Shading the iPod – The Shinny Back
This can be applied to the back of your iPod if it’s all silver and shinny.
Let’s create the side of the iPhone, technically called the iPhone 4’s band, which is made of stainless steel. For the back aspect just great your back using gray. (#dedbdc)
Give the gray shape a Gradient Overlay.
Create new layer and put it on top of the iPhone side layer. Convert the new layer to a clipping mask by pressing Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Option + G or right-clicking on the layer and choosing Create Clipping Mask. Creating a clipping mask makes sure everything we paint on the new layer will be within the sides of the iPhone.
Use the Brush Tool (B) with a soft brush set with the Opacity at 20-25% to paint a black shadow on the lower part of the iPhone.
Repeat this process to create more highlights and shadows. Use black for shadows and white for highlights. I suggest you use many layers and that you apply each brush stroke on a separate layer. This way, you can easily reduce a particular shadow or highlight’s effect by changing the layer’s opacity, make modifications to it with the Eraser Tool (E), or entirely deleting it if it doesn’t look good. I used about 10 layers to achieve the shading on the side; you can see the progression below: