Think Before You Drop-Shadow

No chair could cast a shadow like this

Many graphic designers like to cut out objects from photographs and give them a digital drop shadow on the page. Here's an example of why this is often a bad idea. Since it's working with a 2D image, the drop shadow algorithm has to assume that the object has no depth or surface contour. In the example above, we have a 3D chair that's been given a shadow that would only be realistic if the object had been a 2D picture of a chair cut out of a piece of flat cardboard.