The basic drop-shadow

1. Begin by selecting the object to be shadowed, in this case, a phrase set in type.
2. Soften the selection. The next step is to feather the selection, blurring it at the edges. In Photoshop, this is done by selecting Select>Feather, and entering a feather amount in pixels in the dialog box that appears.
   Keep in mind that the amount of feather is directly related to the overall resolution of your file. This means that a 15 pixel feather on a 72dpi file will be very obvious, while the same 15 pixels on a 300 dpi file will be negligible.
3. At this point you need to create a place apart from the type to create the shadow. This can be done in two ways: 1- If your application supports layers, create a second layer and move it below the type layer. 2- If you can't create separate layers, Cut the type image to another file or the clipboard, to be pasted back over the shadow at a later time.
4. With the feathered selection still active, fill with a dark color to create the effect. Don't jump to choose black as a color though, try a dark version of a blue or brown. By adding just a hint of color to the shadow, you can create a more convincing effect. Try to select a color that is the opposite of the image being shadowed; a cool shadow with blues or purples usually works well against a warm object. Conversely, a cool object looks good with a warm shadow
   

Next page...