Shadow Stationery Mockup in Photoshop

For this tutorial, we will need an image to use as “Background” and one or some images of Branches, Leaves and/or Flowers with a clean background to add as Shadows. We will alsouse some shadow overlays from Design Bundles.

1 - In Photoshop, open the image you chose as “background”. Open the “Overlay” file you want to use and place it in your original image.

2 - Use “Free Transform” (Command/Control + T) to Resize it and place where you want it. Once you are done hit “Enter” or click the small “Checkmark” on the Top Menu.

3 - Right-click on top of its Thumbnail and choose “Convert to Smart Object”. Change the “Blending Mode” to “Vivid Light”.

4 - Duplicate the “Smart Object” (Command/Control + J), change the “Blending Mode” to “Hard Light” and lower the “Opacity” to 55%. Move the Layer a couple of clicks Up and Left using the “Arrow Keys”. Then, create a duplicate of the top-most “Smart Object”, move it a couple of clicks Up and Left using the “Arrow Keys” and change the “Blending Mode” to “Multiply” and keep the “Opacity” at 55%.

5 - Select all the “Smart Objects” (use the “Shift” key) and “Group” them together by clicking on the small Folder icon at the bottom of the “Layers Panel”.

6 - Open the image/es you want to use as “Shadows”. We are using one with a Black and White image with a light background. Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels (Command/Control + L) and pull the left-most lever almost all the way to the right. The idea is to make the branch almost completely Black.

7 - Use the “Magic Wand Tool” (W) to select the black content. You may need to fix your selection using the tool of your choice.

8 - With your selection active, create a “New Color Fill Layer” by clicking on the small Black & White circle at the bottom of the Panel and choosing “Solid Color”. Use a Dark color with shade that is similar to the ones used in your Background image (we used #27262a). Right-click on top of its Thumbnail and choose “Convert to Smart Object”.

9 - Bring the newly created “Smart Object” into the original file and Resize and/or Rotate it using “Free Transform” (Command/Control + T). Once you are done hit “Enter” or click the small “Checkmark” on the Top Menu.

10 - Duplicate the “Smart Object” (Command/Control + J), select the Duplicate (the one on top) and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur… and use a “Radius” of 10 Pixels.

11 - Select the first imported “Smart Object” (the second layer from the top), go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur… and use a “Radius” of 20 Pixels.

12 - Change “Blending Mode” of the Top one to “Difference” and lower the “Opacity” to 75%. Then,select the one under it and change the “Color Burn” to “Hard Light” and lower the “Opacity” to 30%.

13 - Check it out.

by @lornacane