Producer is a klutz when it comes to drop shadows. It insists that the light source has to be top left as if light just can’t come from anywhere else. It also creates hard shadows that don’t look so very good. To create nice soft shadows with the light coming from any direction you choose, give this simple setup a try to see how it’s done:
1. Add a blank slide and change it’s background to white so you’ll be able to see the shadow.
2. Drag any photo into the slide and reduce its size enough so it fully clears all the edges of the screen.
3. Duplicate the photo, and in Layers > Editing, reduce the White Point of the photo in Layer 2 to 0%.
4. Give it a Blur of 50%.
5. Back in Layer Settings, move the black photo’s position to -0.75 x 2. There’s your shadow.
6. If you want a softer shadow, reduce its opacity until you like the way it looks.
7. If you want the light to come from the bottom, just slide the black photo up so the soft edge peeks out from beneath Layer 1. As a matter of fact, move that shadow any which way you please.
