TIL an old designer told me to never use black for shadows and I fought him on it for months

I always used pure black (#000000) for drop shadows in Photoshop because it felt bold and clean. Turns out he was right - now I use a dark blue-gray and the shadows actually look natural instead of muddy. Has anyone else stubbornly ignored advice like that and later realized the other person was spot on?

2 comments

2 Comments

evand654d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah I heard somewhere that black isn't really a natural shadow color.

veraramirez4d ago

Rembrandt actually painted his shadows with deep browns and greens.