Paint Shop Pro v7 » Natural shadow
To make a horse really blend in, in a background, a shadow is a must. It is rather difficult, “even” I doesn’t do this perfect. But there are graphics makers who make a really natural looking shadow, so with a little practice we’ll be able to make outstanding shadows. There are two ways of doing it, and what looks best depends on the angle of the horse and the position of the light source. To determine what angle the shadow should have, and how long it should be depends on the light source too. The sun, for example, might be high on the sky or low, depending on the time of the day of course. A low sun will cast a long shadow, while a high sun will cast a shadow more under the horse.
This is an example of a high sun, where the shadow would be directly under the horse:
Compare it to this evening picture:
where the shadows are really long.
Ok, so let's add a shadow. I’ll start with the handmade shadow.
Handmade shadow
I’ll use this background picture:
And I’ve added this horse on:
Now, create a new layer by opening the layer palette (click the letter L on you key board to open it), by clicking on the little white sheets in the left corner of the box:
A box opens, click ok:
Now, use the eraser brush with a big size and a low hardness.
Use the right mouse button to create a black color on the layer you created. Draw where the shadow would be if the horse actually was there. When you’re done, reduce the opacity on the layer you created the shadow:
My result:
Flipped horse
Ok, the second way is to flip the horse and make it black so it’s a horse shaped shadow. I’ll start with this background:
And add a horse on:
Now, duplicate the horse layer by opening the layer palette, right click on the horse layer and choose “duplicate”.
Go to the top tool bar and choose “flip”
Then rotate it so it fits the horse:
Now, adjust the brightness so the horse turns black
And turn the lightness to the lowest value
Then reduce the opacity the same way as in the previous method. My result:
