Simple Photoshop

[Athanasopolous]

I am really just starting out.

But already it seems to be that you can do a lot of the cool 3d shadowing that you might do with a true 3d Modeling software (like Maya ) in photoshop.

For example, can anyone tell me how I could do this sort of box-like shadowing and shading like this:

 

[mscallisto]

There may be better ways but you can try gradient fill on each component like the sides and tops of the curved rectangles or the balls

here is an example for the balls using gradient fill

http://www.elated.com/articles/gorgeous-gradients/

Do a google search on [photoshop gradient fill for shadowing] to see many examples