How To Make A Glitter Texture In Photoshop

I was going to photograph some glitter to use as a texture but I found this nifty tutorial from ScrapbookBytes.

Here are my notes:
Open a new square document in Photoshop (make sure the color is set to RGB not CMYK, the filters won't work in CMYK. Make the document 8 bit.)
Fill with grey #B3b3b3 (I tired 50% grey and it was too dark)
Filter > Texture > Grain. Select Sprinkle from the drop down menu. Intensity 35. Contrast 50. OK
Filter > Pixelate > Crystallize. 3%
Command J to duplicate the layer. Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 CW. Blend mode Multiply.
Repeat - Command J to duplicate the layer. Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 CW. Blend mode Multiply.
Merge the layers and save the file in case you want to make more glitter. This is the base you work off. I saved mine as glitter_blendModeOverlay.jpg

To color the glitter:
Open the new glitter base in Photoshop.
Add a new layer. Fill with a color. For the gold glitter I used #BC9D20. Blend mode Overlay.

How To Make An Artistic Colored Gradient in Photoshop

I recently was looking through a magazine and saw a pretty black and white fashion photo with a pink gradient and I had to try to duplicate it.

Place your photo in Photoshop.

To make it black and white go to Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer
Check Monochrome. Click OK

New Fill or Adjustment Layer > Gradient.
Click on the gradient in the Gradient Fill screen to bring up the Gradient Editor.
Choose a color to fill the little paint bucket. I used a Miami Vice style pink F87a7a.
100% Opacity is too intense so you want click on the box over the paint bucket to bring up the opacity slider. I used 42%.
Adjust the angle so that it looks right.

The image on the left is how it looks after the gradient is applied. The right version had the blending mode Multiply applied.

How To Make A Stone Texture Background in Photoshop

Start a new file in Photoshop with a white background.

Channels Palette. Click the Create New Channel icon to add a new Alpha 1 channel.
Filter > Render > Difference Clouds. The dark areas make the crevices and light areas are hills.
Activate the RGB Channel.
Filter > Render > Light Effects. Play with the sliders until you are happy with the effect.

Blurred Background with Clipping Mask With The Pen Tool In Photoshop CS4 Tutorial

Sometimes a photo has too much going on in the background and it's distracting from the focus of the image.
I chose to use the pen tool to make a clipping mask so that I could blur the background (I also inserted her in front of a dragon with the same clipped image).
I like the pen tool because it gives a smooth, sharp edge but it's only practical for edges that are not overly intricate.
Go to file->open and select the photo you want to work with. Make a duplicate layer of the source photo.
Magnify the image so that you can see the edges clearly, command + or the magnify tool works well for this.





Use the pen tool to draw a line along the area you want to mask. I like to stay slightly inside the image to avoid having a pixilated (stair stepped) edge.
Option click (alt for windows users) on the anchor point when you change directions and option click on the final anchor point to close the path at the end. Pressing the space bar temporarily changes the tool to one that allows you to move the image.
You can adjust the path with the handles but I usually try to drag the curves out where I want them to minimize changes. The fewer points you make, the smoother your line will be. Try not to click on the smooth part of the curve since that will give you a more elegant line.














With the pen tool still selected, right click on the line and click make selection.

















Now you have a dashed line (some call it marching ants), this is your clipping path. Press command c or edit->copy to save the selection.













Make a new layer and paste the clipped object onto it using command v or edit->paste.







Save the file since you don't want to have to make the path again; now you can play with the background. The image can be inserted into another photo or you can alter the background with effects. I chose to activate the background copy layer and apply a blur by going to filter->blur->Gaussian blur.

How To Make A Text Clipping Mask In Photoshop

Open your background image; this will be what you see inside the text.

command j to duplicate the layer

type your text in a new layer

move the background duplicate layer over the top of the text layer, the text will disappear.

turn off the original background layer

Place your mouse cursor between the background layer and the text layer in the layers palette. Option click (the appearance of the cursor will change)












You'll see a change in the background copy thumbnail indicating the clipping mask.

You can press the v key to activate the move tool and shift the text over the image so that you can find the best placement for the visible image in your text.










I put a white background under the text but you can have whatever you want there.

How To Overlay A Photo In Photoshop To Add Texture

This is a local lake














This is algae on the edge of the same lake. Place this image on a new layer.

















image->adjustment->desaturate. If you don't desaturate the image the colors will effect the background image















You want to bump up the contrast. image->adjustment->levels. Move the sliders under the graph until you are pleased with the image














Try different blend modes. I start with overlay and this one is soft light. You can lower the opacity to make the blend more subtle.

How To Sharpen A Photo In Photoshop Using Overlay

You don't have to use sharpen filters to sharpen a photo. This photo has a small blur and I just want to do a simple sharpen.













command j to make a new layer



















right click on the new layer and click convert to smart object




















Go to filter->other->high pass

High pass is an edge detection filter; anything not edge becomes 50% grey. I have the radius set to 2.5 as a starting point. Click OK



















The smart filter has it's own blend mode dialog box. Click on the icon to the right of the word high pass (it looks like a teeter totter)





















Choose overlay as the blending mode and the grey screen disappears. Click OK.

The nice thing about this being a smart object is if you are not happy with the results you can double click the word high pass and it will bring up te high pass screen and you can readjust the amount from the previous 2.5 pixel radius.




















Here are the pencils after sharpening; no pun intended, well maybe...












Left is before, right after

How To Make Lightning in Photoshop

I got this nice rainy photo from the Morgue File.

make a new layer

press the d key to make the foreground/background black and white.
















filter->render->clouds
















filter->render->difference clouds















command L to bring up levels

move the white slider to the left















The middle grey slider is your glow. When you are happy with the effect click OK.
















You want the lightning to be white so invert the image using command i











change the blending mode to screen

add a layer mask by clicking on the rectangle with a circle in the middle
















The lightning will cover the entire image so use the v key to activate the move key and use your mouse to shift the lighting until you are happy with the placement.

Press the d key, if the black color box is not on top, press x and they will exchange it with the white and bring it on top.

You need the paint brush to paint out the unwanted lightning so click the b key, use the left and right [ ] to get the brush to the size you want. The black will remove the unwanted elements. The opacity should be at 100%

If the desired lightning is too bright, paint over it with a lowered opacity. I used the 5 key to make it 50% and then lightened it more close to the clouds to help it blend in.

How To Clean Up Dust Spots In Photoshop Using Lighten Blending Mode

I'm starting with a photo taken from a water taxi in Cabo. The spots are from water on the underwater camera casing but they could also be from dust. Normally I would use clone stamp but here's a quick way to fix them.



















press the m key and marquee around the spots













command j to duplicate the layer

press v

then change to lighten in the blending palette

use the left arrow key to increase the change. I had to click the left arrow twice








The spots are gone.

How To Color a Line Drawing and Get Strong Contrast Lineart From Photos in Photoshop

You can use Photoshop to clean up line art that has a grayish cast to the background and then color it if you choose. Sometimes paper has a color cast or you took a photo of line art that does not have a pure white background. To fix it, open the image.
Go to image->adjustment->desaturate.














Image->adjustment->levels or command L

Click the left eyedropper once, then choose the darks you want to preserve by clicking that spot on the image. Repeat with the right eyedropper for the whites. Then click OK. You may need to do this in several small steps. I thought about removing the frog wallpaper but it seemed to suit my mermaid drawing.

You will have a black and white image. Set the blend mode for multiply. Multiply ignores white and the pixels become transparent.

Keep the line art layer on top but you can add other layers to paint underneath it. You don't need to worry about painting exactly as long as you stay inside the black lines. I have a layer per color.

















To paint the background color fill the entire canvas on the bottom layer; it will fill behind everything on the screen.