In this tutorial, I will show you how you can utilise the amazing power of image adjustment layers to make colour, contrast and lighting change for any chosen image in Photoshop, by walking you through the design process of this man jumping scene.

The reason I put up this basic tutorial is that lately I have receive some requests from people wishing to learn some techniques involved in using adjustment layers.

Along the way, not only I will be using image adjustment layers techniques, but also I will show you some skills I use to create break-apart effects, pen tool and layer blendings. Have a try!

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

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OK let’s get started!

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

Jump

Step 1

Load the “Jump” stock image into Photoshop, double-click on the background layer inside the layer pallatte to unlock it. Then create a new layer called “bg” , fill it with black colour and put it under the background layer we just unlock.

Use whatever selection tool you perfer to clear out the surroundings, and leave just the jumping man on the canvas:

It doesn’t really matter if the selection isn’t perfect. The tutorial is not about teaching you how to make the perfect human selection (However if you do want to learn, here is a tutorial for you).

Step 2

Now let’s head straight to the image adjustment layers. You will find those options under Layer > New Adjustment Layer > … , as shown below:

In this tutorial, I will be using three adjustment layers to retouch this jumping man: colour balance, curves and brightness and contrast. In my opinion, these are probably the most frequent used adjustment layers you will be using for whatever design you’re doing.

Step 3

Let’s go ahead and apply those adjustment layers. From bottom to top,

Color Balance

Curves

Brightness and Contrast

And you will have the following effect:

You will see now the colour tone and the lightness of the image are completely changed, just by adding those three adjustment layers. And the good thing about them is that you can have more flexibility if you do want to make changes later on, because the original layer is not altered.

Also, because those adjustment layers are in fact layer, you can apply mask, or change the blending mode for them, to experience different result.

Step 4

Now I will show you a quick way I use to create this cool dis-integration effect. Firstly let’s create a custom brushset.

Select a 5px, soft round brush, and apply the following brush dynamics to it:

Shape Dynamics

Scattering

and tick Noise, Airbrush and Smoothing options.

Now load the selection of the jumping man layer by Ctrl + left click the thumbnail image of that layer, click the rectangular marquee tool, then right-click inside the selection and choose “Make work path”:

Then define the Feather as 2px, and you will have the following effect:

After you made the work path, create a new layer called “stroke” and put it just under the jumping man layer, then click on the Pen Tool icon, and right-click on the work path and choose “stroke path”:

Make sure the brushset you just created is still selected and choose “Brush” in the next window, leave “simulate pressure” option un-checked.

Change the layer blending mode of this stroke layer to be “Screen” and drop the opacity to 40%. You will now have this effect:

Step 5

To create some motion for the image, we can duplicate the “stroke” layer from the previous layer once, drag the duplicated layer to the top of the jumping man layer, and apply the following radial blur:

Change the blending mode to “Hard Light” for this duplicated layer, and duplicate it once again. You will now have this effect:

Step 6

To add some more effect to the image, we can grab this Debris brushset and create a new layer just below the “Brightness and Contrast” adjustment layer, and paint some debris on it:

And that’s pretty much it for this tutorial! I added some abstract lines stretching from his arm to make this image more vibrant. This require some basic use of the Pen Tool, if you’re interested, I have a pretty neat tutorial here showing you how to make this sort of effect.

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

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!

In this tutorial, I will show you how to draw this Cute Glossy Star via 3 Easy Steps in Photoshop, which you can use for a wide range of decorative purposes. The aim of this tutorial to introduce you the Polygon Tool and the settings associated to it, plus the method you can use for adding glossy effect to certain element.

Along the way, we will be using the Polygon Tool to draw the star, and use some simple layer blending effect to add the shining, glossy effect to it. I will also use the Pen Tool and dynamic brush settings for the final effect. The effect is easy to achieve and very practical. Have a try!

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

Alternative coloured version:

OK let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document size 800 * 800 px and use the gradient tool to fill the background layer as shown below:

Select the Polygon Tool by left-click the Shape Tool symbol from the toolbox and hold, as shown below:

You will notice a series of shape tool options appearing across the top, apply the following settings:

Sides: 5

Radius: 10px

Indent Sides By: 50%

Make sure to tick “Smooth Corners” and “Star” option.

Draw a star on top of the background layer as shown below: (You can press Ctrl + T to free-tranform it if you like)

Rename this layer as “Star”.

Step 2

On the “Star” layer, apply the following layer blending options:

Drop Shadow

Inner Shadow

Outer Glow

Inner Glow

Bevel and Emboss

Contour

And you will have the followin effect on the star layer:

Step 3

Now we can add some decoration on the star so it doesn’t look too boring. To do this, we can simply create a new layer below the “Star” layer, use the Pen Tool to draw a working path like this:

Hint: Try holding down “Shift” key while dragging the anchor points.

Then grab a 18px, 0% hardness brush, select the Pen Tool and right-click on the path and choose “storke path”:

Apply the following settings:

And you will see the following effect:

Duplicate this working path layer a few times, rotate, scale and distort the duplicated layer using the Free Transform tool (Ctrl + T). Here is my effect so far:

Once you’re happy with the result, you can merge those duplicated abstract line layers together, then duplicate some more layers based on the merged layers, result as shown below: (rotate, resize if necessary)

And we can add some dots around the star for the final touch-ups. To do this, grab a 9px, soft round brush and press “F5″ or go to Window > Brushes to bring up the brush window, apply the following dynamic settings:

Shape Dynamics

Scattering

Other Dynamics

Make sure to check “Airbrush” and “Smoothing” options, too.

Once the brush is made, create a new layer under the “star” layer and paint those dots in random areas as below:

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! Remember to always keep your own creativity!

Here is an alternative version I have:

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!