Adding a Realistic Shadow to Your Product Photography in Photoshop

Learn how to add realistic shadows to your product photography in Photoshop using layer styles, transformation tools, gradients, blurs, layer masks and alpha channels.

Adding a Realistic Shadow to Your Product Photography in Photoshop

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create a realistic shadow in Photoshop using a combination of the drop shadow layer style, transformation tools, the gradient tool, blurs, layer masks, and alpha channels. You can check out our tutorial on how to use the Magic Wand to isolate an object from its background. To ensure that the shadow appears correctly, make sure that there are no parts of the shadow that appear on the wrong side of the object. Therefore, in the example in this tutorial, there should be no example of a shadow appearing in front of the object, since the light source pushes the shadow cast behind the object.

Using the eraser tool, carefully remove any shadows that don't belong. Even if you're just displaying a product on a white background, adding a realistic shadow helps the product stand out against the background and creates a more professional-looking photo. Placing products in different environments can help shoppers connect with the product on an emotional level. It helps the product look more natural and realistic by adding a sense of form and depth to it.

As an e-commerce seller, you may not have considered how adding shadows to your product photography can benefit your business. However, if you're using Photoshop to merge the product into that configuration, you'll need to give the product a realistic drop shadow to make the photo look believable.