Step 1 – New Document

For this tutorial the document size will depend on the object you want to give a shadow to but for the sake of the tutorial I am using 200 x 200 for a small button that I want to give a shadow to.

Step 2 – Drawing The Shape

I am going to draw a rounded rectangle which I will use for the shape of the button the rounded rectangle tool is the one shown below and the how to draw the shape is also shown:

Step 3 – Applying The Blending Options

Next we are going to apply the blending options to the shape this will be so the shape looks like a Mac style button but obviously you can apply whatever gradients etc… that you want to get your desired effect:

Gradient:

Stroke:

When these options have been applied you should have the same image as shown below, as you can see it looks like a button which could be used for a website (e.g. Navigation)

Step 4 – Creating The Shadow

To create the shadow you need to choose the rectangular marquee tool (shown below) and the then draw a thin box across the bottom of the shape, I have zoomed into the image to better show where to draw the box:

Note: Zoom into the canvas to get a better closer view of what you are doing this allows you to be more precise when sizing things up such as the shadow

When this is done create a new layer (CTRL + SHIFT + N) then fill the selected box with black (#000000) and then deselect (CTRL + D)

Then next thing to do is set the opacity of the shadow so it is lighter (dependent on how dark you want the shadow to be) so I set the opacity of the layer to 30% as it best suited the situation as shown below:

The next and main final step is to blur the shadow so it is not so just a block of colour, to do this go to the top toolbar and go Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and then use the settings shown below:

Step 5 – Move The Shadow To Desired Position And Finish

Now that the shadow has been created it can be moved into a desired position there giving the effect of different heights from the surface e.g. as shown below in the 3 examples,

If you have any problems with this tutorial then don’t hesitate to leave me a comment or email me at: stevie489@googlemail.com and I will help you as much as I can.

Step 1 – Open New Document

First of all as usual open a new document (or an existing project) any size you want, but for the sake of this tutorial I used 800 x 800,  when this is done fill the background with a desired colour.

Step 2 – Draw The Shape

In this tutorial I want to create the effect of a piece of paper with a folding corner so I pick the rectangle tool and set the foreground colour to white (#FFFFFF) and draw a reasonably sized rectangle in the centre of the document as shown below,

Step 3 – Rasterize Shape

Next you need to rasterize the shape, to do this right click on the layer in the layers tab and choose rasterize layer as shown below:

Step 4 – Polygonal Lasso Tool

This is the good part, first of all CTRL + Click the box next to the shape layer in the layers tab which shows a preview of the layer, this should bring up the crawling ants around the shape, next choose the polygonal lasso tool, and make sure it is set to subtract from the material, the two icons of which are shown below:

Polygonal Lasso Tool:

Subtract From Selection:

When these two options are selected draw around the shape as shown below (the polygonal lasso tool works in a similar sort of way to the pen tool with the way you draw with it as shown in THIS tutorial)

When the two end points are connected together the corner of the page should have the crawling ants around it now simply press delete on the keyboard (make sure the shape layer is selected) and this will delete the corner of the document and will leave you with this result:

Step 5 – Making The Fold

First deselect the corner (CTRL + D) and then CTRL + Click the shape layer again so the crawling ants are around your whole shape again, then choose the Rectangular Marquee Tool and choose intersect with selection which is the option on the right hand side of the subtract from selection, now draw a box as shown below:

And it should create a new corner, at this point press CTRL + SHIFT + N to create a new layer, and the choose the gradient tool and use the colours and positions below:

Now press OK and draw the gradient starting from the middle of the corner to the bottom left:

And this should give you a nice shadowy effect dont worry if it’s a bit dark we will sort that out nearer the end, now grab the eliptical marquee tool and make a selection the same as the below image or something similar (Note: make sure it is set to subtract from selection):

And it will cut out that bit of the corner and make it look curved, now press CTRL + SHIFT + I to inverse the selection and press delete, this will delete the bit of the corner that we don’t want (Note: Remember to press CTRL + SHIFT + I again after to reselect the corner)

And now do the same thing to the left side of the corner but not as big but make it so it shows a slight curve.

Step 6 – Blending Options

Now to add the Blending Options (Double click the layer in the layer tab) to the folded over corner this is simply just a drop shadow, but use the settings below to get the best effect:

Step 7 – Finishing Touches

Just a couple of finishing touches to make the page look better, if the corner is a bit dark just set the Opacity to 50% and this will lighted it up as I have done on mine, also you could add a drop shadow to the main page aswell to make it look like it is coming off the background:

Change Opacity:

And then this will give you the final image as shown below:

Finished

If you have any problems with this tutorial then don’t hesitate to leave me a comment or email me at: stevie489@googlemail.com and I will help you as much as I can.