How do I add a shadow to a cut-out in Photoshop?

Duplicate the cut-out, fill the copy with black, put it under the subject and lay it on the floor with Free Transform: hold Cmd/Ctrl and drag the top-centre handle. Blur and fade it more toward the far end, set it to Multiply and paint a small contact shadow under the feet. Filter Archive's Shadow filter does it in one step.

Why does my shadow look fake?

Usually one of three things: no dark contact shadow where the subject touches the floor, the same blur all the way along instead of softer toward the far end, or a shadow pointing a different way from the light on the subject.

What blend mode should a shadow layer use?

Multiply. It darkens what's underneath while the floor's texture and color show through, which a grey layer in Normal mode can't do.

How do I put a drop shadow on its own layer?

Add the Drop Shadow layer style, then choose Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer. Photoshop moves the shadow onto a separate layer that you can transform, mask and blur.

Does Photoshop still have 3D shadows?

No. Photoshop's legacy 3D features, including shadows caught on a ground plane, have been removed. For a car or a product, paint the footprint shadow by hand or use a plugin with a 3D shadow mode, such as Filter Archive's Shadow filter.

How to Make a Realistic Shadow in Photoshop

The difference between a cut-out that looks pasted on and one that stands in the scene is almost always the shadow. A real one has three parts: a dark contact shadow where the subject touches the floor, a cast shadow lying along the floor away from the light, and a softness that grows the further it falls. Get those right and the eye stops asking questions.

A cut-out of a man in a black suit on a warm studio set, with no shadow — The same cut-out without and with a cast shadow. Here it's a long, low-sun shadow that bends up the wall.

The same man with a long, soft shadow across the floor that climbs the wall behind him — The same cut-out without and with a cast shadow. Here it's a long, low-sun shadow that bends up the wall.

What makes a shadow look real

Part	What it does	When it's missing
Contact	A thin, near-black line and pool right under the feet	The subject hovers over the floor
Direction and length	Falls away from the light, longer when the light is low	The shadow argues with the lighting on the subject
Softness	Sharp at the feet, softer and lighter toward the far end	One even blur makes it look like a sticker
Perspective	Narrows as it runs back, spreads as it comes toward you	A flat slant looks drawn on
Blend mode	Multiply, so the floor's texture shows through	A grey patch painted over the floor

Make a cast shadow by hand

Put the subject on its own layer: Select > Subject, then copy it to a new layer with Cmd/Ctrl+J.
Make the shadow: duplicate that layer, drag the copy under the subject, Cmd/Ctrl-click its thumbnail to load its shape and fill it with black (Edit > Fill).
Lay it on the floor: Edit > Free Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T), hold Cmd/Ctrl and drag the top-centre handle down and out, away from the light. Keep the feet where they are: that line is where the subject and its shadow meet.
Soften it with distance: blur the shadow (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and use a gradient on its layer mask so the far end fades and softens more than the feet.
Set the shadow layer to Multiply and lower its opacity until the floor shows through.
Ground it: on a new Multiply layer, paint a small, soft, dark pool right under the feet. That contact shadow is what stops the subject floating.

A basketball player cut-out with a hard black silhouette laid on the floor behind him — Steps 2 and 3: the filled copy laid down from the feet. Hard all the way along, it reads as a cut-out.

The same shadow blurred and faded more toward its far end — Steps 4 and 5: softer and lighter the further it falls, in Multiply.

The same shadow with a dark contact shadow under the shoes — Step 6: a contact shadow under the shoes, and he stands on the floor.

Why not Drop Shadow? The layer style (the fx button at the bottom of the Layers panel) offsets a blurred copy of the layer behind it. That suits a card or a logo lifted off a page, but it can't lie down on a floor. You can split it onto a layer of its own with Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer and distort that, as Adobe shows here, but you're back to the manual method.

When the shadow reaches a wall

Indoors, a long shadow runs out of floor. Where the floor meets the wall, a real shadow bends and climbs it, a part most tutorials skip. By hand, cut the shadow layer along the line where the wall meets the floor and transform the upper piece on its own: stand it up the wall, and keep it as soft as the floor part had become by then.

A man walking with a long shadow that runs straight up the backdrop as if the floor never ended — Without a wall: the shadow runs on up the backdrop as if the floor never ended.

The same man with his shadow bending at the wall line and climbing the wall — With a wall: it bends where the floor meets the wall and climbs it.

Jumps, dunks and anything in the air

When the subject is off the floor, the shadow comes away from the feet. It starts on the floor below, softer and lighter for the height, and there's no contact shadow at all. Move the shadow layer down by the height of the jump, then blur and fade it more than you would for someone standing.

A basketball player in mid-air with faint shadows on the court far below his feet — A dunk on a court lit by four lamps: four faint shadows on the floor below, none touching the feet.

A man jumping in a white studio with a soft shadow on the floor below him — A studio jump: the shadow sits on the floor, apart from the feet and softer for the height.

Cars, boxes and products

A flat copy of the outline works for things that are thin compared with the light, like a person. A car or a box is a solid: its shadow is as wide as the object really is, and the ground right under it goes dark. Photoshop's old 3D tools could catch a shadow like that on a ground plane, but Adobe has removed them, so today it's painted by hand: a dark footprint under the body, darkest under the tires, and a softer shadow beyond it on the side away from the light.

A white sedan in a studio with a dark footprint shadow under it, as wide as the car — A 3D shadow: the car treated as a solid, the ground under it dark.

The same white sedan reflected in a glossy studio floor — Or a glossy floor instead: see how to add a floor reflection.

The one-step version

Filter Archive's Shadow filter does all of the above as one filter in Photoshop. Pick the cut-out, or let Select Subject find it in a photo, choose a preset like Studio Floor, Hard Sun or Golden Hour, and drag the shadow's tip on the preview to aim it. It keeps the feet planted, softens the shadow by how high above the floor each part is, fades it with distance and adds the contact pool and a thin Contact Line. Wall, Lift, arena Lights, a glossy-floor Reflection and a 3D Shadow for cars are all settings on the same filter.

Apply puts the shadow on its own Multiply layer under your cut-out, so you can still fade, mask or blur it the usual way. See 8 examples.

The Filter Archive panel in Photoshop with the Shadow filter selected and its 3D Shadow style chosen — The Shadow filter in the Filter Archive panel.

Cast Shadow Effect Rim Light Effect Light Projection Effect

How to make a realistic shadow in Photoshop.