If you want to apply the drop shadow effect to your UI Element:

Create a System.Windows.Media.Effects.DropShadowBitmapEffect element, and assign it to the BitmapEffect property of the element you want to have a shadow. Use the Color property of the DropShadowBitmapEffect element to define the color of the shadow and the ShadowDepth property to define the size of the shadow on the target element.

  • Open a new project in Visual Studio 2010 and named it as "DropShadowEffects".

    WPF1.gif
  • Draw an Ellipse of height= width=150.

    WPF2.gif
  • Fill the ellipse with an Image:

    <Ellipse.Fill>
     <ImageBrush ImageSource="bithday5.bmp" />
    </Ellipse.Fill>

    WPF3.gif
  • Now Write code as under to fill the Ellipse with an Image and to show the Shadow effect:

    <Window x:Class="DropShadowEffect.MainWindow"
     xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"| xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
     Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width    ="525">

    <Ellipse Height="150" Width="150" Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="1">
     <Ellipse.BitmapEffect>
     <DropShadowBitmapEffect Color="Black" Direction="-50"
     ShadowDepth="40" Softness=".7" />
     </Ellipse.BitmapEffect> <Ellipse.Fill>
     <ImageBrush ImageSource="bithday5.bmp" />
     </Ellipse.Fill>
     </Ellipse>
    </    Window>

  • So the Output would be :

    WPF4.gif