light source
Before we start this awesome photoshop tutorial, here is a simple diagram of light hitting an object. This is a square object in the middle with light coming from the upper left. You can see that the light hits one surface of the object and creates a shadow on the other side. Note that the shadow is not the usual drop shadow style in Photoshop, which makes the object appear to be floating on the canvas. We want it to look like a three-dimensional object fixed to the canvas. Okay, let's get started, just like sitting back in class at school...
First, we lay a linear gradient from gray to dark gray on the canvas, from the upper left to the lower right. As mentioned earlier: our light source is in the upper left corner, so the lighter end of the gradient should be in the upper left corner.
Next let's type some text, I used a cool font called "Agency FB" which gives it a very tight, tough feel, and then the fill font is gray blue, maybe "#C2C8D4".
Next, hold down the CTRL key and click on the text layer (this step will create a selection) and create a new layer. In the newly generated selection, draw a linear gradient from the lower right corner to the upper left corner, with the gradient color from #495a79 to transparent. This will make the letters on the lower right appear darker.
Set the foreground color to black (you can set it by pressing the "D" shortcut key);
Then hold down the CTRL key while clicking on the text layer, and create a new layer below the text layer. Press the Down and Right arrow keys once, then press Alt+Backspace to fill it with black, then press the Down and Right arrow keys once more and fill it with black again. Repeat this step thirty times, moving 1 pixel each time, so this is why it is important to use the shortcut Alt+Backspace instead of the fill tool to fill.
Also note that when you use the arrow keys, you move the selection, not the fill layer, so keep the Marquee Tool active. When you switch to the Move tool, the fill layer will be moved, not the selection.
Next, cancel the selection and make sure it is currently on the shadow layer, use Filter/Blur/Motion Blur, fill in the Angle value as 45, and the Distance as 30 pixels.
Merge all the shadow layers and set the opacity to 40%, then hold down SHIFT and press the down and right arrow keys so that they move in units of 10 pixels each time (in PS, the Shift key means in units of 10 pixels). At this time, you will find that part of the shadow after the blur filter will exceed the top and left part of the object. Use a soft-edged, thin eraser tool to carefully erase the shadow that exceeds the part (you can refer to what we did in the first The chart mentioned during the step).
Next duplicate the shadow layer, hold down the Shift key and move it down and to the right again 10 px, then use a Motion Blur filter with an Offset of 50 px at a 45 degree angle and set this layer to 20% Opacity. And merge it downwards to make the shadows more realistic.
Create a new layer above all current layers, hold down the Ctrl key and click on the text layer to select all pixels, then return to the newly created layer and fill it with white. Instead of canceling the selection, move the selection 1 pixel down and 1 pixel to the right, then press the Delete key to delete it. Then set the opacity of this layer to 80%.
