position the graphic up and to the left.

5. Photoshop 5 has built-in drop shadow capability: Layer 
menu/Effects/Drop Shadow. Adjust the parameters according to your 
preferences.

6. Note that the white background will blend in with the white 
background of the web page when this new graphic is placed. Of 
course, if your web page has a different color background, you'll 
have to use another color when creating the drop-shadow graphic.

That's it, or at least one of the ways to do it.

--Jeff







>I am trying to figure out how to get a simple drop shadow on a .JPG (photo)
>to make it stand out from a page. An example is the site below.
>
>http://www.redtaildesign.com/abla/
>
>I spent a couple hours looking through Photo shop help and various web
>sites and even though I found some steps (in PS help) I just could not get
>anything to show up.
>
>Does anyone have a good pointer for this effect? Maybe its just cuz it is
>really late and I should not have started this project at 11 PM....
>
>dana -
>
>dana b mackonis
>  writer(at)jlc.net

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