Joe, I'm using PSE5; this little symbol appears only after you have applied a layer style. If you double-click the "sunburst", you get a dialog box that lets you modify the style.

LayerStyle.jpg (34.88 KiB) Viewed 972 times

I never has PSE4 but would be surprised if it's not in there. Don't know what it looks like in anything other than PSE5.

Rusty

Rusty,
It's a different Icon on PSE-4. By clicking on it after applying a drop shadow, all I can change is the shadow distance, not the color. The color change must have been a new feature of PSE-5. Another good reason for me to upgrade to PSE-6.
Thanks,
Joe

Do you not have this little box, Joe?

LayerStyle.jpg (35.73 KiB) Viewed 965 times

I went crazy with this when I first discovered it; tried all sorts of screwy stuff. Couldn't understand why it would work sometimes but not others. Then I figured it out -- shadows are, by definition, dark. You can't apply a shadow that's lighter than the background it's falling on.

Even though he may have played for the Chicago Bulls (on television), you can't apply a White Shadow over a dark background

Rusty

Rusty,
I will check for the little box when I get back to my home and let you know, but I don't remember seeing it. With my method described above, you can put a White Shadow over a Dark Background. It makes for some very interesting effects. If you make the background black with a white shadow on the screens, it will look like the screens are backlit.
Joe

Rusty, I was right. Here is the PSE 4 Shadows Dialog:

Shadow Dialog.JPG (16.77 KiB) Viewed 949 times

No cute little color box.
Joe

Sorry, Joe, I did not realize you were on PSE4. I suppose you could manually build the shadow and color it that way.

Juergen

And realize - that if you want to add additional shadows that go in a different direction or are bigger - simplify your layer after you add your first shadow. That will allow you to add a shadow in a different direction.

This is also a great "work around" when you want items on your page to have shadows go in different directions. I don't know about PSE5 and 6 - but in 4, if I change the direction on one shadow, all the shadows change directions. Simplifying after adding shadows allows you to go on to the next item - add a shadow - and then change it's direction.