Basic Techniques: Outer Glow and Dropshadow

I already wrote a tutorial about Inner Glows and another one about Inner Shadows.

Both effects have something in common and some differences.

This is also true for the 'Outer Glow' and 'Dropshadow' effect.

The 'Outer Glow' is the selection of your basetext, filled with a light colour and then blurred, while the 'Dropshadow' is made the same but with darker colours and mostly an offset, meaning the shadowlayer is moved according to the lightsource.

The basic steps are:

01. create your canvas, type your text and align it, then 'Layer to Imagesize'
02. alpha select your basetext
03. create a new transparent layer under your basetext but on top of the backgroundlayer and name it
04. fill your selection with a colour
05. deselect
06. Gaussian Blur
07. apply an offset for the dropshadow (optional)

08. adjust Mode and Opacity

Steps 1-3

In the example i used white for the 'Outer Glow' colour, a Gaussian Blur of 25 and the default Mode/Opacity of 'Screen' and 75%.
Depending on the effect you want to achieve, other Modes may be a better fit.

For the 'Dropshadow' i filled the selection with black, a Gaussian Blur of 14 and then applied an offset of 8pxs down and 8pxs to the right.

You can do the offset by hand with the 'Move Tool'. Just drag it wherever you feels it looks best.

Or

Click the shadowlayer once with the 'Move Tool' and then use the Cursor keys on your keyboard (more precise).

Or

Use the Offset Dialog. You find it under Layer → Transform → Offset (shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + O).

As i already explained in the 'Inner Shadow' tutorial, the left upper corner is the middle point of your coordinate system.

The „default“ Mode for shadows is 'Multiply' at 75%.

And finally an example of how both effects can look combined (with an added gradient on the text, plus a stroke):