Create new UIImage by adding shadow to existing UIImage

Question

I\'ve taken a look at this question: UIImage Shadow Trouble

But the accepted answer didn\'t work for me.

What I\'m trying to do is take a UIImage and add a s

Answer 1

I needed a bigger shadow for my UIImages. Here is my variant of the answer that allows for a customized shadow size with no offset.

    - (UIImage*)imageWithShadow:(UIImage*)originalImage BlurSize:(float)blurSize {

    CGColorSpaceRef colourSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
    CGContextRef shadowContext = CGBitmapContextCreate(NULL, originalImage.size.width + (blurSize*2), originalImage.size.height + (blurSize*2), CGImageGetBitsPerComponent(originalImage.CGImage), 0, colourSpace, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast);
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colourSpace);

    CGContextSetShadowWithColor(shadowContext, CGSizeMake(0, 0), blurSize, [UIColor blackColor].CGColor);
    CGContextDrawImage(shadowContext, CGRectMake(blurSize, blurSize, originalImage.size.width, originalImage.size.height), originalImage.CGImage);

    CGImageRef shadowedCGImage = CGBitmapContextCreateImage(shadowContext);
    CGContextRelease(shadowContext);

    UIImage * shadowedImage = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:shadowedCGImage];
    CGImageRelease(shadowedCGImage);

    return shadowedImage;
}

Use it like:

UIImage *shadowedImage = [self imageWithShadow:myImage BlurSize:30.0f];