How To Make a Mirror Shadow?

DI
Posted By
Djani_Ismetov
Oct 2, 2006
Views
1092
Replies
6
Status
Closed
Hi!
I would like to ask, how to make a mirror shadow in Photoshop, for example like this < http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/Chevrole t_SS.jpg/300px-Chevrolet_SS.jpg>
It’s easy to make such shadow to 2D objects by flipping a duplicate vertically and giving it a gradient mask. But in 3D objects it doesn’t work. I’m sure that many designers use this trick, but the point is, how they do that? If anyone has an idea, please help me! Thanks in advance!

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DM
Don_McCahill
Oct 2, 2006
It can’t be done without actually drawing things in. Think about it, you need to show the undersides of the car, and they are not visible in the picture. Many other things will also change.

You can get close by playing with parts at one time, and then bringing it all together, but you can never get perfection.

Sometimes you need a camera.
DI
Djani_Ismetov
Oct 2, 2006
Especially in this photo, I’m sure that this shadow is fake. It doesn’t show the parts under the car. The background is fake too. This car will have such shadow obly if it’s upon a glass man. As I see, it,s not a glass. It has a technique, but who tells 🙂
B
Bernie
Oct 2, 2006
Sometimes you need a camera.

Or a good 3D renderer…
HB
Heather Bell
Oct 2, 2006
Flip the picture, apply a mild perspective distortion, make wheel to wheel connection, erase any overlap from shadow portion, darken shadow portion, apply a transparency level to layer, place layer in between car and background layers (if they are separate). It’s pretty simple and with most shots of cars you can do it so noone will ever notice. We do it all the time for autodetailers and custom painters etc. who don’t want to pay to have their cars professionally photographed. They shoot it, we add a few sparkles, flares, and some extra shine, and voila, looks like it was shot in a studio.
C
chrisjbirchall
Oct 2, 2006
Djani: the best way to learn is to try.

I’ve personally never done this sort of thing before, but decided to take up the challenge.

First I extracted the car and made a new background. Experimentation showed me I needed two reflections – one for the side and one for the front – each faded out using a layer mask. Then two shadows for the underside.

You can get the drift by observing the structure of the layers.

It’s not perfect, but I had ten minutes of fun playing with this and it’s taught me how to tackle it next time, should the need arise.

Try it. It really is the best way to learn! 🙂
DI
Djani_Ismetov
Oct 3, 2006
Thanx chrisjbirchall! It really works! But I realize, that it’s most important to take a good shot with the camera, from sophisticated angle.

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

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