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Create Eye-catching Images with Drop Shadow in Photoshop

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Photo Editing Apr 7, 2025

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Drop Shadow in Photoshop

Want to create an interesting visual effect in your images? Add drop shadow. Adding a drop shadow effect Photoshop allows you to design realistic shadows that create depth and visual hierarchy in your images. Check out our article to learn how to make drop shadow in Photoshop and apply them to your brand images.

What is Drop Shadow

Drop shadow is a visual element used to create contrast between the background and the subject. To put it simply, a drop shadow is placed beneath the subject to create a realistic vibe. You can see drop shadows in all types of products, jewelry, furniture, models, and brand images.

Graphic designers use the latest photo editing tools like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to create amazing drop shadows in the images and stand out in the competition.

How to Add Drop Shadow in Photoshop in Simple 4 Steps

Creating a drop shadow effect in Photoshop is super easy. Follow these 4 simple professional photo retouching steps, and you will be able to apply drop shadow in Photoshop and re-edit, remove, and hide the shadows whenever and however you like. Without further ado, let's start!

Open Layer Style and Select Drop Shadow

Take your desired image in Photoshop. Go to the layers panel and “Double Click” on the image to open the “Layers Style” dialog box. The Layers Style box will appear. Go to Styles (Left side of the dialog box) and check mark drop shadow. A general drop shadow effect will be created in the image.

Open Layer Style and Select Drop Shadow

Customize Drop Shadow

The general drop shadow may not look realistic with the subject. However, you can edit the shadow in the layer style drop shadow and create a shadow that aligns with your subject

Select Drop Shadow from the styles. Many creative jewelry photo editing options will appear.

  • Blend Mode: It is usually set to multiply. However, you can change it according to your needs.
  • Color: It is right beside the blend mode. Click on the color, and you can change the shadow color.
  • Opacity: Increase or decrease the opacity level to adjust the shadow in the image.
  • Angle: Fix the angle on how you want your drop shadow to appear. If you want to set the same angle on multiple objects, checkmark global light. However, uncheck the global light if you want to set separate angles for the different objects.
  • Distance: Increase and decrease the distance to adjust how far away the drop shadow is. Experiment with it till you get the right distance that matches your subject.
  • Spread: This setting is used to show how impactful the shadow is.
  • Size: It is the blur of the shadow. Adjust it according to your needs. However, do not bring it all the way down to 0%, as it will look like a hard cut and be unrealistic.
  • Noise: You can keep the noise to 0%. However, if you think some noise may enhance the image quality, increase it.

I gave you an idea of how the layer style drop shadow setting works. Experiment with the setting and set the shadow to ensure the image looks top-notch and high-quality.

Drop Shadow

Reedit The Drop Shadow

Upon applying drop shadow in Photoshop, if you do not like it or feel like it needs some more editing. You can re-edit the drop shadow in Photoshop.

  • Go to the layer's panel > Image Layer.
  • You can see an arrow beside the image layer. Click on the arrow and select drop shadow.
  • The layer style drop shadow will appear again, and you can re-edit the shadow however you like. Click "OK" to save the changes.
Reedit The Drop Shadow

Hide or Remove the Drop Shadow

You can also hide or remove the drop shadow super easily.

If you want to hide the drop shadow in Photoshop, click on the image layer arrow and turn off the eye button beside the drop shadow option.

And if you want to remove the drop shadow, click on the drop shadow option. Open the layer style dialog box and "Uncheck" Drop shadow from the styles section. The shadow will be removed.

Hide or Remove the Drop Shadow

Where Can You Use Drop Shadow

Drop shadow can bring depth and a sense of aesthetics to your images, improving the image quality and attracting target customers' attention quickly. You can apply drop shadow for any niche images. However, if I had to specify, drop shadows look the best in products, models, jewelry, furniture, and others.

While creating realistic shadows in Photoshop, ensure the shadow matches the subject and looks real. It is super easy to create a drop shadow effect in Photoshop. Experiment with the Photoshop shadow settings and design a top-level image that makes the viewers stop scrolling and check out the image in detail.

Summing Up

Isn’t applying drop shadow in Photoshop super easy? Just follow the Photoshop drop shadow tutorial, and you can add drop shadows to images in seconds. That’s it for today. If you need professional help in creating realistic shadows and enhancing overall image quality, contact Color Clipping Ltd. We are a professional photo retouching company. From adding any kind of shadows to editing overall image, we can do it all at cost-effective pricing. Take our free trial today, judge the image quality, and consider ordering bulk images.

FAQ

You can make three types of shadows in Photoshop: Drop Shadow, Natural Shadow, and Reflective Shadow. Drop shadows are made beneath the object, Natural Shadows are made depending on the lighting position so the shadow angle can be anywhere, and Reflective shadows are the reflections of the objects like how you can see in glasses or water.
Go to the Toolbar. Select Text and write your desired text in the canvas. Now, go to the layers panel and double-click on the text layer. The layer style will appear. Select drop shadow and edit the shadow, aligning it with your text from options like adding opacity, angle, distance, size, and more. When you are happy with the design, click "OK" to save the image.
You can use natural shadow, drop shadow, and reflective shadow for jewelry photos. However, reflective shadows create the best look for jewelry images, as you can see the jewelry sparkles in the reflective mirror.

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Faria Ahammed Juthi Photo
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Faria Ahammed Juthi

Hi, it's Faria, Content Executive from Color Clipping Ltd with a passion to contribute knowledge sharing more simply. Keep learning and growing with us.