In order to add a texture to an image the first step is to place the texture layer over the image. Let’s open the image “landscape”. This is our base image on which we will apply texture’s.
Step 2
Now open the desired texture image, in our case “texture1”. Select all by pressing Ctrl + A and copy by pressing Ctrl + C. Go back to our initial image and paste by pressing Ctrl + V.
Now resize the texture in order to cover all the image. Press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform and resize the texture.
Step 3
Change the blending mode of the texture layer to Multiply and there you have it, your first textured image!
It looks a bit dark so let’s lower the opacity to 41%.
Step 4
It looks interesting but a bit faded. Let’s try some interesting blending modes. Change the texture layer blending mode to Soft Light (Soft Light is a weaker version of Overlay) and boost the Opacity all the way to 100%. See how the contrast is higher and the colors are richer.
Step 5
Let’s try some other textures. Turn off the visibility of the “texture1” layer for now by clicking on the little eye icon next to the layer thumbnail.
Place “texture2” in our file by following the instructions from step 2. Notice how this is a richer texture, with darker tones.
Let’s try another interesting blending mode – Screen. Change the blending mode of the “texture2” layer to Screen and lower the Opacity to 38%. Now the image looks worn out and old.
Step 6
Another interesting thing to do is to invert the texture. Press Ctrl + I and notice how the texture changes.
Step 7
Let’s try yet another texture. Turn off the visibility of the “texture2” layer and place the “texture3” layer as explained in step 2.
Change the blending mode of “texture3” layer to Vivid Light and lower the Fill to 63%. It looks quite nice!
Step 8
But what if we want to preserve the original colors of our image? In that case desaturate the texture layer (“texture3”) by pressing Ctrl + Shift + U. Now we have a black and white version of the texture with our image thus preserving the colors present in the image.
Step 9
Let’s try some more blending modes. Change the “texture3” blending mode to Hard Mix. This is a very strong blending mode that boosts the color to extreme. Lower the Fill value to 58%. You can also try every other blending mode and see how it looks like. If you feel courageous you can turn on the visibility of all the layers and play with their Opacity values and blending modes.
Step 10
As a little bonus I will show you how to add texture to an image using the image itself. Turn off the visibility of all the texture layers and click on the “Background” layer in order to make it active. Press Ctrl + D to duplicate the layer.
Click on the “Duplicate” layer and enter Free Transform (Ctrl + T). Right-click somewhere on the image and from the dropdown menu choose Flip Horizontally. Press Enter when you’re done.
Step 11
Now change the blending mode of the “Duplicate” layer to Overlay. Hmmm, interesting effect with the symmetry and all but it’s obvious that the image was flipped horizontally. That’s true, but we will address that issue in the next step.
Step 12
Add a layer mask to the “Duplicate” layer by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.
Click on the layer mask in order to make it active and go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Hey, look at that! The image doesn’t look so symmetrical now! You can further hide portions of the “Duplicate” texture by painting with a black brush in the layer mask.
And We’re Done!
Let’s summarize. Here are the steps to blend textures with photos:
– place the texture layer over the image layer (step 2)
– try blending modes until you find one that you like (the best guesses are Multiply, Overlay, Soft Light, Screen and Hard Mix) (step 3)
– lower the opacity of the texture layer if the effect is too strong (step 3)
– if you want to preserve the colors of the original image then desaturate the texture (step 8)
– inverting the texture will provide you with a different look right away (step 6).
In this tutorial we will add reflections to sunglasses with Photoshop. The techniques used here are pretty simple so the beginners shouldn’t have any problems.
Open image “Girl”. This image is too big so let’s crop it a little. Select the Crop Tool ( C ) and drag the handles until the image looks like the one below. Press Enter after you’re done.
Step 2
We need to create a selection inside the glasses so we can replace it with the reflection. The best tool for these kind of selections is the Pen Tool (P). Select the Pen Tool and trace the inside of the glasses.
Press Ctrl + Enter to transform the path into a selection and press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N to create a new layer. Press Ctrl + Backspace to fill the selection with the background color (it doesn’t matter what color is selected).
Step 3
Open the image “Beach”. Select all by pressing Ctrl + A and copy by pressing Ctrl + C. Go back to our image and press Ctrl + V to paste.
This image will be our reflection but now it’s just too big. In order to resize it select the Free Transform tool by pressing Ctrl + T. Resize and position the image as shown below.
Step 4
In order to show the beach image only through the selection we will have to clip the beach layer to the selection layer. Hold the Alt key and click between “reflection” layer and “selection” layer.
Step 5
The reflection is a bit too light so let’s darken it.
Create a Curves Adjustment layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layers > Curves. Set the layer blending mode to Multiply and clip it to the “reflection” layer (like we did in the step before).
This is the same as duplicating the “reflection” layer and changing its blending mode to Multiply but the file size is smaller and we can tweak the curve for further adjustments.
Step 6
The reflection looks a bit fake so let’s add an Inner Shadow effect to make it more realistic. Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and name it “inner shadow”.
Ctrl-click on the “selection” layer in order to make a selection of the layer and click once on the “inner shadow” layer in order to select it. Press Ctrl + Backspace to fill the selection with the background color.
Double click on the “inner shadow” layer and add an Inner Shadow effect. Drag the fill slider to 0%.
The effect is a bit strong so let’s reduce the opacity of all the layers. Select all the layers except the “Background” layer and by Ctrl-clicking on them. Press Ctrl + G to create a group from selected layers and name this group “Right reflection”. Lower the opacity of the group to 75%.
Step 7
Repeat steps 2 to 6 to create the left reflection. Here’s how your image should look:
Step 8
The reflections look alright but we can still make some improvements. A gradient for instance would do wonders. Create a new layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N and name it “Grad”.
Go to “Reflection right” group and Ctrl-click on the “selection” layer in order to select it. Go to “Reflection left” group and Shift + Ctrl + click in order to add to selection.
Step 9
Click on the “Grad” layer in order to select it and choose the Gradient Tool. From the Option bar choose Black to White gradient.
Hold Shift and drag from below the sunglasses to a place a little above them. This step should fill the selection with a nice black to white gradient. Deselect by pressing Ctrl + D.
Change the blending mode of the “Grad” layer to Overlay and you should see a nice effect on our reflections.
Step 10
Import the “Glitter Brush” (Edit > Presets > Preset Manager) and create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N). Click once with a glitter brush of your choosing on the new layer. It will probably be too big so enter Free Transform by pressing Ctrl + T and resize and position the layer on the upper left reflection.
Step 11
The image looks good but I don’t really like all those warm colors (considering that the reflection in the sunglasses shows a tropical island). Let’s add a Color Balance adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance). Drag the Cyan slider towards the left and the Blue slider towards the right.
Step 12
Let’s use the Crop tool again to add some more focus on the sunglasses. Select the Crop Tool ( C ) and crop the image like I did.
Create a new 1000 x 500 px document with all the default settings, then fill it with color #d7c7a8.
Create the text in Black using the font “Hall Fetica” and the font Size 350 px.
Change the text layer’s Fill value to 0.
Step 2
Double click the text layer to apply a Bevel and Emboss effect. Change the Depth to 103, the Size to 2, un-check the Use Global Lights box, change the Angle to 170 and the Altitude to 32, then change the Highlight Mode Opacity to 0 and the Shadow Mode Opacity to 74.
This is how the text should look like.
Step 3
Duplicate the text layer.
Select the Move Tool, then move the duplicated text 5 px to the left and 5 px upwards, by clicking the Left Arrow Key (on the keyboard) 5 times, then clicking the Up Arrow Key 5 times as well.
Step 4
Double click the copy text layer to adjust the Bevel and Emboss values, by changing the Angle to 0, and the Altitude to 37.
This is what you should get.
Step 5
Now pick the Brush Tool, choose a hard round 1px brush tip, set the Foreground color to Black, and create a new layer on top of all layers then call it “Vertical”.
Next, you’ll need to draw vertical lines over the vertical edges of the text. To create straight lines, click and hold the mouse button, press and hold the Shift key, then drag the brush. When done, release all, then repeat to create the other lines.
You can also use the Line Tool for that, but you’ll need to merge and rasterize all the line layers when done.
After adding all the vertical lines you want, go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur. Change the Angle to 90 and the Distance to 29. This will make the lines fade vertically.
Step 6
Create a new layer on top of all layers and call it “Horizontal Lines”.
Create horizontal lines over the horizontal edges of the text.
Go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur. Change the Angle to 0 and the Distance to 29. This will make the lines fade horizontally.
Step 7
Select all layers (click the one at the top, then Shift + click the Background layer), and go to Layer -> Merge Layers.
Go to Filter -> (Filter Gallery) -> Brush Strokes -> Spatter. Change the Spray Radius to 4 and the Smoothness to 15.
This will make the sketch effect more messy and realistic.
Go to Filter -> (Filter Gallery) -> Texture -> Texturizer. Choose Sandstone, set the Scaling to 67, the Relief to 3, and the Light to Top Right.
This will add a paper-like texture.
Finally, go to Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise. Change the Amount to 3, select the Gaussian button, and check the Monochromatic box.
And We’re Done!
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and found it helpful.
In this tutorial we will transform a regular photo into a jigsaw puzzle. This tutorial is aimed at beginners and it’s pretty easy to follow. However, it will require knowledge about the Pen Tool so if you’re not familiar with it follow this Photoshop selections tutorial for an introduction.
Open the image “Beach”. Let’s create the layer upon which we will place our puzzle. Create a new layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N and fill this layer with a light gray color (#a2a2a2). Name this layer “background”.
Step 1
Open the image “Beach”. Let’s create the layer upon which we will place our puzzle. Create a new layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N and fill this layer with a light gray color (#a2a2a2). Name this layer “background”.
Step 2
Select the Brush Tool (B) and choose black as foreground color. Lower the opacity of the brush to 10% and dab around the edges of our newly created layer a few times in order to add some variation.
Step 3
Double-click the Background Layer and press Ok on the New Layer window that appears in order to convert it to a regular layer. (Background layers are special layers that Photoshop creates every time you open a new image. They are locked by default and have certain limitations – like the inability to position them above other layers)
Move this layer above the “background” layer by pressing Ctrl + ] (bracket key) or by simply dragging the layer with the mouse.
Step 4
Now we need to apply the jigsaw texture to our image. Since Photoshop CS6 Adobe doesn’t supply certain presets so we have to download them manually. Go to this link and download the plugins folder. Open the archive (it’s archived, so you should have Winrar or Winzip in order to be able to open it) and open the Presets folder. Inside that folder will be a Textures folder – open it. Inside this folder you should see a file named “Puzzle.psd”. Drag this file somewhere on your computer – on the Desktop for instance – and remember where you put it.
Step 5
Go back to our image in Photoshop and with the beach picture selected choose Filter > Filter Gallery to open the filter gallery window. In here go to Texture > Texturizer and click the little icon with the arrow pointing down to load a custom texture. Select the “Jigsaw.psd” file you located in the previous step.
Choose the following settings and press Ok. You should have something similar to my results below.
Step 6
Let’s start to make our puzzle look real by hiding certain pieces. First let’s hide all the pieces in the upper row and the left row. In order to hide parts of our layer we will need to create a selection first. Regular selection tools (Quick Selection Tool, Lasso Tool) will be quite ineffective because the puzzle pieces have blurry edges so we have to use a more advanced selection method.
This advanced selection method involves the Pen Tool (If you don’t know how to use the Pen Tool follow this tutorial here). Select the Pen Tool (P) and create a Path like shown below:
Step 7
Press Ctrl + Enter to transform the Path into a selection.
Click the Beach layer in the Layer Palette to make it active and add a layer mask to it by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.
Step 8
Press D to reset colors to their default and click once on the layer mask to make it active. Now press Ctrl + Backspace to fill the selection with black and notice how the left part of the layer disappears (for a tutorial on layers and layer masks go here).
Step 9
Create a path in the upper part of the image and use steps 7 to 8 as reference to mask the selected region in the layer mask. You should be confortable by now with the process of creating a selection from a path and masking so I won’t repeat the instructions on how to do it in the following steps.
Step 10
Let’s hide some pieces of the puzzle from the picture to make it look more realistic. Use the Pen tool to create selections and fill those selection in the layer mask of our layer (refer to steps 7 to 8) in order to hide certain pieces of the puzzle like in the image shown below.
Step 11
Looks pretty good already! But let’s improve it a bit more. Let’s take a piece of the puzzle and place it on top our puzzle picture. First select the Pen Tool and make a selection of a piece of the puzzle.
Step 12
Transform the Path into a selection by pressing Ctrl + Enter.
Step 13
Click on the beach layer in the layer palette in order to make it active and press Ctrl + J to make a new layer from selection. This command will create new layer with our selected piece of the puzzle on it. Name this layer “puzzle 1”.
Step 14
We have the piece of the puzzle on a new layer but we have to hide it on our beach layer otherwise we won’t be able to achieve the desired effect. Click on the “beach” layer to select it and click on the layer mask to make it active. Now click Ctrl + Backspace to fill the mask with the background color (it should be black, but if it’s not press D to reset colors to their defaults).
Nothing seems to happen because although we hidden the piece of the puzzle on our beach layer the “puzzle1” layer it’s still visible. If you turn off the visibility of the “puzzle1” layer (by clicking on the little eyeball icon to the left of the layer icon) you will see that our masking worked. Turn on the visibility of the “puzzle1” layer.
Step 15
Create 3 more pieces of the puzzle (using steps 12 to 14 as reference) and give them appropriate names (puzzle2, puzzle3, puzzle4). Don’t’ forget to hide the pieces of the puzzle in the layer mask of the “beach” layer (by pressing Ctrl + Backspace in the layer mask with black as foreground color). Here’s how your layer palette should look like in shown in the image below.
Step 15
Let’s spread the pieces we created over the puzzle. Click on “puzzle1” layer to make it active and press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform. Rotate and position this layer like shown in the image below.
Repeat the step with the other 3 pieces of the puzzle. Place them like I did in the image below.
Step 16
We’re almost done. The puzzle looks good but it misses an important thing: shadow. Let’s add some shadow to our puzzle. First Ctrl-click on the layer mask of the “beach” layer to make a selection of the mask.
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and press Ctrl + Backspace to fill the selection with the foreground color (it doesn’t matter what the foreground color – mine is black). Name this layer “shadow”.
Double-click the “shadow” layer to enter advanced blending mode and add a Drop Shadow effect. Lower the fill to 0% in order to hide the actual pixels but leave the effect visible.
Step 17
Add the same effect to each of the 4 pieces of puzzle. You can do that by either double-clicking each layer and entering the effect over and over again or you can simply hold Ctrl and drag/drop the effect from the “shadow” layer to each of the pieces of the puzzle layers . Holding Ctrl and dragging an effect will copy that effect while dropping (releasing the mouse) will assign that effect to the layer we’re over with our mouse.
And We’re Done!
We are done with the puzzle. If you want, you can replace the gray layer with a wood texture, resembling the surface of a table. Simply delete (or hide the visibility) the gray background layer and open a wooden texture you like (I have provided a link to a nice texture in the resources category). Select all (Ctrl + A) and copy (Ctrl + C). Go back to our puzzle picture and paste (Ctrl + V). Now drag this layer below all the other layers. And we’re done.
Open Photoshop and hit Control + N to create a new document. Enter all the data shown in the following image and click OK.
Enable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap To > Grid). For starters you will need a grid every 5px. Simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and focus on the Grid section. Enter 5 in the Gridline Every box and 1 in the Subdivision box. Also, set the color of the grid to #a7a7a7. Once you have set all these properties click OK. Don’t get discouraged by all that grid. It will ease your work later. You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes.
Step 2
Set the foreground color to #ddf1ff and pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Focus on the top bar, set the radius to 10px then create a 240 by 150px vector shape. The Snap to Grid should ease your work. Move to the Layers panel and name this blue rounded rectangle "main".
Step 3
Next, you need to create a simple pattern. Hit Control + N to open the new document window. Enter 10 in the width box and 20 in the height box then click OK. Set the foreground color at black, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 10px square and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this new vector shape stays selected, focus on its right side and switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select both anchor points and simply drag them 5px up. In the end things should look like in the second image. Make sure that your black vector shape is not selected anymore and go to Edit > Define Pattern. Enter "envelopePattern" for the name and click OK. Close this document and return to the main one.
Step 4
Duplicate "main" (Control + J). Select this copy and pick the Rectangle Tool. Focus on the top bar, check the Intersect button and draw a 10 by 150px vector shape as shown in the first image.
Move to the Layers panel and double click on this new vector shape to open the Layer Style window. Activate the Drop Shadow and the Pattern Overlay then enter the properties shown in the following images. For the Pattern Overlay section use the "envelopePattern" made in the previous step.
Once you have applied all those attributes return to the Layers panel. Right click on your patterned vector shape and simply go to Copy Layer Style.
Step 5
Duplicate "main" (Control + J). Select this copy and pick the Rectangle Tool. Focus on the top bar, make sure that the Intersect button is still active and draw a 10 by 150px vector shape as shown in the first image.
Move to the Layers panel, right click on this new vector shape and go to Paste Layer Style. Open the Layer Style window for this same shape, focus on the Drop Shadow and simply inverse the angle.
Step 6
Duplicate "main" (Control + J), select the copy and bring it to the front (Shift + Control + ] ).
Move to the Layers panel, focus on this copy, double click on the color thumbnail and replace the blue with #ed4505.
Step 7
Make sure that your orange rounded rectangle stays selected and pick the Rectangle Tool. Check the Intersect button from the top bar and draw a 260 by 100px vector shape as shown in the first image.
Focus on the top side of this new rectangle and grab the Delete Anchor Point. Simply click on the right anchor point to remove it then switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the remaining top anchor point and drag it 130px to the right. In the end things should look like in the second image.
Step 8
Focus on the Layers panel, open the Layer Style window for your orange vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 9
Duplicate your orange vector shape (Control + J). Focus on the Layers panel, right click on this copy and go to Clear Layer Style. Make sure that the copy stays selected, lower its Fill to 0% then open the Layer Style window and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 10
Duplicate "main" (Control + J), select the copy and bring it to the front (Shift + Control + ] ).
Move to the Layers panel, focus on this copy and replace the blue with #b40007.
Step 11
Make sure that your burgundy rounded rectangle is selected and pick the Rectangle Tool. Check the Intersect button from the top bar and draw a 260 by 95px vector shape as shown in the first image.
Focus on the bottom side of this new rectangle and grab the Delete Anchor Point. Simply click on the right anchor point to remove it then switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the remaining, bottom anchor point and drag it 130px to the right. In the end things should look like in the second image.
Step 12
For this step you will need a grid every 1px. Simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and enter 1 in the Gridline Every box.
Make sure that your burgundy vector shape stays selected, focus on its bottom side and pick the Rectangle Tool. Check the Subtract button from the top bar and draw an 8 by 3px vector shape as shown in the first image.
Keep focusing on the bottom side and switch to the Ellipse Tool. Check the Add button from the top bar and simply draw a 14px circle as shown in the second image.
Step 13
Focus on the Layers panel, open the Layer Style window for the burgundy vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 14
Duplicate the burgundy vector shape (Control + J). Select this copy, clear the current Layer Style attributes, lower its Fill to 0% then open the Layer Style window and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 15
For the following steps you will need a grid every 5px, so go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and enter 5 in the Gridline Every box.
Set the foreground color to black, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 210 by 80px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image.
Focus on the bottom side of this new rectangle and grab the Delete Anchor Point. Remove the right anchor point then switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the remaining, bottom anchor point and drag it 105px to the right. In the end things should look like in the second image.
Step 16
Focus on the Layers panel, select that black vector shape and drag it below the burgundy vector shapes.
Keep focusing on the Layers panel, right click on this black vector shape and simply go to Convert to Smart Object. Make sure that this new smart object is selected, change its blending mode to Soft Light and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Drag the slider to 4px and click OK.
Step 17
Next, you need to create a simple paper pattern. Open this paper image in Photoshop, go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate then go to Edit > Define Pattern. Enter "paper" for the name then click OK. Close this document and go back to your envelope.
Step 18
Duplicate "main" (Control + J), select the copy and bring it to the front (Shift + Control + ] ). Lower its Fill to 0% and open the Layer Style window. Activate the Pattern Overlay and enter the properties shown in the following image. Obviously, you need to use that "paper" pattern made in the previous step.
Step 19
Create a new layer (Shift + Control + Alt + N), drag it in the top of the Layers panel and make sure that it stays selected. Set the foreground color to black, pick the Brush Tool and right click inside your document to open the Brush Preset picker. Pick a Soft Round brush, set the size to 50px and the Hardness to 0% then draw a random path along the bottom side of your envelope as shown in the following image.
Step 20
Focus on the Layers panel, hold Control and click on "main". This should load a simple selection around your shape. Make sure that it stays active, select the layer made in the previous step, focus on the bottom side of the Layers panel and simply click on the "Add layer mask" button. In the end things should look like in the second image.
Get rid of that selection (Control + D), make sure that the masked layer is still selected, lower its opacity to 30% and change the blending mode to Soft Light.
Step 21
Create a new layer (Shift + Control + Alt + N), drag it to the top of the Layers panel and make sure that it stays selected. Set the foreground color to white, pick the Brush Tool and draw a random path along the top side of your envelope as shown in the following image.
Step 22
Load a new selection around your "main" vector shape and use it to mask the layer made in the previous step.
Get rid of that selection (Control + D), make sure that this newly masked layer is still selected, lower its opacity to 70% and change the blending mode to Soft Light.
Step 23
Focus on the Layers panel, open the Layer Style window for "main" and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 24
Duplicate "main" (Control + J). Open the Layer Style window for this copy and edit the attributes used for the Drop Shadow as shown in the following image.
Flowers and floral designs never trend and never go out of fashion…. they just are! Because of this, people will never stop creating floral resources, and new examples continue to trickle through – they don’t bombard the internet as trending elements do, they simply get added to slowly but surely. So there will almost certainly come a time when you will need floral brushes whilst using Photoshop, and here is a compilation of some of the best free floral brush sets available right now.
In this tutorial we will create a realistic water reflection effect. You should be able to replicate this effect on other pictures using the techniques presented here.
This Photoshop tutorial uses some fairly advanced techniques but the detailed explanations at each step should make it easy for beginners to catch on.
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Open the Castle image. This image is quite big so let’s reduce the size a bit. Press Ctrl + Alt + I to open the Image Size window and use the settings shown below:
Step 2
Select the Crop Tool and drag the upper and lower handles in order to remove the author’s trademark as well as the extra pixels at the top, left and right margins.(Don’t worry, it’s perfectly legal. You can honor the author by linking to his website or this particular image).
Step 3
Duplicate the background layer by pressing Ctrl + J. Name this layer “Reflection”.
Step 4
Now let’s increase the canvas size (we have to put our reflection somewhere). Press Ctrl + Alt + C to open the Canvas Size window and choose the settings shown below.
Click on the “Reflection” layer in order to make it active and press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform. Right click on the image and choose “Flip Vertical”. Press Enter after you’re done.
Step 5
Select the Move Tool (V) and with the “Reflection” layer still selected click and drag down while holding Shift in order to move the layer downwards as shown in the image below.
This could already be considered a reflection but it looks quite unrealistic because the water is way to calm and there are no ripples. We will address these issues in the following steps.
Step 6
Now we need to create some ripples. In order to do that we will need a special texture resembling ripples which we can then apply on the reflection layer. Let’s start working on our texture by creating a new document (Ctrl + N), 4000 x 4000.
Let’s add some Noise. Choose Filter > Noise > Add Noise and use the settings shown below.
We need a coarser grain in order to achieve ripples. We will use a trick which consists of blurring the noise layer and afterwards increasing the contrast. Apply a 5px gaussian blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur).
Now choose Image > Adjustments > Curves and drag the sliders on the left and right towards the spike.
Choose Filter > Filter Gallery and from the Sketch folder select the Bass Relief filter. Use a value of 2 for Detail and 2 for Smoothness. We can see now how this texture starts to look like ripples. But wait, we are not done yet.
Apply a 35px Motion Blur (Filter > Blur > Motion Blur) in order to achieve smoother, more elongated waves.
Step 7
We want to match the ripples texture to our reflection layer. In order to achieve that we will have to temporarily move the texture over to our original document (the castle document). While in the texture document select all by pressing Ctrl + A and copy by pressing Ctrl + C. Select our original document and press Ctrl + V to paste.
New let’s transform this ripples texture in order to achieve the same perspective as in our document. Press Ctrl + T to enter Free transform.
Reduce the height of the texture to fit the bottom half of the image.
Right-click within the transformation boundary and select Perspective. Drag the top handles in and the bottom handles out in order to achieve a transformation like mine below.
Make sure the upper bounds of the texture layer don’t exceed the upper bounds of the “Reflection” layer. For an easier alignment make sure you have Snap active (View > Snap). Press Enter after you’re done.
Step 8
In the Layers palette click on the texture layer we just transformed on the previous step to make sure it’s active. Now Ctrl-click on the “Reflection” layer to create a selection of its pixels. Press Ctrl + J to duplicate the selection (while on the texture layer). Name this new layer “Texture” and delete the previous layer (Layer1).
In order to make sure that you followed my steps correctly Ctrl-click on the “Reflection” layer and after that Ctrl-click on the Texture layer. The selected area should remain the same. If it’s bigger then you’ve made a mistake and should redo the steps.
Right-click on the “Texture” layer in the layer palette and from the drop down menu choose Duplicate Layer, set the destination as a New document. Give it an appropriate name and press Ok.
Step 9
You notice that there is a transparent area in the upper part of our texture. We need to get rid of that and in order to do so we will choose Image > Trim . Select Transparent Pixels and press OK. Save the texture (Ctrl + S) somewhere on your computer (remember where).
Step 10
Close the texture document (Ctrl + W) and go back to our original document. Turn off the visibility of the “Texture” layer by clicking on the little eyeball icon on the left of its thumbnail.
Step 11
Right-click on the “Reflection” layer in the layers palette and from the drop down menu choose Convert to Smart Object.
With the “Reflection” layer selected choose Filter > Filter Gallery. Select the Glass filter (in the Distort folder). Notice that next to the name of the texture there is a little icon. Click on that icon and press “Load Texture”. Select the texture you saved previously (the texture from step 9).
Choose a greater Distort value if you want a more pronounced effect. For subtlety select a lower value (6-7). The good thing about Smart Objects is that you can change the settings of your filters at any time. As you can see we already have achieved a nice effect. However, we could still add a few improvements.
Step 12
Water has a certain reflective quality and our reflection lacks this quality. Remember the “Texture” layer we turned off on step 17? Turn its visibility on again by clicking on the eye icon (more exactly where the eye icon used to be).
Change its blending mode to Soft Light and lower the Opacity to 18% and notice how the “Reflection” layer has gained that reflective quality.
Step 13
Usually the water has the color/tint of the sky. Let’s do this in our image. Select the Brush Tool (B) and Alt-click somewhere on the blue of the sky in order to sample a color (sampling a color means that whatever color lies under the sampler’s tip becomes the foreground color).
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and fill the layer with the foreground color (Alt + Backspace). Name this layer “Color”.
Move the “Color” layer just below the “Texture” layer (by clicking and dragging). After that clip the “Color” layer to the “Reflection” layer by holding Alt key and clicking right in between the two layers in the layers palette.
Clipping a layer to another means that the upper layer will be visible only through the pixels of the lower layer.
Press D to reset to default colors and X to switch between them.
Add a layer mask to the “Color” layer by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Select the Gradient Tool (G) and from the upper option bar select Foreground to Background option.
Step 14
Click on the layer mask and with the Gradient Tool still selected hold the Shift key and drag downwards as indicated in the image below. This step will ensure that color will not be visible in the upper part of the image and will gradually become more visible in the lower parts.
Lower the Opacity of the “Color” layer to 12%.
Step 15
Almost done! Let’s do something to improve the appearance of the overall image. A bit of color correction would be just what this image needs. Create a new Curves Adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves).
Step 16
In order to boost the contrast add a Black & White Adjustment layer by choosing Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White. Change the Blending mode of this layer to Soft Light and lower the opacity to 46%.
Step 17
We are almost there. The image looks too symmetrical because we have flipped vertically the original layer. Also, there are some ugly pixel artifacts in the lower part of the image (we created those when we applied the Glass filter to the Reflection layer). In order to address both of these issues let’s crop our image and get rid of some of the lower part.
Step 18
Finally, let’s add a Vignette effect. Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and fill it with white (with white as foreground color press Alt + Backspace). Choose Filter > Lens Correction and in the Custom tab drag the Vignette Amount slider towards the left. Press OK and change the blending mode of the layer to Multiply.
Notice how the “Color” layer is a bit too intense? Let’s lower its Opacity from 12% to 7%.
In this tutorial we will create a realistic rainbow and add it to our photo. This is an easy Photoshop tutorial, aimed at beginners with detailed explanations at each step.
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Step 1
Open file “Sky”. This will be our base image on top of which we will create a realistic rainbow. First let’s create a new layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N. Now select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and create a selection as shown in the image below.
Step 2
Select the Gradient Tool (G) and click on the icon shown below to edit the gradient.
The following window (called the Gradient Editor) will appear. The little arrowhead icons underneath are the colors that form the gradient. Click just below the gradient representation to add new colors. You can also click on the colors and move them around after you have created them. Double click the arrowhead icons to change the color.
Add the colors shown below to your Gradient Editor window and click OK. They are in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, cyan.
Make sure you still have the Gradient Tool selected. Click and drag in the selection while holding shift to create a gradient with the colors you chose previously. Press Ctrl + D to deselect the layer.
Step 3
Make a duplicate layer (Ctrl + J) of the gradient layer just to have a backup in case something goes wrong. Turn off the visibility of the original gradient layer by clicking on the eye icon at the left of the layer in the layers palette.
Select the Eraser Tool (E), select a soft round brush and erase the left and right edges of the gradient as shown in the image below.
You could also use a Layer Mask to hide the unwanted parts of the gradient, but the Eraser Tool is simpler to use.
Step 4
Now let’s add some blur in order to disperse the colors. Choose Blur > Gaussian Blur and enter a value of 20px. Make sure the layer is deselected (press Ctrl + D just to be sure) otherwise you’ll get unwanted effects.
Step 5
We are almost ready with our rainbow. Let’s add some curvature to our rainbow. While on the gradient layer press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform. Right click on the gradient and from the drop down menu choose Warp.
In order to bend it in a nice fashion choose from warp options (in the upper Options Bar) Arc and play a little with the Bend value until you obtain a nice curved rainbow. Press Enter after you’re done.
Step 6
Let’s increase the size of our rainbow and position it a bit better. Press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform and modify the size and position to make it look like mine in the image below. To symmetrically resize hold the Shift key while dragging on the corners.
Step 7
It looks very nice now but the effect is still a bit strong. Change the blending mode to Color and lower the Opacity of our rainbow layer to 51% for a softer effect.
Step 8
It looks nice enough as it is but I think that a bit of glow will make it look better. Duplicate the rainbow layer by pressing Ctrl + J. Double-click the layer to enter Advanced Blending options. Use the following settings:
And We’re Done!
Here’s how the final image should look. If you want a more artistic effect and not a realistic one then consider increasing the opacity of the rainbow layer and/or give the rainbow a bigger arc effect (Step 5).
In this tutorial we will create a realistic rainbow and add it to our photo. This is an easy Photoshop tutorial, aimed at beginners with detailed explanations at each step.
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Open file “Sky”. This will be our base image on top of which we will create a realistic rainbow. First let’s create a new layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N. Now select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and create a selection as shown in the image below.
Step 2
Select the Gradient Tool (G) and click on the icon shown below to edit the gradient.
The following window (called the Gradient Editor) will appear. The little arrowhead icons underneath are the colors that form the gradient. Click just below the gradient representation to add new colors. You can also click on the colors and move them around after you have created them. Double click the arrowhead icons to change the color.
Add the colors shown below to your Gradient Editor window and click OK. They are in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, cyan.
Make sure you still have the Gradient Tool selected. Click and drag in the selection while holding shift to create a gradient with the colors you chose previously. Press Ctrl + D to deselect the layer.
Step 3
Make a duplicate layer (Ctrl + J) of the gradient layer just to have a backup in case something goes wrong. Turn off the visibility of the original gradient layer by clicking on the eye icon at the left of the layer in the layers palette.
Select the Eraser Tool (E), select a soft round brush and erase the left and right edges of the gradient as shown in the image below.
You could also use a Layer Mask to hide the unwanted parts of the gradient, but the Eraser Tool is simpler to use.
Step 4
Now let’s add some blur in order to disperse the colors. Choose Blur > Gaussian Blur and enter a value of 20px. Make sure the layer is deselected (press Ctrl + D just to be sure) otherwise you’ll get unwanted effects.
Step 5
We are almost ready with our rainbow. Let’s add some curvature to our rainbow. While on the gradient layer press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform. Right click on the gradient and from the drop down menu choose Warp.
In order to bend it in a nice fashion choose from warp options (in the upper Options Bar) Arc and play a little with the Bend value until you obtain a nice curved rainbow. Press Enter after you’re done.
Step 6
Let’s increase the size of our rainbow and position it a bit better. Press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform and modify the size and position to make it look like mine in the image below. To symmetrically resize hold the Shift key while dragging on the corners.
Step 7
It looks very nice now but the effect is still a bit strong. Change the blending mode to Color and lower the Opacity of our rainbow layer to 51% for a softer effect.
Step 8
It looks nice enough as it is but I think that a bit of glow will make it look better. Duplicate the rainbow layer by pressing Ctrl + J. Double-click the layer to enter Advanced Blending options. Use the following settings:
And We’re Done!
Here’s how the final image should look. If you want a more artistic effect and not a realistic one then consider increasing the opacity of the rainbow layer and/or give the rainbow a bigger arc effect (Step 5).
In the following tutorial your will learn how to create a simple switch button in Adobe Photoshop.
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Step 1
Open Photoshop and hit Control + N to create a new document. Enter all the data shown in the following image and click OK.
Enable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap To > Grid). For starters you will need a grid every 5px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and focus on the Grid section. Enter 5 in the Gridline Every box and 1 in the Subdivision box. Also, set the color of the grid at #a7a7a7. Once you set all these properties click OK. Don’t get discouraged by all that grid. It will ease your work later.
You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes.
Step 2
Set the foreground color at #e8d8a7, pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool and focus on the top bar. Set the radius at 30px, create a 190 by 60px vector shape and make sure that it stays selected.
Continue with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, focus on the top bar and check the Add button. Add a 20 by 10px vector shape and place it as shown in the second image. The Snap to Grid should ease your work.
Make sure that your vector shape is still selected, continue with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, add a second 20 by 10px vector shape and place it as shown in the third image.
Step 3
Focus on the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and double click on the vector shape made in the previous step to open the Layer Style window. Activate the Drop Shadow, the Inner Shadow, the Outer Glow, the Bevel and Emboss and the Gradient Overlay then enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 4
Set the foreground color at #a29261 and pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Create a 180 by 50px vector shape, place it as shown in the first image and make sure that it stays selected. Continue with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, focus on the top bar and check the Subtract button.
Create a 170 by 40px vector shape and place it as shown in the second image. Open the Layers Style window for this new vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following image.
Step 5
Set the foreground color at #d4c493 and pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Create a 170 by 40px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Open the Layers Style window for this new vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Return to the Layers panel, double click on this rounded rectangle and simply name it "interior".
Step 6
For the following step you will need a grid every 1px. Simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and enter 1 in the Gridline Every box. Set the foreground color at #ac9c6b, pick the Ellipse Tool, create a 4px circle and place it as shown in the first image.
Open the Layers Style window for this new vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 7
Duplicate the vector shape made in the previous step (CTRL + J). Select this copy, drag it to the right and place it as shown in the second image. Again, the Snap to Grid should ease your work.
Step 8
Set the foreground color at #a29261 and pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Create a 100 by 44px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image.
Open the Layers Style window for this new vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 9
Duplicate the vector shape made in the previous step (CTRL + J). Focus on the Layers panel, right click on this copy and go to Clear Layer Style.
Select this copy, lower its Fill to 0% then open the Layer Style window and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 10
Duplicate the vector shape made in the previous step (CTRL + J). Focus on the Layers panel, select this copy and clear the current Layer Style attributes. Keep focusing on the Layers panel, hold CTRL and simply click on "interior". This should load a simple selection around that vector shape. Make sure that it stays active, select the copy made in the beginning of the step and hit the "Add layer mask" button.
In the end your masked vector shape should look like in the third image. Hit Control + D to get rid of that selection.
Step 11
Reselect the masked vector shape made in the previous step, lower its Fill to 0% then open the Layer Style window. Check the "Layer Mask Hides Effects" box then activate the Drop Shadow and enter the properties shown in the following image.
Step 12
Set the foreground color at #85bc46, pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, create a 5 by 14px vector shape and make sure that its stays selected. Continue with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, check the Add button from the top bar then add two, 5 by 14px rounded rectangles as shown in the second image.
Step 13
Select the vector shape made in the previous step and place it as shown below. Open the Layer Style window for this green path and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 14
Pick the Type Tool (T) and add a simple "ON" as shown in the first image. You can use the Latha font, set the style at Bold, the size at 15pt and the color at #b6a675. Open the Layers Style window for this little piece of text and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 15
Focus on the Layers panel, select that piece of text along with all the vector shapes created so far, right click on one of these pieces and go to Duplicate Layers. Select all the copies and drag them a few pixels down as shown in the first image. Return to the Layers panel and focus on the copies.
Select the four vector shapes that make up the rounded button, hold Shift and drag them 74px to the right. In the end things should look like in the second image.
Step 16
Select that piece of text, replace the "ON" with "OFF" and place it as shown in the first image. Select the masked vector shape, go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal then open the Layer Style window and simply inverse the angle used for the Drop Shadow.
Step 17
Finally, focus on the green vector shape and replace the existing Layer Style attributes with the ones shown in the following images.
In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we will learn how to create a beautiful abstract photo manipulation applying some advance techniques of masking, lightning and the use of adjustment layers.
Create a new file with a width of 1200 px and a height of 1500 px at 72 dpi (Dots per Inch). Background Contents should be White.
Step 2
First off, let’s activate the Gradient tool (G).
Then open the Gradient editor box and input the following:
Now drag the mouse in the direction of the red arrow.
The result should be similar to this:
Step 3
Now activate the Single Row Marquee Tool.
Let’s make a new layer and name it “Line”. Now click on the canvas you can see that you have a selected part so fill it with #409cf9.
Repeat the same process and you will get something like this :
Step 4
Now add a layer mask to our lines layer .
Now activate the Brush tool (B) using these settings :
Brush size: 400px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 40%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000
Now paint over the highlighted area.
Reduce the layer opacity to 25% :
The result should be similar to this:
Now create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from the icon at the bottom of the layers palette .
When the Hue/Saturation box opens, input the following:
Press Alt+left click in between 2 layer’s (lines layer and Hue/Saturation) to make a clipping mask.
The result should be similar to this:
Step 5
Now activate the Elliptical marquee tool, hold down the Shift key to restrain proportions and drag out a circle as shown below, use the Paint Bucket Tool to fill it with black .
Now add a Layer style by clicking on the fxicon at the bottom of layers palette .
When the Layer style box opens, input the following Gradient Overlay settings:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 6
Now activate the Brush tool (B) using these settings :
Brush size: 3px
Hardness: 100%
Opacity: 100%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000
Then activate the Pen tool (P) and draw a line then right click on the line and choose Stroke Path.
When the Stroke path box opens, input the following:
Now again make a right click and this time choose Delete Path .
The result should be similar to this:
Now add a Layer style by clicking the fxicon at the bottom of layers palette.
When the Layer style box opens, input the following Gradient Overlay settings:
The result should be similar to this:
Add more lines:
Step 7
First off, let’s open fairy32 stock in Photoshop. We will be using the Girl from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Now go to Select > Color range :
When the Color Range box opens, input the following and click on the highlighted area :
Press V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change layer name to “Girl”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “Girl” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 8
Now, activate the Brush tool (B) and open the brush set “15 grunge ps brushes” by Sarytah. To load them, simply, right click on your canvas through any layer and then click on the drop-down button as shown below:
This will prompt the contextual menu to pop up and once you see that, just click on Load Brushes.
You will now be prompted to this directory: Adobe Photoshop > Presets > Brushes so make sure that you have put the brushes within this folder, or navigate to the folder that contains the brushes. Now locate the brush set and click OK. Right click on the canvas again using your Brush tool (B) and now you’ll notice that you have 15 grunge ps brushes.
Now create a vector mask by clicking on the Add Layer Maskicon at the bottom of layers palette.
Now this time choose any grunge ps brushes and use these settings:
Brush size: 400px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 40%
Flow: 100%
Foreground Color: #000000
Background Color: #000000
Now paint over the highlighted area.
The result should be similar to this:
Step 9
Now,let’s open “abstract” file in Photoshop. We will be using the sky from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the “abstract” and press V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change layer name to “Abstract 1″.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “Abstract” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
The result should be similar to this:
Now create a new Color Balance adjustment layer by clicking the icon at the bottom of layers palett . Press Alt+left click in between 2 layer’s (Abstract 1 layer and Color Balance) to make a clipping mask.
When the Color Balance box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Make a duplicate of abstract 1 layer (Ctrl+j):
Step 10
Now,let’s open the High Resolution Bokeh Texture in Photoshop. We will be using the Texture from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the High Resolution Bokeh Texture and press V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change layer name to “Light”.
Change it’s layer mode to “Screen”.
The result should be similar to this:
Step 11
Now create a Color Balance adjustment layer which can be found by pressing on the Create New Fill/Adjustment layer button shown on the layer window:
When the Color Balance box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Create a Gradient map adjustment layer which can be found by pressing on the Create New Fill/Adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette.
When the Gradient map box opens, input the following:
Change it’s layer mode to “Luminosity”.
The result should be similar to this:
Create a Gradient map adjustment layer which can be found by pressing on the Create New Fill/Adjustment layer button shown on the layer window.
When the Gradient map box opens, input the following:
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a futuristic, metal jumping whale. We are not actually creating the metal whale, but we are using 5 stock images and a brush set, along with Photoshop’s built in tools and filters to create this stunning photo manipulation.
Let’s start our tutorial by opening the image “Landscape” and making a duplicate (Ctrl + J).
Apply a 5 px Gaussian Blur to the duplicated layer.
Add a layer mask to the duplicated layer by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.
In the layer mask paint with black over the surface of the water to mask the blurring effect and put more focus on the foreground.
Here’s how my mask looks:
Step 2
We will be using a lot of adjustment layers in this tutorial. To create an adjustment layer simply click Layer > New Adjustment Layer and choose the appropriate one.
In this case I am going to use a Hue/Saturation so go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. If we were to use a Curves Adjustment layer you would simply go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. Got it?
Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer to change the color of the overall scene.
Here’s how the image should look now:
Step 3
It looks a bit too saturated for me so let’s add another Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and drag the slider to the left to lower the saturation.
The image should look like this now:
Step 4
Now let’s darken the mood a little bit. Add a Curves Adjustment Layer and drag the curve downwards like so:
The image should look darker:
Step 5
Open file “Whale”. Ctrl-click on the Whale layer to select it and press Ctrl + C to copy it.
Go back to our tutorial file and press Ctrl + V to paste it.
Choose the Move tool (V) and position the whale as shown below:
Step 6
Now let’s create the reflection on the water.
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and using a Chalk brush at 10% Opacity paint a reflection underneath the whale and on the surface of the water.
Here’s how my painted reflection looks:
Step 7
The whale emerges from the water so we should have some splashing water illustrating this.
Open the file “Water1”. Before we start doing anything we have to change some settings.
Choose the Eyedropper Tool (I) and in the Option bar (in the upper area) set the Sample Size to 5 by 5 Average.
What we want to do now is to extract the water and the some of the rippling effect from this photo. The tool that will allow us to do that in an easy way is Color Range.
Choose Select > Color Range and with the eyedropper click in the region shown below:
The Color Range window should look like this:
Click OK to finish the selection.
Step 8
Now that we have a selection press Ctrl + J to create a new layer from selection.
Ctrl-click on the newly created layer to select it and Ctrl + C to copy it.
Go to our tutorial window and press Ctrl + V to paste it.
Step 9
Use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl + T) to resize and position the water as in the image below:
Step 10
Add a layer mask to the water layer by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal all. Choose a soft round brush and paint with black to remove the obvious edges and to integrate the water with the environment.
Here’s how my layer mask looks:
And here’s how the image looks:
The water looks a bit grayish so let’s make a bit brighter and whiter. In order to do this simply duplicate the water layer by pressing Ctrl + J.
Step 11
Let’s add some additional water drops around the whale to make it look more realistic.
Open the file “Water2”.
Use Select > Color Range selection window to select the water as we did on the previous water image and press OK.
Your Color Range window should look like this:
Step 12
Duplicate the selection by pressing Ctrl + J.
Ctrl-click the newly created layer to select it and press Ctrl + C to copy it.
Go to our tutorial window and press Ctrl + V to paste. Use the Free Transform tool (T) to resize and position the pasted layer as shown below:
Step 13
Add a layer mask to this layer by choosing Layer > Adjustment Layer > Reveal All. Use a soft round brush to paint with black and mask the obvious edges and unwanted areas. You basically want to leave some water drops below the whale’s belly so paint with black everything but the area you want to be visible.
Here’s how it should look:
Step 14
In order to add more drops of water around the whale simply duplicate the water layer you just masked and use the Free Transform Tool to position it where you want more water drops. Then in the layer mask paint with black or white to hide or reveal water. In my case it took 7 more duplicates of the water layer, each of them positioned at different locations around the whale and masked as I saw fit.
And here’s how my image looks like:
Step 15
Group all those water layers you created in the previous step by selecting them (Ctrl-click each or click the first one and Shift-click the last one) and press Ctrl + G.
Add a layer mask to the group by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal all and paint with black to hide unwanted water.
And here’s how my image looks:
This technique of using layer masks on groups is a very useful one when you want additional control and you work with lots of layers.
Step 16
Let’s add some additional glitter and some lightning.
Import the sparkles brush using the Preset Manager (Edit > Presets > Preset manager) or simply double click the .abr file (it might not work on older versions of Photoshop).
Select a sparkle and set the foreground color to white. Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and place some sparkles on the whale.
Step 17
Import the lightning brush and create a new layer. Click once on the layer with a lightning brush of your choosing and use the Free Transform tool to position and resize the lightning layer as in the image below.
Step 18
Now let’s add some volume and highlights to the whale.
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and with a round soft brush at 20-30% Opacity paint with white and black. White areas will look closer to the eye than the black ones and that’s how we will create a certain volumetric effect and add some white highlights in the process.
You should have something like in the image below:
Step 19
We are almost done. Now it’s time to add some post-processing effects that will make the image look nicer.
Make a new layer from all visible layers by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E. Apply a 5px Gaussian Blur to the newly created layer.
Change the blending mode of this layer to Soft Light and lower the opacity to 30%.
Step 20
In order to improve the contrast and lighten the image a bit add a Curves Adjustment Layer. Modify the curve like this:
Step 21
In order to unify all the elements in our scene let’s add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and change the hue to a nice blue color. Lower the opacity of this layer to 22%.
Step 22
Finally we are going to bump up the contrast, so add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and increase the contrast setting to around 82.
Conclusion
And that’s the end of our tutorial. Hope you like final result.
Open image “Car” in Photoshop and duplicate the background layer by pressing Ctrl + J.
Step 2
Apply a Motion Blur by choosing Filter > Blur > Motion Blur.
Step 3
Add a layer mask to the blurred layer by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.
In the layer mask paint with a soft black brush over the car in order to have a motion blur effect on the background only.
I painted with red in the image below the areas which should be painted with black in the layer mask so you can have a reference.
And this is how it should look after you’re done:
Step 4
Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to merge all visible layers into a new layer and use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to create a selection of the front wheel.
Step 5
Apply a Radial Blur by choosing Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Select Spin and drag the slider all the way to the left. This step will apply a Spin Blur to our wheel, making it look as if it is spinning fast.
The wheel should look like in the image shown below:
Step 6
Repeat the step above on the back wheel. You should have something like the image below.
Step 7
Add a layer mask to the layer with spin blur (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All) and use a soft black brush at 50% Opacity around the edges of the spinning wheels to remove any obvious/hard lines.
Step 8
Create another layer from all the visible layers by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E and apply a 700px Motion blur.
Here’s the results of Motion Blur:
Step 9
Change the blending mode of this layer to Screen and add a layer mask by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All.
Paint in the layer mask over the back of the car to create an illusion of motion.
Duplicate this layer by pressing Ctrl + J. Press Alt + Backspace to fill the layer mask with black and move it a bit upwards (press Ctrl + Shift + Up arrow once):
Paint in the layer mask with white as shown below:
Conclusion
Here’s the final result:
Other Photoshop Blur Options
Another cool effect you could add to make an object or a person look like it’s moving very fast is the Zoom Blur.
Open the file “Man” and make a duplicate of the background.
Add a layer mask (Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All) and paint carefully with a soft white brush to reveal only the running man and some of the ground in front of him. You should have something like this:
Another technique for applying focus to an object or a person is to apply a Gaussian Blur to everything but the object/person you want to keep focus on. Let’s try it now.
Open image “Girls” and make a duplicate of the background layer.
Now let’s say that we want to put focus on the girl in the middle.
Add a layer mask (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All) and with a soft black brush paint over the face and the upper body of the girl sitting in the middle. Try to be careful and not to paint over the background. As you can see the effect is subtle but noticeable:
You can use this kind of selective Blur to increase focus of an object, a part of the body (like the face, the eyes) or an area. The only thing to remember is that subtle effects work best.
There are a lot of techniques on the Internet on how to make a drawing from a photo. But I would like to invite your attention to another one unique simple Photoshop tutorial on how to achieve the desired effect in an easier way.
With the Crop Tool selected crop the photo as shown on my screenshot below. After that, select the Polygonal Lasso Tool to cut the lady’s silhouette from the background.
Step 2
Select some appropriate colors, for example black color (#6d0000) and orange (#69360e), then create a new layer under the layer with the lady and apply Filter > Render > Clouds.
Then go back to the layer with the lady, use the Eraser Tool with a soft round brush of small diameter and make the border between her and the background softer by erasing some parts of the hair.
Now we have to reduce the red hue on the photo. Duplicate the current layer with Ctrl+J and use Image > Adjustments > Color Balance on the copied layer to edit the color balance.
Use the Eraser Tool to do some cleaning up work to reduce the blue color presence on the photo.
Step 3
Merge all layers into one except the background layer. Duplicate the background layer and move it above the layer with the photo.
Apply Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to flip this layer vertically.
Desaturate it with Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.
Then use the Eraser Tool and soft round brush to erase part of background as on my screenshot below.
Change the blending mode to Hard Light for this layer.
Step 4
Create a new layer and set the blending mode to Overlay for it. Select the Brush Tool (Opacity: 20-30%) with a soft round brush and increase the contrast between dark and light parts by making strokes with black and white colors.
If we turn the blending mode back to Normal for this layer, then we will see the following picture:
It clearly shows that in the shaded areas we used black color, and for the lighter areas used white, that have increased the glare and shadow. Again turn back to Overlay mode and make one more copy of this layer. Change the mode to Soft Light for the copied layer.
After that change the opacity to 30%.
Step 5
Create a new layer, press ‘D’ to set the foreground and background colors as black and white and apply Filter > Render > Clouds again.
Add some noise with Filter > Noise > Add Noise:
After that use Filter > Blur > Motion Blur with similar settings to these:
Apply Filter > Blur > Smart Blur:
Increase the size of the canvas with Edit > Transform > Scale to avoid showing sharp edges.
Now, change the layer mode to Overlay for this layer.
Step 6
Create an adjustment layer with Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation to reduce the strong contrast.
Create another adjustment layer with Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Channel Mixer to achieve the desired effect:
Add one final adjustment layer by using Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Exposure with following settings:
Open Photoshop and hit Control + N to create a new document. Enter all the data shown in the following image and click OK.
Enable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap To > Grid). For starters you will need a grid every 5px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and focus on the Grid section. Enter 5 in the Gridline Every box and 1 in the Subdivision box. Also, set the grid color to #a7a7a7. Once you set all these properties click OK. Don’t get discouraged by all that grid. It will ease your. You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes.
Step 2
Set the foreground color to #73c5ff, pick the Rectangle Tool and create a 200 by 300px vector shape. The Snap to Grid should ease your work.
Step 3
Select the vector shape made in the previous step and focus on the bottom, right corners. Pick the Ellipse Tool, check the Add button from the top bar and add a 4px circle as shown in the first image.
Switch to the Direct Selection Tool and select the four anchor points that make up this little circle. Hold the Shift and Alt buttons from your keyboard, click (and hold) inside your circle and simply drag 6px to the left. This should add a copy of the circle as shown in the third image.
Repeat this technique until you have six perfectly aligned circles as shown in the fourth image.
Step 4
Make sure that your blue vector shape is selected and focus on the bottom, left corner.
Pick the Ellipse Tool, check the Subtract button from the top bar and draw a 4px circle as shown in the first image. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool, select the four anchor points that make up this little circle and drag a copy 6px to the right. Repeat this technique until you have twenty-seven perfectly aligned circles as shown in the fourth image. You can duplicate two or more circles at a time. Just make sure that you select all the anchor points that make up those circles and that you’re keeping a 2px gap between each shape.
Step 5
Make sure that your blue vector shape is selected and focus on the top, left corner.
Pick the Ellipse Tool, check the Add button from the top bar and add five, 4px circles as shown in the first image.
Continue with the Ellipse Tool, check the Subtract button from the top bar and draw twenty-eight, 4px circle as shown in the second image. In the end your blue vector shape should look like in the third image.
Step 6
Next, you need to create a simple paper pattern. Open this paper image in Photoshop, go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate then go to Edit > Define Pattern. Enter “paper” in the Name box then click OK. Close this file and get back to the main one.
Step 7
Open the Layers panel and focus on your blue vector shape. Replace the blue with #fafafa then double click on this shape to open the Layer Style window. Enter the properties shown in the following images and click OK.
The yellow numbers from the Gradient Overlay image stand for Opacity percentage while the white numbers stand for Blending Mode. For the Pattern Overlay section you will need the paper pattern made in the previous step. Simply open the Pattern picker and you will find there.
Step 8
For this step you will need a grid every 1px. So simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and enter 1 in the Gridline Every box. Set the foreground color to black.
Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, focus on the top bar and set the radius to 2px. Create a 5 by 3px vector shape and lower its opacity to 15%.
Duplicate this little rounded rectangle (Control + J), select the copy and drag it 27px to the right.
Step 9
Set the foreground color to #78787b and make sure that the Rounded Rectangle Tool is still active. Create a 35 by 2px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Open the Layer Style window for this new shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 10
Set the foreground color to white, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 24 by 1px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this thin rectangle is selected, lower its Fill to 0% then open the Layer Style window and enter the properties shown in the following image.
Step 11
Select the four vector shapes made in the last three steps and group them (Control + G). Select this new group and place it as shown in the following image.
Step 12
Set the foreground color to black, pick the Rectangle Tool, focus on the top bar and click on that little arrow icon to open the Rectangle Options panel. Check the Fixed Size button then enter 160 in the width (W:) box and 1 in the height (H:) box.
Now, simply click inside your document and you will get a black, 160 by 1px vector shape. Select it and place it as shown in the following image.
Step 13
Duplicate the vector shape made in the previous step (Control + J). Select this copy and drag it 29px down.
Add three more copies and place them as shown in the first image. Make sure that you always have a 29px gap between these thin shapes. Focus on the Layers panel, select all five vector shapes and change the blending mode to Soft Light.
Step 14
Disable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) and add the text using the Type Tool. Have a look at the following image and you will find all the text properties that you will need.
Step 15
Hit Shift + Control + Alt + N to create a new layer. Focus on the Layers panel, select it and send it to back (Shift + Control + [ ).
Set the foreground color to #36f0f5, pick the Paint Bucket Tool, make sure that your new layer is still selected and simply click inside your document.
Step 16
Next, you need to create a second pattern. First, hit Control + N to create a new document. Enter 4 in the width and height boxes and click OK. Enable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) then move to the Layers panel and delete the “Background” layer. Set the foreground color at black and grab the Rectangle Tool.
Create two 2 by 2px vector paths and place them as shown in the following image. Now, simply go to Edit > Define Pattern. Pick a name for your new pattern and click OK. Close this document and return to the main one.
Step 17
Focus on the Layers panel, open the Layer Style panel for the layer made in the fifteenth step and enter the properties shown in the following images. For the Pattern Overlay section use the pattern made in the previous step.
