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iRuss
Inspiring
June 29, 2012
Answered

Using InDesign's Drop Shadow Effects. Good or Bad?

  • June 29, 2012
  • 3 replies
  • 21267 views

I'm laying out a book in InDesign 5.5. The book gets sent as a PDF to the book publisher. The book has about 400 photos in it that many are wrapped in the text (Text Wrap). My question is: What are the pitfalls or problems that might accrue if I apply a drop shadow to the photos using InDesign's drop shadow feature?

I see two check boxes in the Drop Shadow Effects dialog box:

Object Knocks Out Shadow & Shadow Honors Other Effects. I'm guessing I want the object to knock out the shadow?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Alec Molloy

You are most likely going to want to knock out the shadow. There are times when you might want to do otherwise, but unless you are very familiar with overprint and knockout, I  would reccomend staying away. Here is more information on the subject: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7038a.html

The only pitfall I can think of in aesthetics. Drop shadows are used best when used subtley. To make your job easier, instead of individually applying a drop shadow to your objects, you might want to apply an object style. This would allow you to easily make changes to all the objects with the drop shadow effect. More on that here: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WS5CEDB81A-0011-4dc9-9DE8-AC7AD4C80076a.html

3 replies

I
iRussAuthor
Inspiring
July 2, 2012

So I started applying the drop shadows to my b/w images in InDesign and what I am finding is when I click to apply the drop shadow, the image get lighter. What's up with that?

Peter Spier
Community Expert
Peter SpierCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 2, 2012

That depends. Are the images REALLY grayscale, or are they RGB with a B&W Adjsutment applied, or perhaps a color image withthe color info removed in some other way?

If they're RGB, you're probably seeing the effect of having the transparency flattener space set to CMYK, bu tif htey are really grayscale, waht you are seeing is due to ID not having any notion of a grayscale source profile. Grayscale data is ooutput onthe Black black of the current CMYK working profile, and introducing transparency (including the drop shadow) forced ID to redo the screen preview. Rob has given a pretty good explanation of this, I think, at http://forums.adobe.com/message/3469367#3469367

I
iRussAuthor
Inspiring
July 2, 2012

Hi Peter, All the images are grayscale. I read through Rob's explanation  from the link you provided and it looks like I'm screwed as far as applying the drop shadow in InDesign. I tryed doing the "Load Gray" idea but when I do that an open dialog box comes up that wants me to pick something. I don't have a clue want to pick. This job is going to a self publisher and there is no way I am going to get any kind of file or profile from them. Is there anything else I can do?

J
Community Expert
Jeffrey_SmithCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 29, 2012

Here are the visual effects of these options, they only come into play if the object you are applying the drop shadow has another transparent effect applied.

Alec Molloy
Alec MolloyCorrect answer
Inspiring
June 29, 2012

You are most likely going to want to knock out the shadow. There are times when you might want to do otherwise, but unless you are very familiar with overprint and knockout, I  would reccomend staying away. Here is more information on the subject: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7038a.html

The only pitfall I can think of in aesthetics. Drop shadows are used best when used subtley. To make your job easier, instead of individually applying a drop shadow to your objects, you might want to apply an object style. This would allow you to easily make changes to all the objects with the drop shadow effect. More on that here: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WS5CEDB81A-0011-4dc9-9DE8-AC7AD4C80076a.html

I
iRussAuthor
Inspiring
June 29, 2012

Alec, thanks for those link on the subject. One other quetion: In the "Transparency Flattener Presets" dialog box, Do I need to make any different settings? For some reason tears ago I was having problem with appiling drop shadows and other effects and it was looking screwy when it printed. Someone said to make a different setting in the "Transparency Flattener Presets" dialog box.

Alec Molloy
Alec Molloy
Inspiring
June 29, 2012

This I am not as familiar with, but I would reccomend going to the default [High Resolution] for print. You should take a look at this document: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6ea7a.html

Someone else might be able to provide better direction though.

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