Ever wanted to add a bottom shadow effect to some elements, shapes or images in Photoshop in just a few easy steps? Well actually is quite easy to do something like this and you don’t have to be an expert.

The main design advantage that bottom shadow effects have is that it will give you the impression of deepness to your content and elements.

Here is the desired effect

Step 1 – Open your image / document

Open your document or image in Photoshop and create a new Layer right after your main Layer. In this layer we will add the bottom shadow effect and because the new layer is positioned right after our main one it will display in the back without overlapping the main layer…

Add a new layer

Step 2 – Foreground color and Brush

Set your foreground color to black so we can paint our bottom shadow

Now select your Brush Tool () and from the brush preset picker select a soft brush. And set  the diameter to be a little smaller than the shadow size you want to add.

Select a soft brush

Click once just below the shape to which you want to add shadow. Try to add the brushed point right on the middle of your shape. Like this:

Step 3 – Bottom shadow using Motion Blur

Now using the Motion Blur Filter we will create our bottom shadow. So go to Filter » Blur » Motion Blur and from the properties pane that appears make sure your motion angle is set to 0 (horizontal) and in my example I have set a 90 pixels Distance but you can set a lower value depending of your shape size. In most cases 90 pixels will do the job just fine. After the settings are set press OK to apply the effect.

Now to complete the effect press CTRL + F 2 or 3 times to re-apply the blur motion effect. Bottom shadow effect is added to your shape or image.

Now the end result looks quite good and very neat on your shape or image. Using this method you can add bottom shadow effects to virtually everything in Photoshop, it takes just a little practice to master the settings but the results could be quite interesting and nice to use in your designs.

The end result after the Motion Blur effect