Make It Float... Do it with a drop shadow.

Something New... The current Photoshop canvas size is too small to encompass the drop shadow area. Increase it by 10% and put the size increase to the right and bottom of the image. Image > Canvas Size > Width: +10%. Height: +10% Anchor: Top left corner.

Something Familiar... The sample shows the Layers Palette after the changes.

Place the Palette Shape Layer above the Gray Background. Change the Gray to a White Background. Click and drag the Palette Shape layer above the Gray Background layer. Click activate the Gray Background layer. Press the Ctrl+A keys to Select the entire layer. Edit > Fill White from the drop down list.

Something To Do: Create a drop shadow... Relabel Palette Shape to Drop Shadow. Nudge Drop Shadow down and to the right. Press and hold the control key. Press both the down and right keys 7 times. Press the down key 3 more times. Release the Ctrl key. Blur the Drop Shadow image to soften the light. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... Value: 2.5 Drop the Opacity to 44% lightening the shadow.

Something To Remember The potential power of Opacity. Previously, Opacity was used to blend colors. Currently, Opacity is being used to blend the shadow into the background. This example does not take full advantage of the power of this technique. The realism of the drop shadow effect would be increased with obvious background detail. The partially transparent shadow would merge realistically with the detail from the background.

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