Introduction to layer blending modes and layer styles in Adobe Photoshop

by Chad Neuman

A fun and interesting way to learn Adobe Photoshop techniques is to look at real examples from advertising, print design, and web design and consider ways to replicate that look in Photoshop. I recently saw this design on the Quiksilver corporate web site. This look features an intentionally grainy, desaturated look. When you’re taking photos, you can do this by setting the ISO (film speed) too high on purpose to get the grainy look, but we can add the effect in Photoshop as well.

See a larger version of the original

Step 1
Open an image of someone snowboarding or a person close-up that matches this theme. I am using a stock photo from iStockPhoto for this example.

© ISTOCKPHOTO/MANDYGODBEHEAR

Step 2
Now let’s first desaturate the image. There are many ways to do this in Photoshop, but in this case let’s go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and slide the Saturation slider all the way to the left. Click OK.

Step 3
Next, we need to add a layer with grain on it. Click the Create New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers palette. Select a foreground color by clicking the Foreground Color Picker on the bottom of the Tools palette. I selected a gray color, #c7c7c7. Then press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill this layer with the foreground color. Then go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise and set the amount to 35%. Check Gaussian as well.

Step 4
Now we need to adjust the way the layers blend, since we see a simply gray noise area right now. With the top gray noise layer selected in the Layers palette, change the Layer Blending Mode on the top of the Layers palette and see what the various blending modes do. Overlay looks okay, but I selected Color Burn for a more dramatic look.

Step 5
This looks okay, but we need to add a few overexposed areas from the sun to mimic this specific look more closely. Click the Create New Layer on the bottom of the Layers palette and select the Brush tool from the Tools palette. Select a large soft-edged brush from the Options palette. Press the left and right brackets to resize the brush as shortcuts. Paint by clicking once a few times around the photo. I painted a few more around the top from where the sunlight would be casting.

Step 6
The white brush is a bit too harsh for this look as we can see, so lower the Opacity of the brushed layer on the Layers palette to 50%.

Step 7
Add some black with a text layer using the Text tool, and our look is complete!

The textured and grainy look, as well as the occasional and subtle highlights, make this retro look one to use for advertisements, web sites banners, or posters. Or use it on your own photos for special effects.

by Chad Neuman

Movie posters are often great examples of aesthetically pleasing design and eye catching visuals. Movie poster artists use color, proportion, and typography to create some stunning looks. I recently noticed a movie poster for a newly released movie, The American. As a regular user of Adobe Photoshop, I then asked myself how something similiar to this poster look could be done in Photoshop. I don’t want to create exactly this look but rather create something similiar to learn from. It’s the difference between finding inspiration in a work of art and ripping it off. Therefore, follow along with this example and you’ll learn how to create a similar look and learn a few Photoshop and graphic design techniques along the way.

Step 1
In Photoshop, open a photo of your or a friend running forward but to the left or right. You don’t have to use a stock photo, but I downloaded this one from iStockPhoto to use. I purchased the small version, 566 x 848 pixels, a thumbnail of which I’ve included here.

© Lisa Gagne

Step 2
Next, find and open a photo of a person’s face, preferably one looking mysterious or serious. I chose this stock photo.

© Joey Boylan

Step 3
First we’ll need to remove some pixels around the face to resemble the movie poster. Select the Marquee Selection tool and click-and-drag an area around the face. Then press Cmd-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate what’s selected onto its own layer. Press the Eye icon next to the original Background layer to remove its visibility.

Step 4
Next, with this new layer selected in the Layers palette, press Cmd-J (PC: Ctrl-J) twice. This will duplicate to create three layers on top of the original (now transparent) Background layer. We’ll work on the top two layers, and if one of the layers needs a different look we can duplicate the second-to-bottom layer again.

Step 5
With the top layer selected in the Layers palette, go to Filter>Texture>Patchwork. Slide the Relief slider to the left to 0, and slide the Square Size slider to the right to 10. Click OK.

Step 6
Next, with the second-to-top layer selected in the Layers palette, go to Filter>Texture>Patchwork. Slide the Relief slider to the left to 0, and slide the Square Size slider to 4. This will create smaller squares than the other layer. Click OK.

Step 7
Select the top layer again in the Layers palette. Change the Layer Blending Mode on the top of the Layers palette to Darken, and the result will look something like the patchwork pattern to.

Step 8
This next step is optional depending on whether you want to mimic the original more or make the background more colorful. If you want to make it closer to the original, go to select the top layer and then go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and slide the Saturation slider to the left to -100. Do this also for the second-to-top layer, the other layer we have added

Step 9
Click the Create New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers palette. Click on the Set foreground layer on the bottom of the Tools palette and select some kind of color that we’ll apply to the background face photo. I chose an orange color, # ffb400. Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill this new layer with the color. Change the Layer Blending Mode of this new orange (or whatever color you selected) layer to create the effect of colorizing the layer below it. I chose Darker Color for the Layer Blending Mode and adjusted the Fill on the top of the Layers palette to 75%.

Step 10
Next, we need to cut out the person of the other photo and add some effects. First double-click the Background layer on the Layers palette and click OK to name it something new and this will make the layer more editable so we can make a transparent background. Then use a selection tool to select around the figure and then either mask out or delete the area around him.

Step 11
Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and change the settings to something like this in order to make the figure have a sepia-like tone.

Step 12
This photo needs to be a little bit more rough looking, so let’s add some noise. Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise and set the settings here or until the photo has subtle noise.

Step 13
Next let’s get rid of the extra orange layer around the egdes of the original photo. Use the Marquee Selection tool and delete the color around the photo. Then click-and-drag the figure onto the original face photo. Add a white background layer by pressing the Create New Layer icon and then filling it with white and clicking-and-dragging it below the other layers. Now we have something similiar to our real world movie poster.

This is a short introduction to layering images in Adobe Photoshop.

by Chad Neuman

Here’s another way to create a Holga effect. Some Holga photos have varying hues or vignettes, and the one shown here. But others have a faded out focus on parts of the photo and a faded look. Here’s how to achieve that in Photoshop.

Step 1
Open Adobe Photoshop and open an image you’d like to use.

I chose this photo by Joey Nelson at iStockPhoto.

Step 2
Press Cmd-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the Background layer.

Step 3
Next, let’s add a blur to the copied layer. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. The amount of blur depends on the size of the photo. This photo I am working with is very large, so I set the blur to 15 pixels. You may try 3 or 4 pixels or so if hte photos is much smaller.

Step 4
We need to add a mask to the Layer 1 to mask out parts of the blurred layer. Click the Add Layer Mask on the bottom of the Layers palette. This will create a white box on Layer 1.

Step 5
Choose a large, soft-edged brush, and set the Foreground color to black and click once in the photo to mask out part of the blurred layer.

Step 6
Next, click the Create a New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers palette. Choose an orange Foreground color (I chose #ffc000) and press Option-Delete (Mac: Alt-Backspace) to fill the layer with this color. Change the Layer Blending Mode of this layer to Multiply.

Step 7
Change the Opacity of this layer to 50% and go to Filter>Distort>Lens Correction. Drag the Vignette slider to the left to create a dark border. I chose -100. Multiply blending mode is subtle, but try Color Burn and the look even looks more like a Holga.

Step 8
There we go! This is another way to create a Holga look.

by Chad Neuman

We can use Adobe Photoshop not just for editing photos but for creating artistic design and effects as well. Here’s one way to create an interesting and aesthetically-pleasing look.

Step 1
Open Adobe Photoshop and go to File>New and set the Width and Height to 1000 pixels. Click OK.

Step 2
Set the Foreground color to a dark color such as dark blue, black, red, etc., by clicking the Foreground Color Picker on the bottom of the Tools palette. I set it to #09005e. Click OK.

Step 3
Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the Background layer with this dark color.

Step 4
Next, press the Create a New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers palette. Choose the Brush tool and set the Foreground color to white. Set the brush size to 700 pixels, soft-edged.

Step 5
Click the brush once just along the side of the canvas.

Step 6
Click the Move tool and make sure Show Transform Controls is selected up on the Options palette. Click-and-drag the side of this layer to make it about this size and press Return (PC: Enter) to apply the changes.

Step 7
Next, click Cmd-J (PC: Cntrl-J) four times to duplicate this layer so we have five layers with the brush pixels we just created.

Step 8
With the top layer selected (Layer 1 copy 4), go to Filter>Distort>Twirl and set the twirl to -100 and click OK. With the Move tool, move this layer slightly to the right and we can see the effect.

Step 9
Repeat step 8 but for the four other layers with the brush pixels on them: Layer 1 copy 3, Layer 1 copy 2, Layer 1 copy, and Layer 1. But instead of -100, set the Twirl to -50, 50, 100, and 150. Using the Move tool to move the layers around, we can see the various shapes.

Step 10
Next, rotate the various layers with the wavy shapes by hovering the mouse cursor near the corner of the transform controls and click-and-drag. Try various angles, my example looks like this.

Step 11
Click the Create a New Layer icon on the Layers palette, and click once with the Brush tool in various areas of the canvas with various colors. Change the Layer Blending Mode to Soft Light. Now we have a nice piece of art for a design.

by Chad Neuman

Here are a few techniques to create an “electrifying” design. Using soft white brushes is a popular technique in creating a hip layout, but we’ll use a few other techniques as well to create this design, including threshold, hue/saturation adjustments, and layer blending modes.

Step 1
Download the support files and open telephone pole.jpg in Adobe Photoshop.

Step 2
Go to Image>Threshold and change the Threshold Level to 179.

Step 3
Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and change the levels to the numbers shown here.

Step 4
Open “telephone pole2.jpg” and go to Image>Adjustments>Threshold and change the Threshold Level to 64.

Step 5
Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and change the levels to those shown here.

Step 6
Click the Move tool (the tool at the top of the Toolbar) and click-and-drag “telephone pole2.jpg” onto “telephone pole.jpg.”

Step 7
Make sure Show Tranform Controls is selected on the Options palette, and click-and-drag a corner with the Move tool and enlargen the top layer so it covers the Background layer.

Step 8
Change the Layer Blending mode on the Layers palette to Color Burn.

Step 9
Open kelly.psd and click-and-drag the layer with the Move tool onto the other image. Click-and-drag a corner with the Move tool to resize the image a bit. Hold Shift to maintain proportion.

Step 10
Go to File>Place and place “scan5.jpg” and make sure Show Tranform Controls is selected on the Options palette. Rotate it using the Move tool and make it larger by clicking-and-dragging on a corner.

Step 11
Click-and-drag the scan5 layer below Layer 2. Change the Layer Blending mode of scan5 to Multiply.

Step 12
Select Layer 2, the layer with my friend Kelly on it. Go to Layer>Layer Style>Stroke. Change the stroke color to White and the Size to 6.

Step 13
Click the New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers palette and choose to Brush tool. Change the brush to the soft brush, 27.

Step 14
Click on various areas of the art, changing the size of the brush by pressing the left and right brackets.

 Now we have a nice design which adds interest to the overall photo look.

by Chad Neuman

Photo mosaics are photos comprised of many other photos. Photos are places in square or rectangle areas of the image, almost like pixels. Each photo has a certain hue that matches what the part of the master photo should be. Here’s a quicker way than trying to find photos that match specific parts of a photo.

Instead of having the hue in each photo represent that area of the master photo, we’ll have the color of the master photo show through to the tiled photos. And instead of having to find dozens or hundreds of photos, we’ll just need a few. This technique can be used for advertisements, personal photos, promotional brochures, annual reports, and other creative designs.

Step 1
Open up a photo of what you want to be the master photo. You may try having a few people’s faces make up another person’s face, or photos of nature making up another photo of nature. For my example, I am going to have different coastal nature photos to comprise a photo of a woman’s face. Be sure to use the Crop tool to crop closely along the face.

Step 2
Next, get four photos you’d like to use as the texture of the master photo. We could use two photos and checkerboard them, but let’s use four for this example. As you can see, these photos are quite large and need to be made much smaller to be the tiles.

Step 3
Select the Crop tool and up on the Options palette, set the Height and Width to 25 px, 50 px, or 75, depending on how big you want the tiles to be. Also change the resolution preset to what the resolution of the master photo is. For my example, it’s 72 pixels per inch. Note: Be sure to set the Width and Height to pixels, otherwise it may enter inches by default and the image will be too large.

Step 4
Next, click-and-drag to crop all four photos to the preset size. Either press Return (PC: Enter) or double-click inside the crop area after drawing the crop. Then multiply whatever width and height you set it to by two, and then create a new file with this for width and height. Since I set mine to 75 pixels each, my new file will be 150 pixels by 150 pixels. Make sure the resolution is the same as what the preset was set to. Name it tile.

Step 5
Next, select the Move tool and click-and-drag the four photos onto the new file to make a checkboard pattern. After moving, try the keyboard arrows to fine-tune the placement. Each new placed photo will be on its own layer.

Step 6
Desaturate the image by going to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate for each layer, or merge the layers first by pressing Cmd-E (Ctrl-E) and then desaturate. Go to Edit>Define Pattern and name it something appropriate, such as “beach photos” or “tile.”

Step 7
Make sure there are not a lot of blank pixels, or too bright pixels, in the tile. This can cause the final result to look funny. I noticed the upper right hand photo had too much brightness on the top so I replaced it with another beach photo.

Step 8
Next, open the original master photo. Click the Create New Layer icon on the Layers palette. Go to Edit>Fill and select Pattern. Change the Custom Pattern to the pattern we just created. Make sure Mode is Normal and Opacity is 100%.

Step 9
This will fill the second layer with the pattern. In the Layers palette, change the Layer Blending Mode of the top layer to Overlay. There we have it, a photo mosaic!

Bonus Step
Let’s say you want to create a photo mosaic that actually uses the original hues from the tiled photos to make up a larger photo, instead of having the hues overlay onto the tiled photos like in this technique. You’ll need many more photos with varying hues and patterns and a computer program to do that, unless you have a lot of time on your hands. PC users go to http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/ and MAC users go to http://homepage.mac.com/knarf/MacOSaiX/Download.html and download the program to do this. There are some pretty neat examples, including Van Gogh’s starry night consisting of many different photos.

by Chad Neuman

Adding color to a photograph can be a useful technique in Adobe Photoshop. Whether it is adding color to an old family photography or colorizing a photo you took in sepia or black and white, this technique adds a different look to those grayscale images. There are actually a few different ways to accomplish this with different variations and looks, and I cover a few of them here. Let’s get started.

Step 1
Open a black and white, sepia, or similiar photo in Photoshop. I got this one from the weekly free photo at iStockPhoto: http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=9494535

(C) MICHAEL FERNAHL/ISTOCKPHOTO

Step 2
One way to add color to an area is to make a selection and adjust the hue. First, press Cmd-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the Background layer in the Layers palette. This will add a duplicated layer titled “Layer 1.” This way we will work on a duplicated layer, so if we mess up with the adjustments we can delete the layer and duplicate again (or of course undo or use the History palette).

Step 3
Next, make a selection with a selection tool of an area to adjust the hue. I selected the grassy area using the Polygonal Lasso tool. Tip: Press the spacebar when using the tool to turn the cursor into the Hand tool to move around the canvas (so we can keep the selection tool selected but still move around the canvas). Also, press Cmd and the plus or minus sign (PC: Ctrl and the plus or minus sign) to zoom in or out even while using a selection tool.

Step 4
In this example, the grass blade near the bottom are not in the selection. That is okay, since we’ll be using another technique to colorize those. Round out the selection so the entire area that we’d like to colorize a certain hue is selected.

Step 5
Next, we need to adjust the hue within the selection. Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. Click the Colorize checkbox to check it. I adjusted the Hue to 115 to make the grass green, the Saturation to 25, and I did not adjust the Lightness. I adjusted the Hue for a more subtle green here. Tip: Adjust the edges of the selections by going to Select>Modify>Feather to have a slightly softer edge. For my example I kept the edges unmodified.

Step 6
The selection and hue adjustment is one way to colorize areas of a photo, but here’s another technique. Do not de-select the area just yet. First, click the New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers palette. This will create a new layer called “Layer 2.”

Step 7
Next, go to Select>Invese to select the inverted area of the photo. Make sure Layer 2 is highlighted in the Layers palette, and then choose the Brush tool in the Tools palette. Click the Foreground color on the bottom of the Tools palette and select a color to paint onto the photo. I chose #663a0c, a brown hue to paint the wooded background in this photo. Click-and-drag to paint the area. Don’t worry about losing the texture; we will fix that soon. Notice that having the selection prevents us from painting over the previously-selected area, in this case, the grass. Tip: Press the left or right bracket to adjust the side of the brush during brushing.

Step 8
The next step is the important one to avoid losing the texture of the underlying layer. Change the Layer Blending Mode of the Layer 2 to something like Multiply, Overlay, or other mode which will have the texture of the underlying show through but the hue of the brush layer be visible as well. For this example, Darken works best for a unique, vintage look.

Step 9
Click the Create New Layer icon on the Layers palette and paint another color onto another area to adjust the hue. Repeate this for the various areas, so each new area that needs a different hue is a different layer with an adjusted layer blending mode. For the flesh color, I changed that layer to Overlay blending mode and the Opacity to 35% and the Fill to 50% to be more subtle. If you’re using this photo as an example, remember to paint a new layer for the grass blades we missed earlier. For the lips, I chose Soft Light layer blending mode with an Opacity set to 50%.

Let’s say you need add an image to another one, but it needs to look seamless. The image we’ll be adding to the other needs to have the same angle and texture of the other one. We can use the lens distortion tool and a layer blending mode for this example, and it’s also a fun way to learn the lens distortion tool and layer blending modes.

Step 1
Here’s the image we want to overlay onto another one.

© ISTOCKPHOTO/LYNN CHEALANDER

Step 2
Here’s the image we’ll need to add the other image to. To use these examples, right-click each and save the images to your computer and open them both in Photoshop.

Step 3
Select the Move tool

Step 4
Click-and-drag the beach photo onto the television photo. Drag the beach photo so it covers the television. We now have two layers.

Step 5
With the Move tool selected, make sure the Show Transform Control is selected. Click the Layer 1, the beach layer, in the layers palette.

Step 6
Click the Eye icon of Layer 1 in the layers palette in order to see the television layer, seeing where the beach will show once we remove the area outside of the television screen. Click-and-drag the corner of the beach photo to resize it so more of it will show on the screen; hold Shift to maintain proportion. Make sure all of the television screen is covered. After resizing, press Enter to make the changes.

Step 7
Click the Eye icon next to Layer 1, the beach layer, to hide it for now. Click the Background layer, the television layer.

Step 8
Now we’ll need to draw a selection around the television screen. To select those corners, we’ll need to use the Pen tool. Select the Pen tool.

Step 9
Click (not click-and-drag) along the border of the screen near the corner. Then click-and-drag to draw a curving line on the side. The Pen tool may take a little bit to get used to, but generally click somewhere near the beginning of a curve, and click-and-drag near the ending of the curve.

Step 10
Draw the shape around the edge of the television screen, until we complete the shape.

Step 11
In the Paths palette, right-click the Shape 1 Vector Mask and click Make Selection.

Step 12
Press OK.

Step 13
In the Layer palette, click the Eye icon of the shape layer since we don’t need it, and click the Eye icon of Layer 1 and click Layer 1 to select it.

Step 14
Go to Select>Inverse and press Backspace to delete the pixels outside of the television screen on the beach layer.

Step 15
Change the layer blending mode of Layer 1 to Overlay.

Step 16
This overlays the beach image onto the television screen, but the beach photo’s angle needs to protrude a little bit in the middle to fit the television screen.

Step 17
With Layer 1 still selected in the layers palette, go to Filter>Distort>Lens Correction. Set the Remove Distortion to about -14, or until it adds some barrel distortion to fit the screen.

Step 18
The problem here is that the beach is now moved outside of the screen area. Click the Eye icon of the shape from earlier and repeat steps 11-14 to remove the area around it again. Now we have an image that is seamlessly blended with another, using both the overlay blending mode and adding some lens distortion to match the background. Be sure to remove any pixels that on top of the area outside of the screen by selecting it with the polygonal lasso tool and press Backspace to remove them.