Matching Shadows When Compositing Products
A product without a proper shadow floats. Here is how to anchor it to the scene.
Try It FreeShadows Are the Anchor
No single element tells the eye a composite is real faster than a well-placed shadow. A shoe sitting on a wood floor needs a dark contact point where sole meets grain, plus a soft cast shadow stretching away from the light.
Retouchable generates three shadow layers automatically: the contact occlusion directly under the product, the cast shadow based on the scene's key light, and the ambient darkening where the subject blocks sky light.
How It Works with Retouchable
Upload Your Product and Scene
Start with the product cutout and the background where it will live.
Generate Shadow Layers
Retouchable creates contact, cast, and ambient shadows aligned to the scene's light.
Adjust Opacity and Direction
Fine-tune shadow strength and angle before exporting.
5 Tips for Believable Shadows
Contact Shadows Are Darkest
The place where the product touches the surface should be the darkest point in the shadow. That occlusion point is what anchors the object physically.
Soften With Distance
Shadows get softer and lighter the further they travel from the object. A crisp uniform shadow looks pasted on.
Follow the Scene's Light Angle
If the scene's light comes from the upper right, the cast shadow goes to the lower left. Double-check this before trusting your eye.
Use a Colored Shadow, Not Pure Black
Real shadows pick up color from the environment. A warm room gives warm-tinted shadows. Pure black reads as fake immediately.
Match the Original Shadow's Hardness
An outdoor sunlit scene has crisp-edged shadows. An overcast or softbox scene has diffused ones. Do not mix.
Anchor Every Product Naturally
Let the AI drop realistic shadows under your composites automatically.
Try Retouchable Free No credit card required. 5 free generations.Why Retouchable for Compositing
Multi-Layer Shadow Generation
Contact, cast, and ambient occlusion shadows are created in a single pass.
Scene-Aware Direction
Shadows are angled to match the detected key light of the target background.
Softness Control
Adjust shadow blur from crisp sunlight to diffused overcast with a single slider.
Color Temperature Matching
Shadows pick up scene color tones instead of defaulting to flat black.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change the shadow direction after generation?
Yes. You can rotate the cast shadow angle and adjust its length.
Does it generate contact shadows for small objects?
Yes. Contact occlusion is generated for jewelry, bottles, shoes, and anything else sitting on a surface.
Will the shadow color match a warm scene?
Yes. Shadow color is sampled from the surrounding environment automatically.
Can I export just the shadow layer?
Yes. You can download the shadow as a separate PNG if you want to composite manually.
Ready to Ground Your Products?
Stop painting shadows by hand. Try Retouchable's shadow engine free.
Try Retouchable Free No credit card required. 5 free generations.