: I suspect that the curve on that shadow might be an optical illusion of sorts. As @lawndartcatcher explains in his answer, the curved look can be achieved by making the intensity (or opacity)

@Angela777

I suspect that the curve on that shadow might be an optical illusion of sorts. As @lawndartcatcher explains in his answer, the curved look can be achieved by making the intensity (or opacity) of the shadow fall off towards either end.

Here is a step-by-step look at that process.

Here is my top layer:


Below that I add a basic soft shadow (I used a feathered selection to make it):


Now here's the part that gives the curved look. I screen this gradient over the shadow layer:


And I get this result:


Putting it all together gives something that I think matches closely with your reference:


Here is a look at my final layers in Photoshop CS3:



[Download the PSD file]



NOTE: I used a gradient with its blending mode set to screen to create the intensity falloff of the shadow. While this makes for a good visual demonstration, it really only works when you are dealing with a white background. To apply the same tenique to cases with different background colors, you would want to apply the gradient as a layer mask to the shadow layer.

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