{"id":55060,"date":"2024-11-26T14:31:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T22:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=55060"},"modified":"2024-11-26T14:31:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T22:31:53","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-241","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2024\/11\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-241\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Quick Trick: Templates Without Drop Shadows<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-54947\" src=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GS_blog_TeachYouIWill_Header-500x17.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"21\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GS_blog_TeachYouIWill_Header-500x17.jpg 500w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GS_blog_TeachYouIWill_Header-768x26.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GS_blog_TeachYouIWill_Header.jpg 783w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Templates are real time-savers (once you decide which of your hundreds of options you&#8217;ll use&#8230; speaking for myself) by literally telling you want to do. Many of them have integrated drop shadow <strong>Styles<\/strong>, which are super-easy to <strong>Copy<\/strong> and <strong>Paste<\/strong> onto your papers and elements, no great effort required. But some designers choose not to apply drop shadow <strong>Styles<\/strong> to their templates&#8230; which makes then less attractive to me, especially for repeat use. But I&#8217;ve come up with a bit of a hack for that! It only takes a few minutes and sets me up for even more options. Let&#8217;s talk about it.<\/p>\n<p>For this tip to work, I&#8217;ll be using commercially-available drop shadow <strong>Styles<\/strong>, rather than creating a bunch of custom shadows. I can always change that up as I go along later. I&#8217;ll show you some options that are available in the <span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>GingerScraps Store<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/store.gingerscraps.net\/images\/P\/aimeeh_shadowstyles.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;text-decoration: underline\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;text-decoration: underline\" href=\"https:\/\/store.gingerscraps.net\/Shadow-Styles-by-Aimee-Harrison.html\"><strong>Aimee Harrison<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span>&#8216;s are pretty realistic. [Click on her name to be transported right to the <span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Store<\/strong><\/span>!]<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/store.gingerscraps.net\/images\/P\/SNP_Shadow%20Styles.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;color: #0000ff\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;text-decoration: underline\" href=\"https:\/\/store.gingerscraps.net\/Shadow-Styles-by-Scraps-N-Pieces.html\"><strong>Scraps-N-Pieces<\/strong><\/a><\/span> has a simplified set.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/store.gingerscraps.net\/images\/P\/ks-cu-drop-shadows-.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;text-decoration: underline\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;text-decoration: underline\" href=\"https:\/\/store.gingerscraps.net\/Drop-Shadow-Styles-by-Karen-Schulz.html\"><strong>Karen Schulz<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span> has LOTS of <strong>Styles<\/strong> and <strong>Actions<\/strong> in her bag of tricks.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/store.gingerscraps.net\/images\/P\/ks-custom-shadow-helper-GS.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;color: #0000ff\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;text-decoration: underline\" href=\"https:\/\/store.gingerscraps.net\/Custom-Shadow-Helper-Action.html\"><strong>Karen<\/strong><\/a><\/span> even has an <strong>Action<\/strong> that customizes your shadows for you! I haven&#8217;t tried it, but it&#8217;s been tested with <strong>Photoshop Elements 2018<\/strong>, <strong>2019<\/strong>, <strong>2020<\/strong> using <strong>Windows<\/strong>, <strong>Photoshop Elements 2018<\/strong> using a <strong>Mac<\/strong> and <strong>CC2020<\/strong> in <strong>Windows<\/strong> so I have no doubt it would work for me. [Note to self: TRY THIS!!]<\/p>\n<p>Okay, so now that&#8217;s been set up, I open my shadow-less template [<strong>Connie Prince Unwind 1<\/strong>]. I&#8217;m going to add shadows to ALL the layers, in batches by type. I&#8217;ll activate all the paper layers by <strong>click&gt;CTRL\/CMD&gt;clicking<\/strong> on them one after the other until they&#8217;re all lit up. I start at the bottom, background layer and work my way up, but the other direction would also work.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-55061\" src=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1-1-500x485.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"582\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1-1-500x485.jpg 500w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1-1-768x745.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1-1-598x580.jpg 598w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1-1.jpg 988w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once I&#8217;ve got them all active, I&#8217;ll click on the <strong>Styles button<\/strong> at the bottom of the <strong>Layers Panel<\/strong>. Then using the <strong>Style Set Selector<\/strong> button, I&#8217;ll choose the <strong>Shadow Styles<\/strong> set I want to use. [<span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><strong>Karen Schulz&#8217;<\/strong><\/span>] Hovering the cursor over the thumbnails, the type of shadow will appear so I can select a <strong>Paper Shadow<\/strong>. Then I click on it.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-55062\" src=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/2-480x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"624\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/2-480x500.jpg 480w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/2-768x799.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/2-557x580.jpg 557w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/2.jpg 957w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>All the paper layers are now shadowed!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-55063\" src=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-494x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-494x500.jpg 494w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-768x777.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-574x580.jpg 574w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3.jpg 985w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Working systematically, I&#8217;ll activate all the element types in the same way, adding the most appropriate shadow <strong>Style<\/strong> to each of them. For example, I&#8217;d activate all the flowers next, then use a flower shadow <strong>Style<\/strong> to add shadows to all of them at once. Then I could move on to leaves, flair, whatever layers remain unshadowed, until the whole template has a shadow on every layer. It really only takes a couple of minutes! Once that&#8217;s done, I&#8217;ll <strong>Save<\/strong> the shadowed version of the template in the same folder, with a new name [<strong>Connie Prince Unwind 1 shadowed<\/strong>] so I know which is which. Then I can go ahead and create my layout, knowing I can reuse the template later and the shadows will be there for me.<\/p>\n<p>This may not be something you&#8217;d ever use, but now you know you have options.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-54948\" src=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GS_footer_Jan-500x19.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"23\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GS_footer_Jan-500x19.jpg 500w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GS_footer_Jan-575x22.jpg 575w, https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GS_footer_Jan.jpg 586w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quick Trick: Templates Without Drop Shadows Templates are real time-savers (once you decide which of your hundreds of options you&#8217;ll use&#8230; speaking for myself) by literally telling you want to do. Many of them have integrated drop shadow Styles, which are super-easy to Copy and Paste onto your papers and elements, no great effort required. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[229,102,284,92,58,293,62],"tags":[373],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-28 15:49:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"private","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55064,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55060\/revisions\/55064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}