Create beautiful CSS drop shadows with our free drop shadow generator. Generate custom filter drop-shadow CSS code with live preview & instant CSS drop shadow code.
Shadow Settings
Quick Colors
Grayscale
Vibrant
filter: drop-shadow(10px 10px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5));
// Add to tailwind.config.js theme: { extend: { dropShadow: { 'custom': 'drop-shadow(10px 10px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5))', } } }
Usage:
<div className="drop-shadow-custom">...</div>
The drop-shadow() filter function in CSS creates shadows that follow the shape of an element, including transparent areas. Unlike box-shadow, drop-shadow respects the alpha channel of images and elements, making it perfect for creating shadows on images, icons, and text with transparent backgrounds.
Drop shadow is ideal for adding shadows to images, logos, and icons because it follows the actual shape of the element, including transparent areas. This creates more realistic shadows compared to box-shadow.
When working with text that has transparent backgrounds, drop-shadow creates shadows that match the text shape perfectly, providing better visual depth and readability.
For elements with complex shapes, SVG graphics, or irregular borders, drop-shadow provides accurate shadow rendering that follows the element's outline.
Drop-shadow can be more performant for certain use cases, especially when working with images, as it's optimized for shape-based shadow rendering.
Understanding the differences between box-shadow and drop-shadow() is crucial for choosing the right shadow effect for your design. Both create shadows, but they work differently and are suited for different use cases.
Box Shadow: Creates shadows around the element's rectangular box, regardless of the element's actual shape. It doesn't follow transparent areas or complex shapes.
Drop Shadow: Follows the actual shape of the element, including transparent areas. Perfect for images, icons, and elements with irregular shapes or transparent backgrounds.
Box Shadow: Uses the box-shadow CSS property directly on the element.
Drop Shadow: Uses the filter property with the drop-shadow() function. Multiple drop shadows can be chained together.
Box Shadow: Supports offset-x, offset-y, blur-radius, spread-radius, color, and inset keyword.
Drop Shadow: Supports offset-x, offset-y, blur-radius, and color. Does NOT support spread-radius or inset keyword.
Box Shadow: Ideal for cards, buttons, containers, and rectangular elements. Great for creating depth and elevation in UI components.
Drop Shadow: Perfect for images, logos, icons, text with transparent backgrounds, SVG graphics, and elements with complex or irregular shapes.
Box Shadow: Generally performs well for rectangular elements and is widely supported across all browsers.
Drop Shadow: Can be more performant for images and complex shapes as it's optimized for shape-based rendering. However, using multiple filter effects can impact performance.
When applied to an image with a transparent background, box-shadow creates a shadow around the entire rectangular bounding box, while drop-shadow creates a shadow that follows the actual shape of the image, ignoring transparent areas. This makes drop-shadow ideal for creating realistic shadows on logos, icons, and images.
This drop shadow generator makes it easy to create perfect drop shadows. Follow these steps to generate professional drop shadows in seconds.
Browse our curated "Effects & Presets" section and click any preset to instantly apply professional drop shadow effects. Or start with the default shadow and customize every aspect using the controls.
Use the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) sliders to position your shadow precisely. Positive X values move the shadow to the right, while positive Y values move it downward.
Adjust the Blur slider to control how soft or sharp your drop shadow appears. Higher blur values create softer, more diffused shadow effects.
Choose from our quick color palette or use the color picker for custom colors. Adjust the Opacity slider to control shadow transparency.
Once satisfied with your drop shadow, scroll to the code section. The generator provides both standard CSS filter code and Tailwind CSS configuration. Click "Copy" to instantly copy the generated code to your clipboard.
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