Casting the Penguins Shadows

Casting the Penguins Shadows

In these next steps, you ll make an additional layer and distort its contents to cast a shadow:

1. Target the Penguins layer and make it visible. From the Layers palette menu, choose Duplicate Layer; name the layer Penguins Shadow .

2. Drag the Shadow layer beneath the Penguin layer.

3. Check the Lock Transparency icon (see Figure H8.6). Choose black as the foreground color , and press Option-Delete or Alt-Backspace to fill the contents of the layer with black. Uncheck the Lock Transparency icon.

   
   Figure H8.6: Layers palette with Lock Transparency icon

4. Choose Edit ’ Transform ’ Distort. Distort the marquee so that the contents of the Shadow layer appear to lie on the ground, as in Figure H8.7. You might have to play with this a little to get it to look convincing. After you re satisfied, press the Return/Enter key.

   
   Figure H8.7: Distorting the penguins shadows

5. Choose Filter ’ Blur ’ Gaussian Blur (see Figure H8.8). Drag the slider to 2.3 to soften the edges of the shadow. Click OK.

   
   Figure H8.8: Gaussian Blur dialog box

6. Change the layer to Multiply Blend mode. Move the Opacity slider on the Shadow layer to 40% to make it semitransparent, so that it rests on the ground texture.

7. Save your work.

Note  

You can use this same shadow technique to create shadows for the flamingo, the parrot, and the crane .