Drop shadow for PNG image in CSS

Question

I have a PNG image, that has free form (non square).

I need to apply drop-shadow effect to this image.

The standard approach ...

-o-box-shadow:      12px 12px 29px #555;
-icab-box-shadow:   12px 12px 29px #555;
-khtml-box-shadow:  12px 12px 29px #555;
-moz-box-shadow:    12px 12px 29px #555;
-webkit-box-shadow: 12px 12px 29px #555;
box-shadow:         12px 12px 29px #555;

... displays shadows for this image, like it is a square. So, I see my image and square shadow, that doesn't follows the form of object, displayed in image.

Is there any way to do it properly?

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible. Please write the following code in the CSS for your images:

img {
  -webkit-filter: drop-shadow(5px 5px 5px #222);
  filter: drop-shadow(5px 5px 5px #222);
}

Or just use inline styles as:

<img src="your-image-source" style="-webkit-filter: drop-shadow(5px 5px 5px #222); filter: drop-shadow(5px 5px 5px #222);" >

Documentation:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/filter#drop-shadow()

Answer 2

There's a proposed feature which you could use for arbitrarily shaped drop shadows. You could see it here, courtesy of Lea Verou:

http://www.netmagazine.com/features/hot-web-standards-css-blending-modes-and-filters-shadow-dom

Browser support is minimal, though.

Answer 3

A trick I often use when I just need "a little" shadow (read: contour must not be super-precise) is placing a DIV with a radial fill 100%-black-to-100%-transparent under the image. The CSS for the DIV looks something like:

.shadow320x320{    
        background: -moz-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 0%, rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 1%, rgba(0,0,0,0) 43%, rgba(0,0,0,0) 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
        background: -webkit-gradient(radial, center center, 0px, center center, 100%, color-stop(0%,rgba(0,0,0,0.58)), color-stop(1%,rgba(0,0,0,0.58)), color-stop(43%,rgba(0,0,0,0)), color-stop(100%,rgba(0,0,0,0))); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
        background: -webkit-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 0%,rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 1%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 43%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
        background: -o-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 0%,rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 1%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 43%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 100%); /* Opera 12+ */
        background: -ms-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 0%,rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 1%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 43%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 100%); /* IE10+ */
        background: radial-gradient(ellipse at center, rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 0%,rgba(0,0,0,0.58) 1%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 43%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 100%); /* W3C */
        filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#94000000', endColorstr='#00000000',GradientType=1 ); /* IE6-9 fallback on horizontal gradient */
  }

This will create a circular black faded-out 'dot' on a 320x320 DIV. If you scale the height or width of the DIV you get a corresponding oval. Very nice to create eg shadows under bottles or other cylinder-like shapes.

There is an absolute incredible, super-excellent tool to create CSS gradients here:

http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/

ps: Do a courtesy ad-click when you use it. (And, no,I'm not affiliated with it. But courtesy clicking should become a bit of a habit, especially for tool you use often... just sayin... since we're all working on the net...)