Step 1 – Open a studio portrait with a solid color background

Below is an image I opened to demonstrate this tutorial. The image below is an example of one of the worst situations. For portraits, a good color background would be green or blue. But for this tutorial, I will use a studio portrait with red background and lots of skin, hair, and even a drop shadow to show you this tutorial in the worst situation. In most situations, removing background will be a lot easier but it is important to learn how to mask difficult images so that you’re prepared to mask most images.

Step 2 – Select a color range

Choose Select > Color Range. In the Color range tool, click on the background. Hold the shift key and continue clicking the background until you have the entire background in white. Click OK when done.

Step 3 – Smooth the selection

The selection may look perfect, but if you zoom in you can see that it may not be especially if you’re trying to mask hair. To fix this, choose Select > Modify > Smooth and smooth the selection by 1 pixel. This will remove all tiny dots without making the selection too round. Making it too round will cause problems with the hair later.

Step 4 – Create a layer mask

First, to create a layer mask, you will have to unlock the Background layer. To do this, double click on the layer and a window will appear with the layer settings. Just click OK with the default settings.

Now choose Layer > Layer Mask > Hide Selection. This will create a new layer mask with the selected area (the background) in black.

Step 6 – Manually paint the mask to correct errors

Hold the Alt key and click on the layer mask thumbnail. You should now see the black and white layer mask in the document window. You can see that the mask is not exactly perfect. For example, the red lips was masked out because Photoshop thought it was part of the background when we used the Color Picker tool. To fix this, just paint it out with white using the brush tool. But make sure that you’re working on the layer mask and not the layer.

Step 7 – Place the background file

Choose File > Place, browse for the background image file and click OK. The image should be placed into Photoshop as a new layer with a transform box allowing you to resize the image. Resize the image so that it its into the document boundaries. When resizing, hold the shift key to main the image aspect ratio.

Move the layer to the bottom. We’ve just masked an image, but wait we’re not done. Look at the image below. The hair still has a red outline and near the legs (not shown in the picture), it has a red glow. This was caused by the drop shadow in the original image. In the next steps, we’ll work on fixing this issue and working on the hair.

Step 9 – Use the Levels tool to shrink the mask.

First, zoom into an affected area with the glow. Select the layer mask then open the Levels tool (Image > Adjustments > Levels). Move the middle slider towards the right until the edge glow disappears.

Step 10 – Sponge the hair

There will still be some slight outlines around fine details such as the hair. Use the Sponge tool on desaturate mode and paint carefuly on the edge. Because the hair is usually not completely grayscale (black hair has some browns in it), you want to be careful not to over apply the sponge tool. Work only on the edge and zoom in so that you can be more precise.

If you’re working on hair that’s not black, create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, check mark colorize, and adjust the settings to match the hair color. Then, click on the Hue/Saturation layer mask, press Ctrl+I to invert, and paint the affected areas with white.

Step 11 – Match the two layers

The mask is perfect now, but we’re not quite done. This final step is one that many people forget and it is the most important step to make it look real. That is to match the brightness, contrast, and saturation with the background image. Add the appropriate adjustment layers but don’t edit the settings yet. For the image I used, the saturation is fine so I will just add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer to fix the brightness and contrast.

Once you have the adjustment layer, you need to create a clipping mask so that it only affects the layer below. To do this, press Alt+Ctrl+G and it will create a clipping mask that will only affect the shape of the layer below and not the background.

Once you’ve done that, adjust the settings so that it matches the background. For example, the background I used has higher contrast and brightness. I will increase the contrast and brightness to match the background so that they blend in.

Final Results

First of all, portraits are not usually the type of photo you want to make saturated. If you load a portrait into Photoshop and increase the saturation, you’re going to get a photo that doesn’t look as good as the original. Also, if you increase the saturation too much, you’ll get skin tones and lips that don’t look natural at all; typically seen in Photography forums by the unexperienced. Unless you have specific intentions (ex. making the photo look like pop art), try not to increase saturation in portait photos. Increasing saturation works great with landscape photos because they can still look natural with a saturation boost.

OK, lets fire up Photoshop and get started!

Step 1

First, run Photoshop and load any photo into Photoshop. If you don’t know how to do that, I would be a little worried, but here’s how: Choose File > Open, browse for the file, and click OK. I’ll be using this photo of a beautiful girl to show you the acceptable results it has on skin tones.

Step 2

First, let’s try out the classic Hue/Saturation method that almost everyone uses to make their photos look more vivid. Choose Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.

In the Hue/Saturation tool, increase the saturation to 50. Look how fake the skin and lips looks on the image I used. Remember when I said earlier that you’ll see these horribally vivid portraits on Photography forums by the inexperienced? Here’s an example.

Don’t click OK after you use the Hue/Saturation tool. If you already did, just press Ctrl+Z to undo the horrible saturation increase. Now I’ll show you the best technique on how to make photos look more vivid with Photoshop.

Step 3

To use this Photoshop technique, we need to switch the image mode to Lab Color. Why the Lab color mode? Because it has channels that separate the colors from the tonal information in the image, hence the channels:

• Lightness – Hold the tonal information
• a (also known as Chroma A) – Holds the first half of the color information
• b (also known as Chroma B) – Holds the other half of the color information

Some people say that switching image modes will change the colors and it’s true, but if you’re changing from RGB color to Lab color or vice-versa, the difference is so little it’s unperceivable. Now if you ask about this in a Photography forum, some elitests may argue that it’s a big difference and you only don’t see it because you have untrained eyes. Don’t listen to those people because they are wrong and they’re only on the forums to act professional. If you can’t see the difference, most people can’t.

So now that we’re on Lab Color mode, go into the Channels palette and have a look at the channels. They’re not RGB (Red, Green, Blue) anymore; they’re Lab (Lightness, a, b).

Step 4

Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to work directly on the color layer and not touch the tonal information in the Lightness channel. That’s the secret to this astonishing color boosting effect. In the Channels palette, select the achannel.

Once you selected the achannel, you’ll see just the grayscale contents of the channel. Right now, you’re probably asking, “How are we going to edit the colors if we can’t even see any colors? “. You’re right and a simple way to make sure that you can see the colors. In the Channels palette, click on the box to the left of the Lab color. An eye icon should appear meaning that all the channels are visible. Now we can see all the colors.

Step 5

Great, so we got the color channel selected and now we’re going to add contrast to the channel. By adding contrast, the colors will look more intense. Now there’s many ways you can increase contrast:

• Curves – For Photoshop gurus who are very picky about results
• Levels – For skilled Photoshop users who want more control
• Brightness/Contrast – For most people, including Photoshop experts, who want to save time.

Load the tool that you want to use. For this tutorial, we’re going to use the Brightness/Contrast tool (Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast). Really, it’s good enough for most situations. I recommend that you start with the Brightness/Contrast tool and if that doesn’t give you the precise results that you want, undo and switch to the Levels or Curves tool.

Now with the tool you’re using, increase the contrast.

• If you’re using the Brightness/Contrast tool, well that’s simple, you just play around with the contrast slider.
• If you’re using Levels, move the black and white input sliders closer towards the middle.
• With the Curves tool, start by adding a point in the middle of the line and moving it around.

As we increase the contrast, the colors start to look more vivid but it also starts to off. That’s because there’s two color channels (remember?) and we’re only editing one of them.

Step 6

Now we have to increase the contrast on the other channel as well to make them both even. Select the b channel in the Channels palette and do the same contrast increase you used previously.

After I did that, here’s the results. The colors look a lot more vibrant now but notice that the skin tones and lips look normal. You may think you’re done, but I’m sorry to tell you that you’re not. There is something extremely important to do that we haven’t done yet. We need to change the image mode back to RGB color! I you remember how we changed the image mode to Lab color, you should know how to change it back to RGB color; choose Image > Mode > RGB Color. And there you go, we’re finally done.

Final Results

Here’s a comparison between the Hue/Saturation method and the method that we used in this Photoshop tutorial. Using this longer method, even the skin and lips look natural with a huge saturation boost. What a difference!

Photoshop Tutorial Preview

Step 1

Begin by opening a photo into Photoshop. You need to find a photo that was taken too early in the sunset.

Step 2

First, we’ll create a group. This tutorial will use several layers to enhance the photo, so it is important to keep the layers organized by using a layer group. To create a layer group, click on the “Create new layer group” button in the Layers Pallet or go to Layer> New> Group. You should now have a little folder with a triangle beside it. Double click on the text of this group and you should be able to edit it. Change the name of this group to something relevant such as “Enhance Sunset”.

Step 3

Duplicate the background layer and put it into the group. To do this, select the Background layer, press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer, and click and drag the new layer into the folder. The new layer should now appear inside the group.

Step 4

Change the blending mode to Overlay.

Step 5

Make sure you have the layer inside the group selected. Now go to Image> Adjustments> Threshold. In the Threshold settings, move the slider until everything is overexposed but keep the silhouette visible. What this layer will do is brighten the background but keep the silhouette dark.

Step 6

Now we need to add a Levels adjustment layer to adjust the levels of the image. Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Levels. Now the layer should appear above the Background copy layer if you had the Background copy layer selected early. We need to move this layer below the Background copy layer. So click OK to exit out of the Levels and drag the Levels layer below the Background copy layer.

Step 7

You should end up with a layer setup like this.

Step 8

Now double-click the thumbnail in the Levels adjustment layer. This should bring back up the Levels tool. In here, you need to adjsut the settings to get a strong sunset with a strong orange glow. There’s no one single setting that works for every image, but we’ll show you where to start with this. First, move the black slider towards tie right to darken the image. Now move the middle gray slider towards the left or right to adjust the contrast. On the bottom where it says Output Levels, move the white slider to restore some cloud details if it is being blown out and same goes for the black slider to recover some shadow.

Step 9

This step is optional, but if you want to make the orange more vibrant and vivid, use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue/Saturation. Increase the saturation to one that you like. Note that this layer should appear below the Background copy layer. It can be below the Levels adjustment layer too; they’ll both give the same results.

Final Results

Here’s the image before.

Here’s the final result from this Photoshop tutorial.

Photoshop Tutorial Preview

Step 1

First go to File> Open, browse for a picture and then click OK.

Step 2

We begin by duplicating the layer. The top layer will have the sharpened version of the image and the bottom (Background) layer will have the original untouched image with its default sharpness. To duplciate the layer, press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer.

Step 3

Before we start sharpening, we need to add a layer mask. A layer mask will let us filter out where the layer gets shown so that we can choose which parts of the image to show the sharper layer. To add a layer mask, go to Layer> Layer Mask> Reveal All.

Step 4

You should now have a layer mask and it should be selected. You can tell if it’s selected or not by checking for a white outline around the layer mask thumbnail. Once you have the layer mask selected, go to Image> Apply Image. Here, just use the default settings and click OK.

Step 5

Now you can see that you applied a copy of the image into the layer mask. Between the layer mask and the layer thumbnail, you should see a symbol that looks like a chain. Click on that and it’ll unlock the layer mask from the layer. What this does is let you modify the layer mask without anything changing on the actual layer. For example, if you had it linked with the chain icon showing, if you move the layer mask, the layer will move too. But when you unlink them, when you move the layer mask, the layer won’t move.

Step 6

Now here’s the key part to this sharpen edge technique. The Find Edges filter. This filter will create a sketch of the outlines. So lets apply this filter. Go to Filter> Stylize> Find Edges. Your layer mask should now have an outline.

Step 7

In the layer mask, the white areas mean that the layer will show and the black areas mean that it won’t show. So right now, we have the outline as black meaning that the edges won’t show. We want the opposite so we’ll invert the layer. To do this, press Ctrl+I or go to Image> Adjustments> Invert.

Step 8

Now that we have everything setup, we can sharpen the layer. Click on the layer thumbnail to activate the layer and deselect the layer mask. Now go to Filter> Sharpen> Smart Sharpen. If you don’t have Smart Sharpen, you’re probably using an older version of Photoshop without it but you can use the Unsharp Mask instead that you can find in Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask. With the tool, sharpen the image. Here’s what the Smart Sharpen filter looks like. When I sharpen it, the filter preview shows that there are lots of halos and the skin becomes sharpened too. But if you move that window to the side and look at the document window image behind it, you can see that it only sharpened the edges. Here you can see the big difference between the normal sharpening method and the sharpen with edge mask method by comparing the image on the sharpen window and the image in the Photoshop document window.

Step 9

Here’s what the image looks like before. It’s OK; good enough for showing on the web but not really sharp enough for print.

Final Results

And here’s what it looks like after sharpening the edges only. Notice how her facial hair isn’t sharpened but the frame of her class and eyes are.

Photoshop Tutorial Preview

Step 1

Open a photo into Photoshop. This Photoshop tutorial works best with architectural images that have strong edges. To open an image, go to File> Open and select the file that you want to open.

Step 2

To begin, we’ll duplicate the layer by pressing Ctrl+J or going to Layer> Duplicate Layer. You should now have a new layer called “Layer 1″.

Step 3

First, we need to remove all excessive tiny details that we don’t want visible in the blueprint. For this, we’ll use the Surface Blur filter. Go to Filter> Blur> Surface Blur.

Step 4

In the Surface Blur settings, adjust the settings so that you get results like the image below. The edges should still be visible but most of the tiny details should be gone.

Step 5

Now we’ll convert this layer to an outline. To do this, go to Filter> Stylize> Find Edges

Step 6

Here’s what the image looks like after using the Find Edges filter.

Step 7

Now we have the outline, but the problem with it is that the outlines are black and not white like it’s supopsed to be in a blueprint. To fix this, simply invert the layer by pressing Ctrl+I or going to Image> Adjustments> Invert. This will create an inveretd layer and now the outlines are white. To make this layer blend with the layer below, set the blending mode to Screen. The Screen blending mode makes only the bright areas of the layer visible. So the white outlines will show but the black background will disappear to reveal the layer beneath it.

Step 8

Now we’re going to add a new layer with the blue color. For this, we’ll use a Solid Color layer. Why not just create a new layer and fill it with blue? You can do that, but it’s not a good way of doing it. Using an adjustment layer will keep the filesize small and is good practice to use adjustment layers whenever possible. In the Layers pallet, click on the “New Adjustment Layer” button and a menu should appear where you can select Solid Color from the top of the list.

Step 9

A window should appear asking you to pick a color. Here, enter in 3953a4 in the HTML color field. This color is very close to the blueprint cyanotype color.

Step 10

We’re done with the blue background layer, but the outline seems to not be completely white. To fix this, simply select the top layer with the outline and press Shift+Ctrl+U or go to Image> Adjustment> Desaturate to desaturate the outline.

Final Results

Here’s the final results from this blueprint Photoshop tutorial.

Photoshop Tutorial Preview

Step 1

To begin, create a new document by pressing Ctrl+N or going to File> New. Set the Width to 955 and the height to 1000 pixels. This template will fit perfectly on 1024×768 resolution. Whenever you want to create a template for 1024×768 resolution, the industry-standard width to use is 955. The height doesn’t really matter because almost every website on the internet requires vertical scrolling and everyone’s used to it now. What you want to avoid is horizontal scrolling caused by using a width too large for the user’s monitor to display. These days, most people use at least 1024×768 resolution so it is a good idea to have your templates made for that resolution.

Step 2

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool. It may be hidden under the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Simply click and hold on the button and a flyout menu should appear letting you select any marquee tool you wish.

Step 3

Once you have the rectangular marquee tool selected, on the top where the option bar is, you can specify the settings for this tool. We’re going to use fixed size where we can specify our own size. Choose Fix Size and set the width to 100% and the height to 100px.

Step 4

Now click on the document and you should see a rectangular marquee created from the exact dimensions we specified in the previous step. Click and drag that selection so that it is positioned on the top of the document like the image shown below.

Step 5

In the Layers pallet, click on the “New Adjustment Layer” button. This should open a menu where you can select Solid Color. Select Solid Color.

Step 6

A window will appear asking you to pick a color. Simply enter in #e5e5e5 on the HTML Code field and it’ll select a 90% gray for you.

Step 7

Now you have a solid color adjustment layer and a layer mask from the selection we created earlier. Now you may ask why use the solid color adjustment layer instead of just creating a new layer and filling it with a color. The reason is because adjustment layers are vector, meaning you can resize it and modify the settings without losing any details. For a solid color rectangle, using a raster layer is fine but it is good practice to use adjustment layers whenever possible because if you want to change the color, you can simply double click on the layer and select a color. Also, adjustment layers will keep your file size small. As you may already know, Photoshop files are usually very large in file size especially if you have a lot of raster layers. Now that you understand why we used a solid color adjustment layer, lets continue with the tutorial. Right mouse click on the layer and a menu should appear where you can select Blending Options. Click on Blending Options.

Step 8

A Layer Style window should appear with a lot of settings. Don’t be overwhelmed, we’ll show you screenshots and you just have to copy the settings in the screenshots. First, click on the Gradient Overlay item near the left of the window. It should automatically checkmark it for you and you should see the Gradient Overlay settings. This style will add a gradient to the layer. Copy the settings below but don’t press OK yet.

Step 9

Now select the Drop Shadow style and copy the settings below:

Step 10

Finally, we’ll add a stroke. This effect is minimal, but it is small details like this that make website templates look good. Select Stroke and copy the settings below. Now you may press OK.

Step 11

We have our header background complete and now we’ll work on creating the image that’ll appear below the header. Begin by opening a photo you want to add to the template in Photoshop. To do this, go to File> Open and choose the file you want. Here’s the image I’ll use for this tutorial:

Step 12

We’re going to copy and paste this image into the template. To do this, press Ctrl+A or go to Select> All to create a selection of the canvas. Now you can copy the layer by pressing Ctrl+C or going to Edit> Copy. Once you have this image copied to your clipboard, you can close this file and switch back to the template we were working on earlier.

Step 13

Before we paste, we’ll create a selection that we can paste the photo into. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and enter in the settings below:

Step 14

Click on the document and a rectangle marquee should be created. Position the selection to the top of the document.

Step 15

Now press Shift+Ctrl+V or go to Edit> Paste Into. What this will do is paste the image we copied earlier but paste it within the selection that we created in the previous step.

Step 16

You should now have that image as a layer with a layer mask. Move this layer to the middle and rename it to “Header Image”. While we’re at it, rename the top layer to “Header”. To rename a layer, simply double-click on the text.

Step 17

Now we’ll work on creating the menu bar below the website image we created earlier. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and enter in the settings below:

Step 18

Click on the document to create a selection and drag that selection so that it is positioned right under the image we made earlier.

Step 19

In the Layers pallet, click on the New Adjustment Layer button and select Solid Color. Enter in #e5e5e5 as the HTML code and click OK.

Step 20

Now rename this layer to “Background”. Remember, to rename a layer, simply double-click on the text and you can edit the layer name. Now press Ctrl+G and it should put the layer inside a folder, or otherwise known as a group. Rename this group to “Menu”. Renaming a group is like renaming a layer; just double click on the text and edit.

Step 21

Now we’ll create the individual menu boxes. Select the Background layer and press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer. You should now have a new layer on top of the Background layer. Rename this layer to “Menu Item”.

Step 22

Press Ctrl+T or go to Edit> Transform> Scale to use the Transform tool. Once you have the Transform tool activated, on the option bar at the top of your Photoshop window, enter in the following settings:

Step 23

Right mouse click on the layer we’re working on (Menu Item) and select Blending Options. In the Layer Style window, select the Gradient Overlay layer style and enter in the settings below:

Step 24

Now select the Drop Shadow layer style and copy the settings below:

Step 25

Finally, we’ll add a stroke that’ll make this button look a lot more detailed. Select the stroke layer style and use the settings below:’

Step 26

Now select the Move tool from the toolbar. Click on the button and then while holding Alt+Shift, move the button to the right. You will see that it copied the new layer and now you have a duplicate of that menu button.

Step 27

While holding the Alt+Shift key, move the buttons to the left and right so that you have a setup like the image below. The buttons should snap beside each other and because you held down the Shift key, they move on a straight line.

Step 28

Now we’re going to add an accent bar that’ll add a tiny but important detail to the template. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and type in the settings below:

Step 29

Now create a new Sold Color adjustment layer by going to your Layers pallet, clicking on the New Adjustment Layer button, and selecting Solid Color. Select a color you would like to use for this accent bar. It should be the same color as your logo or theme color.

Step 30

Move this layer to the top and rename this layer to “Accent Bar”.

Step 31

Now create another new Solid Color adjustment layer but this time without a selection. I’m sure you already know how to do this, but in case you don’t remember, in the Layers pallet, click on the New Adjustment Layer button and select Solid Color. Now enter in #e5e5e5 as the HTML color code and press Enter. Position the layer right above the “Background” layer and rename this layer to “Background”.

Step 32

As you may have already guessed, we’re now working on the background of the image. First, select the Gradient Tool from the toolbar.

Step 33

Step 34

First, make sure you have the layer mask for the Background layer activated. There should be a white outline around the thumbnail of the Background layer mask. If you don’t see it, simply click on the layer mask thumbnail to activate it. Now use the Gradient tool and draw a line from the bottom of the accent bar to about an inch or two below.

Step 35

You should now have a nice gradient like the image below.

Step 36

Now we’re going to invert it. Press Ctrl+I or go to Image> Adjustment> Invert. This will invert the gradient so that it looks like a glow from the menu bar.

Step 37

We’re done creating the template. It looks a little boring right now, but in the next steps, we’ll add some content.

Step 38

First, add a logo to the template. Import your logo by going to File> Place, browsing for the logo, and clicking OK. You should have a new layer with the logo. For my logo, I made a simple text with a green block (Quite a boring logo isn’t it?). Now move the layer to the top and rename it to “Logo”. Select the Move tool and position the logo to the top left.

Step 39

Now we’ll enter in some text for those empty menu boxes we created earlier. Select the Text tool and enter in some text. Use centered as the text position and #333333 as the text color. On a bright template, we use a brighter black to reduce the contrast. In color theory, this is called color grounding where the white around the text makes it look darker than it should be.

Step 40

Once you entered in a text, you should see a new layer with the text you entered. In this case, I typed in Home and I got a new text layer called Home. Move this layer so that it is the first layer in the Menu group.

Step 41

Now select the Move tool and while holding Alt+Shift, Move the text to fill the other empty menu boxes with text. You should also have four new layers called “Menu copy 1, Menu copy 2, etc.”. Don’t worry about renaming the layers right now because we’ll show you something cool Photoshop does.

Step 42

We don’t want website with five “Home” menu items do we? So select the Text tool and change the text of each menu item. Now when you’re done changing the text, Photoshop renames the layer to the text you typed. For example, I changed one of the text from Home to Contact and it automatically renamed the layer to Contact. Pretty cool eh?

Step 43

We’re done and here’s the final template. But doesn’t it look bland?

Final Results

Don’t worry, once you put content in it’ll look much better. For content, it should all be done in HTML after you have the template sliced and coded. Here’s a preview of what the template looks like with content:

33

Photoshop Tutorial Preview

Step 1

Open a picture into Photoshop. To open a picture, just go to File> Open, browse for the image, and then click OK. You should now have the photo loaded into Photoshop.

Step 2

To begin, duplicate the layer by pressing Ctrl+J or going to the Layer> Duplicate Layer menu. This will create a new layer called “Layer 1″ as the top layer.

Step 3

With the top layer selected, we’ll use the Extract filter to separate the subject from the background. To use the Extract tool, go to Filter> Extract. To use this tool, simply paint a green outline around the subject. Turn on “Smart Highlighting” on the left for enhanced precision. However, when you have “Smart Highlighting” enabled, make sure you paint at a speed that your computer can keep up with. If you go too fast, the smart highlighting feature won’t have enough time to catch up and the end results will be less precise. Once you have the green outline created, use the paint bucket tool on the left of the extract tool window and fill inside the green outline. You should now have an image like the one below. Click OK when done and you should now have a layer with the subject separated from the background.

Step 4

Now we’ll create another duplicate of the Background layer for the pixel stretch effect. Select the Background layer and then press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer. You should now have a layer called Background copy as the middle layer.

Step 5

Select the Single Row Marquee Tool. You can find this in the toolbar and it may be hidden in the rectangular or elliptical marquee tool.

Step 6

You can choose either the single line horizontal or vertical marquee tool depending on your preference. I chose the horizontal one. Create a selection where you want the pixel stretch to begin. It is good to pick a spot somewhere near the middle or near your subject.

Step 7

Now press Ctrl+T or go to Edit> Transform> Scale to use the Transform tool. With this tool, stretch the selection until it fills the image with a pixel stretch effect. Here’s what mine looked like after doing this step:

Step 8

Now we’re going to make it blend in. First, we’ll add a layer mask. Select the middle layer and then go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Reveal All.

Step 9

To blend the layer in, we’ll use the Gradient tool. Select the Gradient tool from the toolbar. It may be hidden with the Paint Bucket tool. Once you have it selected select “Black to White” as the gradient.

Step 10

Now draw a gradient starting from where you want it to start to where you want it to end. Make sure that you have the layer mask activated before you do this. There should be a white outline around the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers pallet. If you don’t see this, click on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers pallet.

Final Results

We’re done! Here’s the final result of this pixel stretch Photoshop effect. Although I used this effect on a photo with a simple background, it works best on photos with a busy background where you have objects that you want to cover up.

Photoshop Tutorial Preview

Step 1

Begin by opening any photo into Photoshop. It’s best if you have a high resolution photo to work with, but if any size will work, even a 500×500 pixel image.

Step 2

Before we begin, we need to resize it to the size we want the final results to be. Because this is a pixelation effect, you need to enlarge the image to compensate for the extra space each pixel takes up. If you don’t set the dimensions large enough, you might not see enough details for someone to understand what the picture is. I recommend at 2000 pixels or more for the width and height.

Step 3

The first thing we’re going to do for the layers is duplicate it. Press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer. Technically, you don’t have to duplicate the layer to apply this effect, but we’re doing it because it’s good practice to keep a copy of the original layer as the “Background” layer. This way, when you want to use the original photo for anything, you have a copy as the background layer.

Step 4

As with any pixelation effect, you need to pixelate it. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll use the Mosaic pixelation effect that you can find in the Filter> Pixelate> Mosaic menu. Once you have the Mosaic filter open, you can set the cell size. Set the size to 15 square and then click OK.

Step 5

The pixel effect is done but it would be a very boring effect if we were just to leave it as it is now. So we’re going to make it more interesting with an outline. First, press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer to create a duplicate of “Layer 1″. Then, rename this layer to outline. You can rename layers by double-clicking on the text in the Layers pallet.

Step 6

Make sure that the “outline” layer is selected. Now go to Filter> Stylize> Find Edges. As the name says, this filter finds the edges of the image; perfect for the outline we want to create.

Step 7

We want the outline to be white, so press Ctrl+I or go to Image> Adjustments> Invert to invert the image. This will invert the colors (ex. red becomes blue) and brightness (ex/ black becomes white) just like negative film for cameras.

Step 8

To make this layer blend, simply look in the Layers pallet and change the blend mode to Screen. Now you have a pixel effect with an outline. It’s very simple and it makes any pixel effect look nicer. But we’re not done yet, it would be too simple of a tutorial if we were to end here.

Step 9

Now we’re going to add a new effect called shadow. This will create shadows on the pixels to create a sense of depth. Sounds complicate? Don’t worry it’s easy. Start off by duplicating “Layer 1″. Select “Layer 1″ and press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer. You’ll need to move this layer to the top so click and drag the new layer to the top . Now rename this layer to “shadow”. Remember, to rename a layer, double-click on the text in the layer.

Step 10

The key to the shadows is the Photocopy filter. This filter creates shadows based on the lightness of each pixel. So a dark pixel will have more shadow and the light pixel will have less. Lets begin: go to Filter> Sketch> Photocopy. Use the settings I have below (which should be the default settings) and then click OK.

Step 11

To make this layer blend into the other layers, change the blend mode to Multiply in the Layers pallet. The Multiply blend mode will show the layer based on how dark it is. So the white parts of the layer won’t show up and the black parts of the layer will be visible.

Step 12

So we have the outline and shadow effect – are we done? Almost! Just one more effect that’ll intensify the depth created by the shadow. This new effect we’ll apply will increase the contrast. First, press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E (sounds tricky to press all those keys). This should create a new copy of everything in a new single layer. Name this new layer “soft effect”. It should already be on the top so you don’t need to move it.

Step 13

First we’ll add a blur with the Gaussian Blur filter. Go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 8 pixels and then click OK.

Step 14

Now change the layer blending mode to Overlay in the Layers pallet. Once you do that, you’ll immediately see the effect of this layer. It adds more contrast to the image making the depth look greater. And don’t worry, that’s all there is to this tutorial. You can experiment by adding more effect but that’s totally up to you. We have the basics already but you can add new layers with different effects if you want. There’s an unlimited number of effects you can apply so we’ll leave that for you to play around with.

Final Results

Here’s the final result. We’ve pixelated the image, but it looks like a cool digital artwork rather than just the blocky effect nobody uses because it doesn’t look artistic.

Photoshop Tutorial Preview

Step 1

Open a photo you want to edit into Photoshop. This effect is works well with portraits and landscapes. To open a photo, go to File> Open and browse for the photo you want to edit.

Step 2

We begin this tutorial by duplicating the layer. This effect will appear on its own layer so you always have a backup copy of the original image in the “Background” layer. To duplicate the layer, press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer. You should now have a new layer called “Layer 1″.

Step 3

Now we’ll use the Threshold tool. Go to Image> Adjustments> Threshold. The Threshold tool will create a high contrast black and white effect that’ll separate the lights from the darks.

Step 4

In the Threshold tool, move the middle slider around to get the effect you want. Move it to the left to make the image lighter or move it to the right to make it darker. It’s important that if you have any faces in your photo, that they be visible. For example, the image I used for this tutorial, I had to brighten the image to a threshold level of 81 to reveal the face. This rule applies for other important objects you may have such as animals, logos, and other objects you want to be visible.

Step 5

In the Layers pallet, change the blending mode to Overlay. You should now see this nice posterized effect. I’ve seen in a few forums many people using this effect and if you like this, you may keep it like this and end this tutorial. But if you want a softer, less pop-art-like effect, continue with the tutorial.

Step 6

To make the effect less pop-art looking, we’ll use the Gaussian Blur filter. This filter will blur the layer so that the edges between the blacks and whites aren’t so hard. Go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur.

Step 7

In the Gaussian Blur tool, you can adjust the radius of the blur. This will specify the amount of blurring. You can set this to a very high amount to minimize the contrast or use a lower amount such as the setting I used in the image below. Using a small number will create a high contrast effect. It’s up to you whether you want a high contrast effect or not. Some people don’t like the effect if it’s too strong so they use a large radius such as 250, but others like it and use a small number. I’m going to use a small number for this step.

Step 8

I find the effect way too high in contrast and too many parts of the photo become black and hidden. To fix this, I’m going to reduce the opacity to the amount that looks right. Do this with your photo too and see if you like the effect. You don’t have to lower the opacity if you think it looks nice at 100%; it’s all up to your personal preference.

Final Results

Here’s the final result of this high contrast dreamy Photoshop effect. Remember, you can always blur the effect more or adjust the opacity if you want to make some changes.

Photoshop Tutorial Preview

Step 1

First, open a picture into Photoshop.

Step 2

Now press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer to duplicate the layer.

Step 3

Go to Filter> Stylize> Glowing Edges. Use the settings shown in the image below:

Step 4

Change the blend mode for Layer 1 to Screen

Step 5

Go to Filter> Blur> Radial Blur. Set the amount to 100, blur method to zoom, and adjust the blur center to where you want the blast to come from. You’ll have to guess where the location because there’s no live preview, so just set the quality to Draft for now and take a guess. If you didn’t get it where you want it, open the filter again and make the adjustment again. It should save your previous setting so it should only take you a few tries. Once you got it where you want it, change the quality to Best and then click OK.

Step 6

Go to Image> Adjustments> Brightness/Contrast. If you are using Photoshop CS3, checkmark Use Legacy. Increase the contrast to 75.

Step 7

Now press Ctrl+F to repeat the previous Radial Blur filter again.

Step 8

If you want to make the blast more vivid, go to Image> Adjustments> Hue/Saturation. Increase the saturation.

Step 9

Lower the opacity so that you can see through the light blast just slightly.

Final Results

Here’s the final results of this Light Blast Photoshop tutorial.