Extra Unique Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - PSD Vault » blending

Create Gloomy Text Effect by Utilising the Amazing Cloud Filter in Photoshop

James Qu — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:44:24 +0000

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In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this gloomy-looking text effect by using the amazing cloud filter in Photoshop. Have a try :)

The purpose of this tutorial is to show you the use of the cloud filter to create various effect, such as light and shadow, as a result bringing more depth to your text effect.

I personally love the cloud filter and I think it’s so versatile and you can use it to generate amazing effect and spice up your design. The trick is how you apply it and what other options do you use to combine it with (such as selection tools, other filter effects, or layer blending mode).

Here is a preview of the final effect:

Alternative darker version: (I adjust the brightness and contrast of the final effect, and some abstract texture to it)

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Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1400px * 600px (in fact size doesn’t really matter much in this tutorial), fill the background with the following gradients:

Personally I like to start with a gradient background with light grey, as it helps setting the mood for the text effect later on we will be created.

On the canvas, type a letter on the centre with a big bold font (I chose this font) as shown below:

On the text layer, apply the following blending options:

Inner Shadow

Gradient Overlay

Pattern Overlay

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 2

Duplicate the text layer three times, disable the layer effects for those duplicated layers and put them below the original text layer. Alter the font color a bit and adjust the position of the text to the left and right of the original text layer a bit.

Your result should be looking similar to the following screenshot:

Then on each duplicated layer, add a layer mask respectively and erase a portion of the text with a soft brush on the spots as shown below:

The ulimiate goal of this step is to blend the edge of the text with the surrounding, so we can get ready for the next step.

To further increase the depth of the text, we can make a copy of any one of the duplicated text layer, replace the font color with a dark one, apply the following Gaussian Blur to the text layer: (Make sure this layer is beneath the original text layer)

You will have followin effect:

Step 3

Create a new layer on top of all previous layers called “cloud” and grab the Lasso Tool and draw a selection with 25px feather around the text, as shown below:

Go to Filter > Render > Cloud and render some cloud inside it (with white as foreground colour and dark grey as background colour)

Hint: try experimenting with different feather settings for the Lasso Tool, you will see by changing the feather, the cloud with become either thinner or thicker.

Once you finish with the rendering, resize the cloud and position it as shown below:

Duplcate the cloud layer once and position it to the lower position as shown below:

Change the blending mode of both cloud layer to “Hard Light”, you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Duplicate the cloud once more and name the duplicated layer as “shadow”, put it just above the background layer, hit Ctrl + I to invert the colour and position it on the bottom of the text.

Change the blending mode of the shadow layer to “Normal” and opacity to 40%, you will have the following effect:

Duplicate the Cloud layer once and put it above all previous layer, rotate it to around 60 degree and apply the following motion blur setting to the duplicated layer:

Name this layer as “Light”.

Change the blending mode of this light layer to be “overlay”, duplicate it a few times and drag them around the text, and you will have the following effect:

Step 5

OK now we can do some fine tuning to the text by adding a Curves adjustment layer to it:

and add some colour over the text by adding another layer on top of the curves adjustment layer with the “overlay” blending mode. Here is my final effect for this tutorial:

Alternative darker version: (I adjust the brightness and contrast of the final effect, and some abstract texture to it)

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! Hopefully I gave you some ideas about the cloud filter and how you can use it for creating light, shadows and adding more depth to text effect.

Till next time, have a great day!

Create a Rather Interesting, Wavy and Curving Abstract Shape Effect in Photoshop

James Qu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:55:10 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the design processes I used to make this Rather Interesting, Wavy and Curving Abstract Shape Effect in Photoshop.

I was just playing around with the Photoshop the other day and discovered this funny effect by accident, thought it looks good and perhaps can be added to some of the photo effect you’re creating, or use it as some sorts of website background.

Along the way, we will be using the brush tool, filter effects, layer blending and some image adjustments. The steps of this tutorial is extremely simple and will be suitable for a PS beginner. Have a try!

Here is a preview of the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stock:

Crack Brushset

OK let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1000px * 600px, fill the background layer with black colour. Create a new layer on top of the background and called it “light”, grab a 600px soft round brush with white colour, do a single click on the position shown below:

Then Hit Ctrl + T and free-transform this light layer as shown below:

Reduce the layer opacity of this light layer to around 85%, you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Drag this “light” layer to the centre of our canvas, then go to Filter > Distort > Twirl and apply the following settings:

And you will the following effect:

Duplicate this layer a few times, try using the free-transform tool on different layers to create depth and shape variations. Here is the effect I can after the duplication and free-transformation:

To bring out more lighting contrast, I added the following Curves adjustment layer on top of all previous duplicated layers:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

I then decided to have a try and see if I add some cloud to those shape, what effect that can bring me. So I create a new layer called “Cloud”, use the Lasso Tool with a 25px feather to draw a selection, then go to Filter > Render > Cloud and render the cloud as shown below:

Change the blending mode of this cloud layer to “Soft Light” and you will have the following effect:

Download a copy of this crack brushset and create a new layer called “crack” on top of all layers, change its blending mode to “Overlay”, grab any crack brush from the set and paint on it.

You will have this effect (or similar) so far:

Step 4

Now let’s add some colours to those shapes we created. To do so, simply create a new layer on top of all previous layers, change the new layer’s blending mode to “soft light”, and grab a big soft brush with some colour and paint on it:

To add a bit of extra lighting depth to the image, I simply duplicate the original “cloud” layer and drag the duplicated layer to the top, change its blending mode to “Vivid Light”, and apply the following motion blur settings to it:

Duplicate this motion blur layer a few times and drag each duplicated layer to different position of the canvas. You will have the following effect:

To touch up the image, I finally added this following curves adjustment layer:

with the following mask attached to it:

And this is the final effect I have for this tutorial: (Click to enlarge)

That’s all for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful and inspirational! Cheers and have a great day!

Design an Awesome Geometric Shaped Typography with Grungy Background in Photoshop

James Qu — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:26:09 +0000

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In this tutorial, I will show the processes involved in designing and creating this really cool, Geometric Shaped Typography with Grungy Background in Photoshop. This is a simple tutorial yet the effect looks awesome, have a try!

Along the way, I will also give you some tricks that you can use for creating awesome lighting and smoky effect to spice up your design.

The techniques involved in creating this typo include layer blending, filter effects, image adjustments and custom brushsets. Hope you enjoy it!

Here is a preview of the final effect: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

OK let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Font

Brushset

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200 * 1700px, fill the background layer with black colour. Create a new layer on top of it and grab the brushset we just downloaded and paint some grungy texture as shown below:

The trick here is to set your brush flow and opacity to a reletively low level, both around 30% – 40%, and vary the brushset size when you paint. Also don’t stick with one brushset, try mixing different ones together and see what result that brings you.

If you want to skip this step, you can simply download a copy of this background texture here.

Now we want to make a space for our text and create some depth for the image. To do so, on the texture layer, add the following layer mask to it:

To adjust the lighting contrast a bit, we can add a Curves adjustment layer on top of all previous layers:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Use the font we download before, type and position the text as shown below: (Use a dark gray colour as font colour)

Tips: type the texts on seperate layers, use the free transform tool (Ctrl + T) to rotate and fit them together.

Once you’re happy with the position, rasterise and merge those text layers and apply the following layer blending option to the merged layer:

Drop Shadow

Bevel and Emboss

Gradient Overlay

and you will have the following effect:

Now we’re in the fun part of this tutorial – Duplicate this merged text layer five times, and set each layer’s opacity as shown below:

Use your up and right arrow key on your keyboard, repeatly type them until each layer seperates from each other and form this effect as shown below:

Step 3

Load the selection of the last text layer (hold ctrl + left-click the thumbnail image of that text layer on the layer pallette), and apply the following refine edge settings:

Maintain the selection, create a new layer called “cloud” and render some cloud in it: (Black and White colour)

Duplicate this cloud layer three times, and drag the last text layer on top of the duplicated cloud layer, you will have the following effect:

Duplicate the cloud layer twice, and drag the two layers on top of text layer, change their blending mode to “overlay” and you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Now we can add some colours onto the image to spice it up a bit. To do this, I simply create a new layer called “colour 1″ on top of all previous layers, and grab a big soft round brush and select some colour I like to paint over it:

Change the blending mode of this layer to “overlay”.

I also want to highlight the edge of the grungy background, so I add another layer called “colour 2″ and grab a brown colour brush to paint around the edges:

Set the blending mode of this layer to “colour dodge”.

You can also highlight some part of the text, simply create another layer called “highlight” and grab a white soft round, big size brush and paint over desired area:

Change thie blending mode of this layer to “soft light”.

For final refinement, I added two adjustment layers on top of all previous layers:

Curves

Colour balance

Apply the following mask to the colour balance adjustment layer:

Overall, you will have the following effect:

Ok that’s pretty much it for this tutorial! Of course this doesn’t stop you from enhancing it and put it some your own creativity to it.

I further added some lines and apply some of this brushset around the edge of the text.

Here is my final effect for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tut! Hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful and inspirational! Cheers and have a great day!

Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

James Qu — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:48:36 +0000

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In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to design this chilling and icy text effect in Photoshop. Yesterday and today are both really hot in my city (suppose to be winter right now here!!), so I though I can make something to cool myself down :)

Along the way, we will be practicing a lot of layer blending technques, applying texture, selection technique, and an interesting method to create snowy/foggy effect. Have a try!

Here is a preview of the final effect for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

Alternative version: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

Ok let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need to following stocks:

Ice Grunge Brushset

Font

Ice Package

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1000px * 600px, leave the background colour as white, and let’s firstly make a background to work on.

Grab the Ice Grunge Brushset we just downloaded, paint around the edges of the background layer as shown below: (tip: set the opacity and flow of the brush to around 50%, and try to use a variety of brushes in the set so we can have a mixture of patterns)

Optionally, you can apply the Star Brushset for extra effect.

We can now add some cooling effect to the background. To do so, I added two adjustment layers to it:

Colour Balance

Brightness and Contrast

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Use the font we just downloaded and type some texts onto the document:

Apply the following layer blending option to this text layer:

Drop Shadow

Inner Shadow

Outer Glow

Inner Glow

Bevel and Emboss

Color Overlay

Gradient Overlay

Pattern Overlay

Stroke

and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Load any one image from the Ice Package into Photoshop (I chose the ice6_0174 image), select a distinct portion of the image use the Rectangluar Marquee Tool, copy and paste the selection onto our document, rotate it slightly as shown below:

Rename this layer as “Icy Texture right” and change its blending mode to “Screen”, use the ice brushset we download to erase the edge of this layer so only the centre part of the image remains:

Duplicate this “Icy Texture right” layer once and drag the duplicated layer to the left, rename the layer as “”Icy Texture Left”, keep the blending mode as “Screen”, and you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Now let’s create some shattered ice around the text.

Load a different image from the ice package into Photoshop (I chose ice6_0176.jpg file) and use the same method as described above, select a portion of the image, copy and paste it onto our document, and put it just beneath text layer:

Use the ice grunge brushset to erase the edge and leave just the bits in the centre. (Tip: repeatly left-click the centre of this image for the shattering effect)

Rename this layer as “Background Ice Texture Right”, Add the following adjustment layers to this layer (make sure to tick “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Black and White

Colour Balance

and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate the above three layers, and drag them to the left, you will have the following effect:

And we can add some extra effect under the text. To do this, grab the Ellipitical Marquee Tool with 20px feather, create a new layer just below the text layer, draw a selection as shown below:

Maintain the selection, again grab the ice brushset we downloaded, paint inside the selection. You will have the following effect:

Step 5

Now we can fine-tune the image a bit. Firstly, we flatten the image (don’t forget to save a copy of the original before flatten it) and duplicate the background layer once, apply the following motion blur settings to the duplicate layer:

Now we come to the interesting part: change the blending mode of this duplicated layer to “Pin Light”, keep the opacity of this layer to 100%, and hit Ctrl + T and resize the duplicate layer as shown below:

Erase the edges of the duplicated layer.

You can see by doing so, we created a nice snowy/foggy to our icy text.

Now we can finalise the image by adding the following adjustment layers:

Curves

Hue/Saturation

Colour Balance

and here is the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Of course you can further enhance the image effect by mixing lighting effect, change hue/saturation settings, etc.

Here is an alternative version I have after I change a few things (Decided to give it a darker/groovy theme): (click to enlarge)

Hope you enjoy it! Drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Till next time, have a great day!

Create Simple, Yet Elegant Abstract Spectrum Lines in Photoshop

James Qu — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:21:30 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the method I use to design a simple, yet elegant abstract spectrum lines in Photoshop. You will see how easy it is to achieve this nice effect and you can use it a wide range of occasions including perhaps site header backgrounds, logos, or add extra flavor to your photo manipulations.

This tutorial is suitable for beginners and I included the ways of creating new brush presets and also the use of Pen Tool. You will ample opportunities to practive layer blending, filters and Free Transform Tools. Have a try!

Here is a preview of the final effect: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document with black background, for size I chose 980px * 400px however you can change this according to your own preference. Use 72 pixel/inch for resolution since we’re creating an image used for website.

Now let’s make a new brush preset. To do this, firstly select the brush tool with the following brush:

Then apply the following brush dynamics to it:

Shape Dynamics

Scattering

Other Dynamics

Make sure you also select the Airbrush and Smoothing option.

After finishing making this brush, let’s save it as a new brush preset so that we can use it in the future too. To do this, left-click the down tri-angle on the top right and click “new brush preset”:

And Enter the following into the window popup:

Then you will see the brush preset appear in the brush selection window:

Step 2

Create a new layer call “lines”, grab the Pen Tool and draw the following working path:

Hint: hold down Shift key and drag your mouse upwards approximately 45 degree for both archor points.

Then right-click and select the option “Stroke Path”:

Then choose the option “brush” and tick the “Simulate Pressure”:

And you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Still on this “lines” layer, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and apply the following settings:

Then hit Ctrl + F and apply the motion blur filter again, and you will have the following effect:

Apply the following Gradient Overlay blending option to this layer:

Then duplicate this layer 4 times and merge the duplicated layer together, you will have the following effect:

Rename this layer as “lines” after the merge.

Step 4

Again we duplicate the “lines” layers 3 times, and you will see the colour of the the spectrum become clearer:

Then we merge those duplicated layer together, then use the Free Transform tool to resize it into the following:

Then we can use the Warp Tool (Ctrl + T and right-click select “Warp”), transform it into the following shape:

And here is the effect after warping:

Step 5

Now we can really just use our imagination and simply duplicate this “lines” layer a few times, rotate and resize each duplicated layer until the outcome is desirable:

Here is my effect so far:

Merge the duplicate layer together.

We can also add a bit of glowing effect to the spectrum lines. To do this, simple duplicate the merged layer and apply the following Gaussian Blur settings: (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur)

Change the blending mode the duplicated layer to “Linear light” and you will have the following effect:

To add some final touches, remember we created a new brush preset in Step 1? We can use it to add some nice dots on the abstract line.

Create a new layer called “dots” on top of all other layers, grab that brush preset and simply paint over the lines:

Then Change the layer blending mode to “Overlay” and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate this “dots” layer and change the blending mode of the duplicated layer back to “normal”, then reduce its opacity to 15% and erase some excessive parts.

You will have the following final effect:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! Of course you can further enhance this image by adding some more effect, textures and filters.

Here is my final version for this tutorial: (Added a bit of cloudy effect and sharpen the image )

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful, drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Cheers and have a nice day!

Awesome Fantasy Style Castle Scene Creation in Photoshop

James Qu — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:06:55 +0000

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In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to design this awesome Fantasy style Castle Scene with icy background texture, space and debris brushsets.

Together we will be using a variety of Photoshop techqinues such as layer blending mode, selection methods, filter effects, masking technqiues and image adjustments. Again this is an intermediate tutorial so some of the steps can be a bit tricky, but it doesn’t hurt to have a try!

Here is a preview of my final result for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need to the following textures:

Castle

Icy Background

And these two brushsets:

Space Brush set

Debris Brushset

Step 1

Firstly let’s prepare our background texture. Load the “Icy Background” texture into Photoshop, duplicate the background layer once and set the blending mode of the duplicated layer to “soft light”.

Go to Layer > New adjustment layer > Curves and apply the following settings:

Set the blending mode the adjustment layer to “Multiply” and you will have the following effect:

Now go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Colour Balance and apply the following settings:

Change the blending mode of the newly created colour balance adjustment layer to “soft light” and you will have the following effect:

You can see now the image has more colour depth and much more eye-catching than the original one.

Step 2

Now let’a add an ancient castle in. Load the “Castle” image into Photoshop, use the Magic Wand tool to select the sky portion of the image: (Hint: hold down “Shift” Key to add onto the existing selection)

Then press Shift + Ctrl + I to do an inverse selection, then grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool and hold down the Alt key and make a selection of the bottom part of the image.

This will substract the bottom part of the selection off , as shown below:

After the substraction, press Ctrl + Alt + R to bring up the Refine Edge Tool, apply the following settings:

After the edge-refinemetn, copy and paste the selection on to our document, resize and position it as shown below:

Name this layer as “Castle” and change its blending mode to “Hard Light”.

Add a vector mask onto this layer, grab the Gradient Tool (G) and set the foreground colour to “Black” and background colour Transparent, apply the following gradient effect on the mask:

And you will see the untidy bit on the left side of the castle disappeared:

Step 3

Duplicate the “Castle” layer once, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply the following settings:

Keep the Blending mode of the duplicated layer as “Hard Light”, however drop the opacity to 70%, and you will have the following effect:

Now go back to the orginal castle layer and make a duplicate of it once more, drag the duplicated layer above all other layers, go Edit > Tranform > Flip Horizontal and flip this layer horizontally once, set the blending mode of this layer to “overlay” and opacity 65%.

You will have the followinge effect: (This add a bit more depth to the image)

Step 4

Now let’s add some mist/fog around the castle and add a bit of distant feeling to it. Create a new layer named “Mist”, grab the Lasso Tool with 50px feather, draw a selection as shown below:

Go to Filter > Render > Cloud and render some cloud inside it (White as Foreground Colour, Black and background colour), set the blending mode of this layer to “Screen” with 70% opacity:

Then duplicate the “Mist” layer once, put the duplicated layer below the orginal Mist layer and change its blending mode to “Color Dodge” , you will see now we also have some shining effect for the castle and this make the image more vibrant:

Step 5

Now load the “Debris Brushset” into Photoshop. Create a new layer and grab a brush of your choice from the set, paint over the newly created layer as shown below:

Change the blending mode of this layer to “Soft Light” and drop the opacity to 40%, you will have the following effect:

Then load the “Space Brushset” into Photoshop, create a new layer with “overlay” blending mode on top of every other layer, simply paint over the layer with any brush you like from the set:

Step 6

Now you may feel the left side of the image looks a bit empty. To fill this, I simply duplicate the background layer once more, flip the duplicated layer horizontally once and change its blending mode to “Darker Color”:

Add the followinge vector mask to the duplicated layer to add some lighting dynamics to the image:

You will have the final effect:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! You can of course add some of your own texture or filter effect and see what the end results are!

Here is my final image for this tutorial: (I slightly adjusted the colour balance and add a few Pen Tool lins in the background) – Click to enlarge:

Also if you like to have some extra practices of making those Pen Tool lines, you can take a look at my other post here.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial, drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Cheers and have a nice day!

Design a Grunge-Style Abstract Typography with Rusted Metal Texture in Photoshop

James Qu — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:03:17 +0000

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In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to make a Grungy-Style Abstract Typography using rusted metal texture in Photoshop. The inspiration of this tutorial came from a grungy metal image I came across on stockvault.net and thought I could have a play with it :)

Together we will explore some layer blending techniques, variuos filter effects, and an interesting method of making the text look 3D. Have a go!

Here is a preview of the final image: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

OK let’s get started!

Step 1

Download a copy of this grungy image from stockvault.net and load it into Photoshop. We will use it as the background of this poster.

Rotate the canvas by 90 degree CW by going into Image > Rotate Canvas > 90 degree CW:

We can add a bit of noise on the background image and make it look more grungy. To do this, duplicate the background layer and go to Filter > Noise > Dust & Scratches and apply the following settings:

Change the layer blending option to “Overlay” and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Duplicate the “Background copy” layer once, go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen and apply the following settings:

Keep the layer blending mode as “overlay” and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Duplicate the “Background copy 2″ layer once and go to Filter > Stylize > Glowing edge and apply the following settings:

Keep the layer blending option as “overlay” and you will see the following effect:

Then hit Ctrl + Shift + Alt + B and bring up the Black and White adjustment Tool, apply the following settings:

And you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Duplicate the “Background Copy 3″ layer once, change the blending option of the duplicated layer to “Screen” and you have the following effect:

To create a bit of colour depth, we apply the Black and White adjustments to this layer (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B) with the following settings:

Step 5

Still on the previous layer, grab the Eraser Tool with a big soft round brush, erase the area where covering the yellow/golden part:

Change the layer blending option to “Color” and you will have the following effect:

Go back to the “Background copy 3″ layer, again use the Eraser Tool with a big soft brush to erase the centre portion of the image:

Step 6

Now let’s add some text onto the background texture. Download a copy of this font and type some text onto the canvas:

When you’re happy with the text, rasterize it and change its layer blending mode to “Hard Light”. Apply the following layer blending options:

Drop Shadow:

Bevel and Emboss:

Texture

Gradient Overlay:

And you will have the following effect:

Duplicate the text layer 7-8 times, keep the blending mode of each layer as “hard light”, and you will have a deeper text effect as a result:

Merge those duplicated layers together and name the merge layer as “Text”.

Step 7

Change the blend mode of the text layer to “Hard light”, duplicate it once again and apply the following Gaussian Blur filter on the duplicated layer:

After applying the Blur filter, duplicate this layer once more. On the duplicated layer, add a White colour overlay blending option as shown below:

Then on this layer, use the Eraser Tool to gently eraser some part of the text, by doing so you can create a uneven lighting effect and make the text look 3D:

Step 8

To a bit of extra flavor to the image, we can add a new layer called “cloud” in between the text and the background texture layer, use the Lasso Tool with 40px feather to make a selection around the text and render some cloud inside:

To make the cloud look a bit uneven, we can simply duplicate the existing cloud layer once and set the blending mode of the duplicated layer to “hard light”.

Here is the effect so far:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! You can of course add some of your own texture or filter effect and see what the end results are!

Here is my final result for this tutorial: (I add a bit of radial blur, and adjusted the colour balance a bit)

Hope you enjoy this tutorial, drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Cheers and have a nice day!

Transform a Daylight Photo into a Realistic Lightning Storm Scene

James Qu — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:34:28 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I used to transform an average daylight photo into a realistic lightning storm scene in photoshop.

Along the way, we will take about interesting ways of darken your image and reduce noise non-destructively, and also a simple way of rendering rain effect and making. water splashes. Have a try :)

Here is a before and after preview:

Before

After

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Download a copy of this image and load it into Photoshop.

Because we’re creating a rainy image, so firstly we can make the image a bit darker.

To do this, duplicate the background layer once and change it the blending option of the duplicated layer to “Multiply”. This will darken the whole image and the effect is shown blew:

Step 2

Then we can tackle the sky area and make it darker. Hide the “Background copy” layer for now and Press “L” to select the Lasso Tool. Draw a selection around the sky area.

Hit Ctrl + J to make a layer via Copy, name the new layer as “sky” and drag it on top of all other layers.

Then hit Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B and bring up the Black and White image adjustment Tool, apply the following settings:

Then hit Ctrl + M to bring up the Curve Adjustment Tool, apply the following settings:

You can also use the Blur/Smudge Tool to patch up the “sky” layer so it blending more seamlessly to the houses and trees below:

Once you’re happy with the result, change the blending option of this “sky” layer to “Multiply”, and the effect will look like this:

Step 3

Now you will notice that we have quite a few noise on the “Sky” layer, which you may want to get rid of. So to do this, duplicate the “Sky” layer once. On the duplicated layer, go to Filter > Blur > Surface Blur and apply the following settings:

Then change the layer blending of the duplicated layer to “Hard Light” and you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Now we will add some lightning effect to image. As you may know the previous image I used for this part was removed due to copyright issue (a lesson learnt). Also thanks to the copyright owner for accepting my apology. Also if you guys are interested, you can check out his work at www.jeffsmithusa.com.

So i used an alternative image from stockvault.net instead. Download a copy of this lightning image and load it into Photoshop. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select a portion, copy and paste the selection back to our document. Put this layer on top of all other layers and name it “Lightning”:

Then use the Eraser Tool to gently erase the unnecessary portion of the image and leave only the lightning bits:

Step 5

Still on the “lightning” layer, go to Image > Adjustment > Channel Mixer and apply te following settings:

Then change the layer blending option of this lightning layer to “Screen”, duplicate this layer a couple of times and you shoud have the following effect:

Step 6

Still on the “lightning” layer, use the Clone Stamp Tool (S) to clone a few portion from the existing lighning and create some dynamic lightning effect:

Tip: use a big soft brush and adjust the flow and opacity to make lightning more dynamic.

Step 7

Now we can render some rainy effect on the image. Create a new layer called “Rain” on top of all other layers, grab a small White brush (3px) and apply the following brush options:

Shape Dynamics

Scattering

Once you set the brush, simply paint over the sky area, then apply the following motion blur settings:

After that, change the layer blending option to “Overlay” and you will have the following effect:

Step 8

To add a bit of water splashes on the lake so it look a bit more realistic, we can duplicate the background layer once more and put the duplicated layer just above the background layer, go to Filter > Distort > Ocean Ripple and apply the following settings:

And the effect should look like the following image:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! Hope you find it useful and inspirational :)

Here is my final image for this tutorial: (I adjusted the Hue/Saturation of the image a bit) – Click to Enlarge

If you have any questions, just drop me a comment :)

Cheers and have a nice day!

Design a Refreshing Natural Text Effect with Leaves and Wood Texture in Photoshop

James Qu — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:10:31 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the process I used to design this refreshing, cool-looking natural text effect in Photoshop. I was having a walk in the nearby park and suddenly had this thought coming into my mind :)

Along the way, we will be using techniques such as layer blending options, image adjustments tool and some simple selection tools. You will see how easy it is to transform an average texture image into something unique by using Photoshop. Have a go!

Here is my final result of this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200 x 600 px, fill the background layer with Black colour. Choose a font you like (I used this font from urbanfonts.com) and type some texts onto the background layer.

This will automatically create a new layer on top of the background layer, name it “text” and position it in the centre of the canvas as shown below:

Rasterise the text once you’re satisfy with its size and position.

Step 2

On “text” layer, apply the following Layer Blending options:

Inner Shadow

Outer Glow

Bevel and Emboss

Contour

Please note there is no need for applying the Gradient Overlay.

The effect so far will look like this:

Step 3

Still on the “Text” layer, load the selection of the text by holding down the Ctrl key and left-click the thumbnail image of “Text” layer on the layer palette:

Then go to Select > Modify > Expand and expand the image by 15px, then go to Select > Modify > Feather and apply a 15px feather to the selection.

The selection should now look like this:

Step 4

Download a copy of this grass texture and load it into Photoshop. This image is of my own stock and you can use it wherever you want.

Go back to our own document and drag the selection onto our the grass texture:

Copy and paste the selection back to the our document and name the newly-created layer “Grass”. The effect so far will look like this:

Step 5

Change the layer blending option to “Grass” layer to “Hard Light”, hit Ctrl + L and apply the following level adjustments:

The effect so far will look like this:

Optional: if you would like to add more leaves and grass onto it, you may duplicate this grass layer a couple of times, and keep its blending option to “Hard Light”.

Once you’re happy with the grass texture, grab the Eraser Toll with a soft round brush (set the opacity and flow to 50%), gently erase the area where the text sits beneath so the texts can be revealed and become clearer:

Step 6

Ok now we can add some wooden texture for text so it look a bit more natural.

Download a copy of this wooden texture and load it into Photoshop. Go back to our own document and use the Lasso Tool (40px feather) and draw a selection underneath the text as shown below:

Again we drag the selection onto the wooden texture, copy a random portion and paste back to our text document and name the newly created layer “Wood”. Drag this layer below all previous layer and just above the background layer.

The effect is shown below:

Step 7

On the “Wood” layer, apply the following Black and White image adjustments (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B) and apply the following settings:

Duplicate the “Wood” layer once and go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Accented Edges, apply the following settings on the duplicated layer:

Change the layer blending option of the duplicated wood layer to “Overlay” and duplicate it a couple of times more, you will see this adds a glowing effect to the wood texture:

Here is the effect so far:

Step 8

To add some depth the text effect, we can do a multi-select of all layers (hold down Shift key and left-click the top and bottom once respectively)

Then hit Ctrl + T and use the free transform tool and distort the text until you reach the effect shown below:

For final touchup, you can create a new layer called “cloud” and again use the Lasso Tool to draw a selection, fill the selection with Black and render some cloud in there:

And apply the following Level Adjustments (Ctrl + L) to the “Cloud” layer:

Then apply the following Curve Adjustments (Ctrl + M) settings:

Then put the “Cloud” layer just above the “Wood Copy 2″ layer, change the blending option to “Screen” and you will have the following resulting effect:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful and inspirational!

Here is my final image for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

If you have any questions, simply drop me a line below.

Cheers and have a nice day!

Create a Realistic Volcano Eruption Scene with Lava Effect in Photoshop

James Qu — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:14:56 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to transform an ordinary mountain image into a realistic volcano eruption scene with lava effect in Photoshop.

The techniques I used in this tutorial include various image adjustment tools, a number of filters, layer blending options and some basic selection skills. This is a very simple tutorial with just 4 steps, however you will be amazed with the end result. Have a try :)

Here is a before and after preview:

Before

After (click to enlarge)

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Download a copy of this image and load it into Photoshop. This image is of my own stock and you can use it for any purpose.

Firstly we can make the image a bit darker. To do this, duplicate the background layer once. On the duplicated layer hit Ctrl + M to bring up the Curves Adjustment Tool, apply the following settings:

Then hit Ctrl + L and bring up the Levels Adjustments Tool, apply the following settings:

Change the layer blending mode of this duplicated layer to “Multiply”. Duplicate this layer a few times, by doing so it will further darken the image.

The effect so far will look like this:

Merge the duplicated layer together once you’re satisfy with the result. Name the merged layer as “Darken Colour” and keep its layer blending mode as “Multiply”.

Step 2

Duplicate the “Darken Colour” layer once and name the duplicated layer as “colour overlay”, then go to Image > Adjustment > Channel Mixer and apply the following settings:

Then go to Image > Adjustment > Color Balance and apply the following settings:

Midtones

Shadows

Then hit Ctrl + M and apply the following Curves Adjustments:

After applying those image adjustments, change the layer blending options to “Color” and you should have the following effect:

Step 3

Create a new layer called “Lava” and use the Lasso Tool with a 40px feather to draw a selection as shown below:

Then go to Filter > Render > Cloud and render some cloud inside the selection: (Make sure you set black as background colour and white as foreground colour)

Then go to Filter > Render > Difference Cloud and apply this filter 4-5 times: (Please note your cloud effect would be slightly different from mine)

The use the Levels Adjustment Tool and apply settings similar to the following ones:

Then apply the following Colour Balance Settings:

Midtones

Shadows

To add a bit more fluid effect onto the lava, we can go to Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap and apply the following settings:

Change the layer blending mode of this “Lava” layer to “Screen” and you should have the following effect:

Step 4

Download a copy of this fire image (image 3) and load it into Photoshop. Press Ctrl + A to select the whole image, copy and paste the selection to our document.

Name this layer as “Explosion” and put it below the “Lava” layer.

Use the Eraser Tool to get rid of the edges and leave the burning fire bits, resize the layer by hitting the Ctrl + T free transformation Tool and move it on top of the mountain.

See Below screenshot for detailed fire position:

Duplicate the “Explosion” Layer a couple of times, resize and rotate the duplicated layers so to make some dynamic explosion effect: (Use the Levels or Curves Tool where necessary)

Here is the effect so far:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! Although it’s a short one, I hope you find it useful and inspirational!

Below is my final image result: (Click to enlarge)

As usual If you have any questions, just drop me a comment :)

Cheers and have a nice day!