I'm a novice and clearly don't have much experience. I wanted to experiment a bit with a vector from a dem (digital elevation model) and wanted to recreate something similar to the shadow image. Can you tell me the process for achieving something similar? Thanks

Aside from that´s pretty sure a 3d render you can stack the topology shapes and add a Filter->Cutout Glow + Drop Shadow:

I like Polygon's solution. He captured the topology and the paper cut-out shadows in two simple steps. 

For overall lighting and shadows maybe add blurred or gradient-filled shapes and use the darken or lighten colour blend modes.