Photorealistic drop shadow

[Tami22536409nzbp]

The drop shadow shown on this sofa is the result of lighting and actual photography.

Is there a way to create this within Photoshop?

I know how the basic drop shadow works, and even using multiple drop shadows.

Does Photoshop need to treat this like the a 3D image?

[Jumpenjax]

 

Look up this tutorial on Plearn. It will be of some help.

 

[Tami22536409nzbp]

No, not really.

Is there not a way to do what I seek without "painting"?

[D Fosse]

A realistic drop shadow is fairly complex, because parts closer to the floor will have sharper edges. That's hard to simulate without full 3 dimensional information of the real scene, which of course Photoshop can't possibly have. It doesn't "know" what's in the image.

Which is why I suspect a 3D application is the right tool for this.

[Tami22536409nzbp]

3D application?  Like what?

[D Fosse]

@davescm can answer that better when he sees this. He's our local 3D wizard 🙂

[davescm · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the tag Dag.

The alternative to painting would be to use a 3D modelling and rendering application such as Blender 3D, 3D Max, C4D or similar. It would involve creating a 3 dimensional computer model of the furniture which could then be treated in one of two ways.

a. Texture the model furniture item and the floor, light them then render both as a complete 3D scene.

or

b. Do not texture the model, but just light it. Then render with the model invisible to the camera and a plane on the floor acting only as a "shadow catcher". A shadow catcher in a 3D application only shows the rendered shadows and is otherwise transparent. This render of the shadows can then be combined with your original image to add in a realistic shadow. Of course this relies on matching the original camera angle, distance and lens. There are tools to to this in 3D - e.g FSpy for Blender.

Either of these options involve a considerable time investment in learning how to model and render in your chosen 3D application. For occasional use you may be better of just painting in the shadow by hand.

Dave

[D Fosse]

Right. That's what I suspected.

Painting a convincing shadow is a little bit of work, but otherwise quite straightforward as long as you consider distance to the surface the shadow falls on. The further away, the softer the shadow. Just making a soft blob won't work.

All this assuming soft-ish lighting, of course, like a window. Point light sources will give hard shadows regardless.

[davescm]

The example in the first post also has some reflection on the floor (see under the rear left leg) but it has been cut off under the front legs. Again this can be painted or rendered from a 3D model.

Dave

[Tami22536409nzbp]

Thank you all for your attention to my question!