Creating Drop Shadows In Photoshop

HARD EDGE, STRONG LIGHT and CLOSE LIGHT FX	First, place your text on a new layer. Then, create a layer directly underneath it and name it Drop Shadow. Select each letter of the text if you're using PS 4, in PS 3, it remains selected. Make the Drop Shadow layer active, and fill with black. To get this first FX, simply select move and nudge with your arrows four pixels to the right, and four pixels down.
HARD EDGE, STRONG LIGHT AND OFFSET DISTANT LIGHT	To create a more offset light source, and/or a stronger light, nudge the shadow layer ten pixels down and ten pixels to the right, like I have here.
SOFT EDGE, SOFTER AND/OR MORE DISTANT LIGHT	To create a more diffused light source, or a more distant light source, here I have nudged the shadow layer ten pixels down and ten pixels to the right, and have added Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and chose five pixels for the blur size.
SLIGHTLY SOFT EDGE, MEDIUM LIGHT AND/OR NOT SO DISTANT	Same ten pixel nudge here again, but only two pixel Gaussian Blur added for a closer and/or stronger light effect
SLIGHTLY SOFT EDGE, CLOSE LIGHT WITH SOFT LIGHTING	The effect here is a very close light, with shadow offset of only two pixels down and to the right, and two pixel Gaussian Blur added.
VERY SOFT EDGE, CLOSE LIGHT WITH VERY SOFT LIGHTING	The effect here is the shadow layer is moved two pixels down and to the right, and a five pixel Gaussian Blur added to create the effect of a very diffuse light source.

Tip! Be sure to experiment with the the shadow layer positioning and movement. For strong, close, single light sources, don't offset the shadow layer too much and add minimal Gaussian Blur. If you have more than one light source to show, create another layer and move that Shadow layer where you want it. For soft or distant, single or multiple light sources, use Gaussian Blur with more pixels used for blurring, and move the shadow layer a minimal distance. By offsetting the Shadow Layer more pixels, it will also seem to put your object a greater distance from the background. Utilize your transparency option on the Shadow layer, thereby allowing any background you want to show thru, which can make for a more realistic shadow effect.