Photoshop Effects: Telling Stories With Shadows

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Written By Steve Patterson

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we're going to learn how to truly make a picture worth a thousand words
by adding a different shadow behind someone in a photo, as if to imply that the person in the photo is one day
going to become the image in the shadow. Or maybe they really are the image in the shadow but they manage
to keep it hidden from everyone, sort of a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" scenario. Or, as in the case with the
image I'll be using in this tutorial, perhaps the person is imagining themselves as the image in the shadow.

This is a really fun and popular effect to create in Photoshop, and you may remember seeing it used heavily a
few years back in the promotional posters for "Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom Menace", where a very
young and innocent looking Anakin Skywalkwer was casting the shadow of Darth Vader behind him.
Fortunately, you don't need to be a special effects wizard to create the same effect with your own images. All
you need is a copy of Photoshop and a little imagination.

Here's the image I'll be using for this Photoshop tutorial:

Photoshop Effects: The original image.

Obviously, this little guy sees himself as a mighty super hero, so let's help him out by projecting a super hero
shadow on the wall behind him:
Photoshop Effects: The final result.

Let's get started!

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Step 1: Make A Selection Around The Person

With your image open in Photoshop, use the selection tool of your choice (Lasso Tool, Magnetic Lasso Tool,
Pen Tool, etc.) to draw a selection around the person:

Photoshop Effects: Use the Lasso Tool, Pen Tool or other Photoshop selection tool of your choice to draw a
selection around the person in the photo.
Step 2: Copy The Selection To A New Layer

If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that we currently have just one layer, the Background layer,
which contains our image:

Photoshop Effects: Photoshop's Layers palette showing the image on the Background layer.

We need to copy the person in the photo onto their own layer above the Background layer so that we can slide
a shadow in behind them, which we'll do in a moment. Since we've already drawn a selection around them, all
we need to do is use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac), and Photoshop will copy the
selection onto a new layer. Nothing will seem to have happened to the image itself, but if we look again in the
Layers palette, we can see that a copy of the boy (in my case) is now on a new layer, which Photoshop has
named "Layer 1":

Photoshop Effects: Press "Ctrl+J" (Win) / "Command+J" (Mac) to copy the person onto a new layer.

Step 3: Open The Photo Containing The Person Or Object You Want To Use For The
Shadow

To create the shadow effect, you'll need a second image containing whatever it is you want to use as a
shadow, whether it's a person or an object of some kind. I want to give the boy a super hero shadow, so I'm
going to use this image here which should work nicely:
Photoshop Effects: Open the image containing the person or object you want to use as the shadow.

Step 4: Make A Selection Around The Person Or Object

Just as we did with the original image when we drew a selection around the person in the photo, we need to
draw another selection, this time around the person or object in the second image that we want to use for our
shadow. So once again, use the selection tool of your choice to draw a selection around them (or it):

Photoshop Effects: Again using your favorite selection tool, draw a selection around the person or object you
want to use as the shadow.

Step 5: Drag The Selection Into The Original Image

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Once you have your selection around the person or object, select the Move Tool from the Tools palette:

Photoshop Effects: Select the Move Tool.

You can also press V on your keyboard to select it with the shortcut. Then, with both images open in their
own separate document windows, simply click anywhere inside the selection and drag the image from the
second photo into the original image's document window:

Photoshop Effects: Click anywhere inside the selection with the Move Tool and drag it into the original
image's document window.

When you release your mouse button, you'll see the selection from the second image appearing in the original
image:
Photoshop Effects: The selected person or object from the second image now appears inside the original
photo.

You can close out of the second document window at this point, since we no longer need to have it open.

There's one thing I want to fix here before we continue. The boy in the photo is looking towards the right, but
my super hero is looking towards the left. I need to flip the super hero around so that he's looking in the same
general direction as the boy. To do that, I'll simply go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen, choose
Transform, and then choose Flip Horizontal:

Photoshop Effects: Selecting "Flip Horizontal" from Photoshop's Edit menu.

When I do that, Photoshop flips the super hero around for me so that both he and the boy are looking towards
the right:
Photoshop Effects: The super hero is now facing the same direction as the boy.

Step 6: Fill The Shadow Image With Black

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Since we want to use the selected image we just dragged into the document as a shadow, we need to fill it
with black. To do that, make sure you have black as your Foreground color by pressing the letter D on your
keyboard, which resets your Foreground color to black and your Background color to white, as we can see in
the two color swatches near the bottom of the Tools palette (the top left swatch is the Foreground color and
the bottom right one is the Background color):

Photoshop Effects: The Foreground and Background color swatches in the Tools palette showing black as the
Foreground color and white as the Background color.

Then use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Alt+Backspace (Win) / Shift+Option+Delete to fill the person or object
with black:
Photoshop Effects: Press "Shift+Alt+Backspace" (Win) / "Shift+Option+Delete" (Mac) to fill the person or
object with black.

If we had simply pressed "Alt+Backspace" (Win) / "Option+Delete" (Mac), we would have filled the entire
layer with black, but by adding the "Shift" key in there as well, we were able to fill only the person or object
on the layer (the "contents" of the layer) with black. The rest of the layer remained untouched.

Step 7: Drag The Shadow Image Between The Background Layer and "Layer 1"

We have the image we want to use as our shadow inside the original photo and we've filled it with black. So
far, so good, except of course for one small problem. The shadow is currently in front of the boy. I need it to
appear behind him. This is where layers come in.

To move the shadow behind the boy, all I need to do is drag the shadow's layer below the boy's layer in the
Layers palette. If I look in my Layers palette, I can see that I now have three layers - the original Background
layer on the bottom, the copy of the boy from the original photo on "Layer 1", and the shadow image at the
very top on "Layer 2":
Photoshop Effects: Photoshop's Layers palette showing our three layers.

The reason the shadow appears in front of the boy in the document is because its layer is above the boy's
layer, blocking the boy from view wherever the two layers overlap. To fix that, all I need to do is click on
"Layer 2" in the Layers palette and drag it down below the boy on "Layer 1", which will place it directly
between "Layer 1" and the Background layer (Photoshop won't allow you to drag any layers below the
Background layer, since it wouldn't make much sense to have something behind the background). Click on
"Layer 2" and drag it down until you see a black horizontal line appear between "Layer 1" and the
Background layer. Release your mouse button when that line appears and Photoshop will move "Layer 2"
below "Layer 1":

Photoshop Effects: Photoshop's Layers palette showing our three layers.

Now that the shadow's layer is below the boy's layer in the Layers palette, if we look back in the image, we
can see that the shadow now appears behind the boy:

Photoshop Effects: The shadow now appears behind the boy in the image.
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Step 8: Move And Resize The Shadow With Free Transform
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With "Layer 2" still selected in the Layers palette (the currently selected layer is highlighted in blue), press
Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the
shadow and move it into position by clicking anywhere inside the Free Transform box (anywhere except the
small target icon in the center) and dragging the shadow into place with your mouse. You can resize the
shadow by dragging any of the handles. To constrain the proportions of the shadow as you drag it larger or
smaller, hold down Shift and drag any of the corner handles.

If you're having trouble seeing all the Free Transform handles because some of them extend out beyond the
sides of the document window, press F on your keyboard to switch your screen mode to Full Screen Mode
With Menu Bar.

If I look closely at my image, I can see that the boy's left arm (his left, our right) is up a little higher than the
other one, but the super hero has the opposite arm higher. To fix that, I'm going to hold down my Ctrl (Win) /
Command key, then click on the left middle handle of the Free Transform box and drag downward with my
mouse, which will skew the image, bringing the left side of the super hero down below the right until his arms
are more in line with the boy's arms:

Photoshop Effects: Holding down "Ctrl" (Win) / "Command" (Mac) and dragging the left middle Free
Transform handle to skew the image and bring the left side of the super hero shadow down below the right
side.

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformations.
Step 9: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter To The Shadow

Now that our shadow is in place, there's only a couple of problems remaining. One is that the edges of the
shadow are much too sharp, and the other is that the shadow is too dark and intense. Both of these issues are
easily fixed, so let's work on the edges first. With "Layer 2" still selected in the Layers palette, go up to the
Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, and then choose Gaussian Blur.

This brings up the Gaussian Blur dialog box. We're going to soften the shadow edges by blurring them, but
we don't want to blur the edges too much, otherwise we'll lose too much detail in the shadow and it will be
tough to make out the shape. All we want is a subtle amount of blurring, so set the Radius value to somewhere
between 2 and 6 pixels, depending on the resolution of your image. I'm using a low resolution image for this
tutorial, and for me, a Radius of about 2.5 pixels works well:

Photoshop Effects: Apply the Gaussian Blur filter to the shadow to soften the edges.
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Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box. Here's my image after softening the edges of the
shadow with Gaussian Blur:
Photoshop Effects: The image after softening the edges of the shadow with the Gaussian Blur filter.

Step 10: Lower The Opacity Of The Shadow

Finally, to reduce the intensity of the shadow, simply go up to the Opacity option in the top right corner of the
Layers palette and lower the opacity of "Layer 2". I'm going to lower mine down to about 35%:

Photoshop Effects: Lower the opacity of "Layer 2" to reduce the intensity of the shadow.

And with that, you're done!

Here, after lowering the opacity of my shadow, is my final "Telling Stories With Shadows" result:
Photoshop Effects: The final result.

And there we have it!

Collage Of Warped Photos In Photoshop

Learn Photoshop with Photoshop Effects at Photoshop
Essentials.com
Written By Steve Patterson

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we're going to learn how to create a collage of "warped" photos. Now, don't
go letting your imagination run wild here. When I say "warped", I don't mean "sick, twisted and shocking",
unless of course those are the types of photos you want to use. What I'm talking about is photos that we'll be
bending, curling, distorting and reshaping using Photoshop's Warp Tool.

I should point out here that the Warp Tool (not to be confused with the Text Warp tool) has only been around
since Photoshop CS2, which means you'll need Photoshop CS2 or later if you want to follow along using the
same techniques I'll be using in this tutorial. There are more complicated and time-consuming ways to create
the same effect in older versions of Photoshop, but the Warp Tool makes things incredibly easy for us and is
also really fun to use, as we'll see!

For this tutorial, I'll be using three photos in my collage, plus the image I'll be using as the background, for a
grand total of four photos (who says math isn't easy?). You, of course, can use as many photos as you like.
Since Halloween is fast approaching (at the time I'm writing this), I thought I'd go with a Halloween theme for
my collage, but again you can use whichever photos you like.

Here's the final effect we'll be working towards:

Let's get started.

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Step 1: Open The First Photo You Want To Add To Your Collage

Open the first photo you want to add to your collage. We'll go through all the steps necessary to complete our
work on this first photo, and then it's simply a matter of repeating the steps with each additional photo you
want to add to your collage.

Here's the first photo I'll be using:

Photoshop Collage: Open the first photo you'll be adding to your collage.

Step 2: Rename The Background Layer

With the photo newly opened inside Photoshop, if we look over in the Layers palette, we can see that we
currently have one layer, named Background, which contains our image:

Photoshop Collage: Photoshop's Layers palette showing our original image on the Background layer.

We need to add a new blank layer below this Background layer, but there's a small problem. Photoshop treats
the Background layer differently from all other layers (which is why the name is written in italics). There's
things we can do with other layers that we can't do with the Background layer. One of the things we can't do is
add any layers below it. The Background layer must always remain the bottom layer in the Layers palette.
Fortunately, there's an easy way around this problem. All we need to do is rename the layer to something
other than "Background", and the easiest way to do that is by holding down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac)
key and double-clicking directly on the word "Background". Photoshop will automatically rename the layer
"Layer 0":
Photoshop Collage: Hold down "Alt" (Win) / "Option" (Mac) and double-click on the name "Background" to
have Photoshop rename the layer "Layer 0".

Step 3: Add A New Blank Layer Below "Layer 0"

Now that our Background layer is no longer named "Background", we can add a layer below it. To do that,
hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the
Layers palette:

Photoshop Collage: Hold down "Ctrl" (Win) / "Command" (Mac) and click the"New Layer" icon.

Clicking the "New Layer" icon adds a new blank layer, and by default, Photoshop places new layers above the
layer we currently have selected in the Layers palette, but by holding down "Ctrl/Command" as we click on
the icon, we tell Photoshop to place the new layer below the currently selected layer. As we can see now in
our Layers palette, the new layer, which Photoshop has automatically named "Layer 1", appears below "Layer
0":

Photoshop Collage: The Layers palette showing the new blank layer added below the original layer.
Step 4: Add Additional Canvas Space Around The Image

Since we're going to be bending and warping our image, we need to give ourselves a little extra room to work,
which means we need to add some extra canvas space around the image. To do that, go up to the Image menu
at the top of the screen and choose Canvas Size. This brings up the Canvas Size dialog box. Enter 150 for the
Width and Height and change the measurement type for both to percent. Make sure the Relative option is not
checked, and make sure the middle square is selected in the Anchor grid:

Photoshop Collage: Increase the canvas size around the image using the options circled in red above.

Click OK when you're done, and Photoshop will add the extra canvas space all around the image, giving us
lots of room to work:
Photoshop Collage: The extra canvas space is now added around the image.

Step 5: Add A White Stroke To The Image

Click on "Layer 0" in the Layers palette to select the layer that contains the original image. Let's add a white
photo border around the edge of the image. To do that, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and
choose Stroke. This brings up the Stroke dialog box. I'm going to enter a value of 20 px (pixels) for my
Width, which works well with my image here. You may need to enter a different value depending on the size
of the image you're using. I'm using a low resolution image for this tutorial, so if you're using a high
resolution image, you'll need to try a higher width value. The goal here is to simply add what looks like a
standard white photo border around the image, which means we also need to select white as our stroke color,
so click on the color swatch to the right of the word Color, which brings up Photoshop's Color Picker and
choose white.

Finally, set the Location option in the middle of the dialog box to Inside so the stroke appears inside the edge
of the image:
Photoshop Collage: Add a white stroke around the inside edge of the image to create a photo border.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box and apply the white stroke:

Photoshop Collage: The white border is now added around the edge of the image.

Step 6: Warp The Image With Photoshop's Warp Tool

Here's where we get to the fun part. We're going to bend, twist and curl the image using Photoshop's Warp
Tool. There's a couple of different ways to access the Warp Tool. One is to go up to the Edit menu at the top
of the screen, choose Transform, and then choose Warp, but here's a faster way. Press Ctrl+T (Win) /
Command+T (Mac) to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the image, then simply
click on the Warp icon in the Options Bar at the top of the screen:
Photoshop Collage: For a quick shortcut to get to the Warp Tool, press "Ctrl+T" (Win) / "Command+T"
(Mac) to bring up the Free Transform handles around the image, then click on the "Warp" icon in the Options
Bar to access the Warp Tool.

You can click on that icon again at any time to switch back and forth between Free Transform and the Warp
Tool.

With the Warp Tool selected, you'll see a 3x3 grid appear over your image:

Photoshop Collage: A 3x3 grid appears over your image with the Warp Tool active.

If you've never used the Warp Tool before, it may seem a little confusing at first, but the easiest thing to do is
simply play around with it and see what it does, since nothing you do will actually be applied to the image as
long as the Warp Tool remains active. In no time at all, you'll see just how easy and fun the tool really is. To
warp the image from any of the corners, simply click on any of the square corner handles and drag it around
with your mouse. Here I'm dragging the top left corner outward:

Photoshop Collage: Click and drag any of the corner handles to warp the image from the corners.
To create a page curl, which is where the Warp Tool really shines, drag any of the corner handles inward. If
you drag the corner in far enough, you'll actually see what looks like the back of the photo appearing in the
corner (it's actually a mirror image of the photo, but it still looks pretty cool):

Photoshop Collage: Easily create a page curl by clicking on any of the corner handles and dragging it inward.

You can also warp the image by dragging the round handles that extend out from the corners:

Photoshop Collage: Warping the image by dragging the round handles that extend out from the corners.

And yet another way to warp the image is by simply clicking anywhere inside of the image and dragging your
mouse around to warp it from that spot:
Photoshop Collage: Click anywhere inside the image and drag your mouse to warp the image from that
location.

As you can see, Photoshop's Warp Tool gives us lots of control and flexibility over how we bend and reshape
the image, and for this collage effect we're creating, there's no right or wrong way to go about it. We're not
trying to create any sort of realistic effect here, although we could if we wanted. All we're really going for is
something that looks fun, so feel free to play around with your image, warping, stretching, bending, twisting,
and curling it anyway you like. The only thing you should try to avoid is warping anyone's face, since they
may not be too happy when they see what you've done, so try to limit your warp effects to the corners and
edges of the photo as much as possible.

Unfortunately, there's no "undo" with the Warp Tool, so if you're not happy with what you've done and want
to try again, you'll need to press your Esc key to cancel your changes and exit out of the Warp Tool, then go
back and start over.

Here's what my image looks like, with the Warp Tool still active, after I've reshaped the image in a way that
works for me (yours may look completely different):
Photoshop Collage: The image after warping it with the Warp Tool, which is still active.

When you're ready to accept your changes, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to have Photoshop apply them to
the image.

Step 7: Duplicate The Layer

Now that we've warped the image, we need to duplicate it. To do that, with "Layer 0" (the layer that contains
our image) selected in the Layers palette, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to
duplicate the layer. If we look in the Layers palette now, we can see the newly created copy of the layer,
which Photoshop has named "Layer 0 copy", above the other two layers:

Photoshop Collage: Press "Ctrl+J" (Win) / "Command+J" (Mac) to duplicate "Layer 0".

Step 8: Fill The Original Image On "Layer 0" With Black

Click back on "Layer 0" in the Layers palette to select it. Then, press the letter D on your keyboard if needed
to reset your Foreground and Background colors so black becomes your Foreground color (white becomes
your Background color). You can see your current Foreground and Background colors in the color swatches
near the bottom of the Tools palette (the swatch in the top left is the Foreground color and the one in the
bottom right is the Background color):

Photoshop Collage: The Foreground and Background color swatches in Photoshop's Tools palette.

Then, with "Layer 0" selected, use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Alt+Backspace (Win) / Shift+Option+Delete
(Mac) to fill the image on the layer with black. You won't see anything happen in your document window and
that's because the image on "Layer 0 copy" is blocking what we've done on "Layer 0" below it from view, but
if we look at the preview thumbnail for "Layer 0" in the Layers palette, we can see that the image has in fact
been filled with black:

Photoshop Collage: The thumbnail for "Layer 0" showing the image on the layer now filled with black.

Step 9: Create A Drop Shadow With The Warp Tool

We're going to use the Warp Tool once again, this time to create a drop shadow effect for our image using the
area we just filled with black. With "Layer 0" still selected, I'm going to access the Warp Tool the same way I
did before, by pressing Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up the Free Transform handles and then
clicking on the Warp Icon in the Options Bar. I want the light to appear to be coming from the top left, which
means my shadow needs to appear along the bottom right of the image. So with my Warp Tool active, I'm
going to bend and reshape the black-filled area so it sticks out from under the right and bottom of the image.
Again, we're not going for absolute realism here, so feel free to exaggerate things a little:
Photoshop Collage: Using the Warp Tool to reshape the black-filled area on "Layer 0" into a shadow for the
image.

Press Enter (Win) / Return when you're done to accept and apply the changes.

Step 10: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter

We need to blur the edges of our shadow a little, so go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose
Blur, and then choose Gaussian Blur. When the Gaussian Blur dialog box appears, I'm going to enter a Radius
value of about 6 pixels to blur the edges of my shadow slightly. Again, you may need to enter a higher value
if you're using a high resolution image:

Photoshop Collage: The Foreground and Background color swatches in Photoshop's Tools palette.
Click OK to exit out of the dialog box when you're done.

Step 11: Lower The Opacity Of The Layer

We've warped our shadow into shape with the Warp Tool and blurred out the edges, but our shadow is much
too intense at this point. To fix that, go up to the Opacity option in the top right of the Layers palette and
lower the layer's opacity to around 60%:

Photoshop Collage: Lower the opacity of "Layer 0" to reduce the intensity of the shadow.

Here's my image after lowering the opacity of the shadow:

Photoshop Collage: The shadow now appears much less noticeable after lowering its opacity.

Step 12: Add A New Blank Layer Above The Other Layers

We're almost done, but let's finish things off by adding some subtle highlights and shadows to our photo to
enhance the illusion that it's really bending and twisting in 3D space. To do that, we first need to add a new
layer above the other layers, so click on the top layer ("Layer 0 copy") to select it, then click on the New
Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to have Photoshop add a new blank layer at the top, which it
automatically names "Layer 2":

Photoshop Collage: Select the top layer, then click on the "New Layer" icon at the bottom of the Layers
palette to add a new blank layer, "Layer 2", above the other layers.

Step 13: Change The Blend Mode Of The New Layer To "Hard Light"

We need to change the blend mode of our new layer. To do that, go up to the Blend Mode options in the top
left corner of the Layers palette. By default, the layer is set to the "Normal" blend mode. Click on the down-
pointing arrow to the right of the word "Normal" and select Hard Light from the list:

Photoshop Collage: Change the blend mode of "Layer 2" from "Normal" to "Hard Light".

Step 14: Lower The Opacity Of The Layer

We're going to use this layer to paint in some highlights and shadows with Photoshop's Brush Tool, but before
we do, we need to lower the opacity of this layer quite a bit. We want very subtle highlights and shadows, so
go over to the Opacity option in the top right of the Layers palette and lower the opacity all the way down to
about 20% to start with. You may need to raise or lower it slightly when you're done:
Photoshop Collage: Lower the opacity of the new layer down to about 20%.

Step 15: Load A Selection Around The Image

Before we begin painting, let's make sure we paint "inside the lines" so-to-speak, so we're not painting over
any of the transparent areas around the image. To do that, hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key
and click directly on the preview thumbnail for "Layer 0 copy" (the layer that contains our image) in the
Layers palette:

Photoshop Collage: Hold down "Ctrl" (Win) / "Command" (Mac) and click on the thumbnail for "Layer 0
copy" in the Layers palette to load a selection around the image.

This loads a selection around the image in the document window:

Photoshop Collage: A selection is loaded around the image.

Step 16: Select The Brush Tool

Select Photoshop's Brush Tool from the Tools palette, or simply press B on your keyboard to select it with the
shortcut:

Photoshop Collage: Select Photoshop's Brush Tool.

Step 17: Paint With Black To Add Shadows To The Image

With the Brush Tool selected and black as your Foreground color, paint over a few areas in the image to add
subtle shadows, giving the image a bit more of a 3D look to it. Resize your brush as needed by pressing the
left bracket key on your keyboard to make the brush smaller or the right bracket key to make it larger. To
control the hardness of the brush edges, hold down your Shift key and press the left bracket key a few times to
soften the edges, or hold down Shift and press the right bracket key a few times to make the brush edges
harder.

You can also Right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) anywhere inside the document to bring up the Brush
Tool dialog box where you can adjust the brush diameter and hardness with slider controls at the top:
Photoshop Collage: With the Brush Tool selected, "Right-click" (Win) / "Control-click" (Mac) anywhere
inside the document to access the Brush Tool dialog box where you can adjust the brush size and edge
hardness.

Then simply paint over parts of the image to add some shadows. Thanks to the selection we've loaded around
the image, we don't have to worry about accidentally painting in the area outside of the photo. The only area
we can paint over is the area inside the selection.

If you make a mistake or you're just not happy with how you painted over an area, either press Ctrl+Z (Win) /
Command+Z (Mac) to undo your last brush stroke, or press E on your keyboard to switch to Photoshop's
Eraser Tool, erase over the mistake, then press B to switch back to your Brush Tool and continue painting.
Here's my image after painting in some shadows in the top left and right corners, as well as over the page curl
in the bottom right corner:
Photoshop Collage: The image after painting in some subtle shadows in the top corners as well as over the
page curl in the bottom right corner.

We'll add some highlights next.

Step 18: Paint With White To Add Highlights To The Image

Once you're done painting in some shadows, press the letter X on your keyboard to swap your Foreground
and Background colors so white becomes your Foreground color.

Then just as you did for the shadows, simply paint over a few areas to add some highlights, changing your
brush size and edge hardness as needed.

Here, I'm painting a very subtle white highlight area in the bottom left corner of the image:

Photoshop Collage: Switch your Foreground color to white and paint in some highlights.

The highlights aren't as noticeable in my image since I'm painting over an area that is already fairly bright.
They may be more noticeable in your image, but even a very subtle highlight still adds to the effect and keeps
the image from looking flat.

When you're done painting your shadows and highlights, press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) to deselect
the selection around the image.

Step 19: Adjust The Layer Opacity If Needed

If you find that your shadows and highlights are a bit too subtle in your image, go back to the Opacity option
in the top right corner of the Layers palette and increase the layer opacity until you're happy with how they
look. Or if you think your shadows and highlights are too strong, lower the opacity slightly. Either way, you
shouldn't need to adjust the opacity amount by much, since even small adjustments have a big impact with the
layer set to the Hard Light blend mode. I'm going to fine-tune my shadows and highlights by increasing my
layer opacity to 22%:
Photoshop Collage: Fine-tune the intensity of the shadows and highlights by making minor adjustments to the
layer's opacity.

Here's my image now with my shadows and highlights added:

Photoshop Collage: The image after adding the highlights and shadows.

Step 20: Group The Three Layers That Make Up The Image

We've completed our work on our first photo! All we need to do now is add it to our main collage document
(which we'll open in a moment). Right now, our image is made up of three separate layers - the main image
on "Layer 0 copy", the main shadow below it on "Layer 0", and the highlights and shadows on "Layer 2" at
the top. Rather than dragging three separate layers into the main collage document, let's make things easier by
grouping the layers so all three of them will be placed inside a "folder" in the Layers palette. That way, we
can simply drag the folder over to the collage document instead of dragging three separate layers. This will
also make it easier to keep our main collage document organized when we start adding additional photos to it.

To create the layer group, since "Layer 2" is currently selected in the Layers palette, hold down Shift and click
on "Layer 0". This will select both "Layer 0" and "Layer 0 copy" above it while keeping "Layer 2" at the top
selected, so all three layer will then be selected (in previous versions of Photoshop, you would need to link the
layers together rather than selecting them like this):

Photoshop Collage: Select all three layers that make up the image.

With all three layer selected, either go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and select Group Layers
or simply use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+G (Win) / Command+G (Mac). Whichever way you choose,
Photoshop adds all three layers into a new group. If you look in your Layers palette, you'll see that the three
layers seem to have disappeared, replaced by a folder icon with the name "Group 1" beside it. Double-click
directly on the words "Group 1" and rename the group something more descriptive like "Photo 1":

Photoshop Collage: The three layers have now been added to a layer group.

If you look closely, you'll see a small, right-pointing triangle to the left of the folder icon. Click on it to twirl
the folder open, and you'll see your three layers appear inside of it:
Photoshop Collage: Open the layer group by clicking on the small right-pointing arrow to the left of the folder
icon.

Click on the triangle once again to close group, leaving only the folder visible.

Step 21: Open The Image To Use As Your Collage Background

The work on our first photo is done and we've organized the three layers that make up the image into a layer
group.

All we need to do now is drag the layer group over to our main collage document, so go ahead and open the
image you want to use as your background.

Here's the image I'll be using:

Photoshop Tutorial: Open the image you want to use as the background for your collage.
Step 22: Drag The Layer Group Into The Main Collage Image

With both images open in their own separate document windows on your screen, click anywhere inside the
document containing the photo we just finished working on so that its document window is selected. Then,
simply click on the layer group in the Layers palette and drag the group into your background image
document:

Photoshop Collage: Drag the layer group from the photo document into the main background document.

You'll see your photo appear in front of your background image in the new document, and if you look in the
new document's Layers palette, you'll see that the layer group has been copied over to the new document and
is now sitting above the Background layer:

Photoshop Collage: The Layers palette showing the layer group above the Background layer in the new
document.
Step 23: Resize And Reposition The Photo With Free Transform

Now that our first photo is in front of the background inside the document we'll be using for our collage, we
can move and resize it as needed. To do that, press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to once again bring up
the Free Transform box and handles around this image. To move the photo with Free Transform, simply click
anywhere inside the photo (except for on the small target icon in the center) and drag the image into position
with your mouse. To resize the image, hold down Shift and drag any of the corner handles. Holding down
Shift as you drag constrains the the width and height proportions of the image, maintaining its original shape.
To resize the image from its center, hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) as you drag (you can hold Shift as
well to constrain the proportions and resize from the center at the same time). You can also rotate the image if
you want by moving your mouse cursor just outside the Free Transform box and then clicking and dragging
your mouse.

Here, I've moved my photo into the center of the document and I'm resizing it by dragging the bottom corner
handle inward:

Photoshop Collage: Move and resize the image as needed with Photoshop's Free Transform command.

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept your changes when you're done.

Step 24: Repeat The Same Steps To Add Additional Photos Into The Collage

And with that, our first photo has successfully been warped into shape and added into our collage! To add
more photos (it wouldn't be much of a collage if we didn't add more photos), simply repeat the steps we've
just worked through for each additional photo, warping each one differently for variety. When you get to the
part where you add the layers into a layer group, name your new groups with successive numbers ("Photo 2",
"Photo 3", "Photo 4", etc.), then simply drag them into the main collage document, move them into place and
resize them as needed with Free Transform.

I've added two more photos to my collage, and if I look in my Layers palette, I can see that I now have three
layer groups, named "Photo 1", "Photo 2" and "Photo 3", above my Background layer which contains my
background image:
Photoshop Collage: Photoshop's Layers palette showing the three layer groups that I've dragged into the
document, as well as the main Background layer.

If you want to move one photo on top of another in your collage, simply click on its layer group in the Layers
palette and drag it above the other photo's group to change the "stacking order". Layers and layer groups that
are higher in the Layers palette appear in front of layers and groups below them.

Here, after adding my two additional photos, is my final result:

Photoshop Collage: The final result.

And there we have it!

Photoshop Tutorials: Adding Sunlight Through The
Trees
Learn Photoshop with Free Adobe Photoshop Tutorials at
Photoshop Essentials.com
Written By Steve Patterson

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we're going to learn how to add beams of sunlight through trees, which is
not only a great way to make an image look more interesting, it's also a lot easier to do than you might think,
as we'll see.

We'll even finish things off by making the sunbeams appear to be shining on the ground after they pass
through the trees, which adds more realism to the final effect.

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Here's the image I'll be starting with in this Photoshop tutorial:

Photoshop Tutorials - The original image.

And here's what it will look like after we add our sunbeams:
Photoshop Tutorials - The final result.

Let's get started.

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Step 1: Find The Color Channel With The Highest Contrast

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With our image open in Photoshop, the first thing we need to do is find out which of our three color channels
(Red, Green and Blue) contains the highest amount of contrast. To do that, switch over to your Channels
palette, which by default is grouped in beside your Layers palette. You'll see the "Red", "Green" and "Blue"
channels listed, which combine to create all the colors we see in our image. You'll also see what appears to be
a fourth channel, the "RGB" channel at the top, but it's really just the composite of the Red, Green and Blue
channels ("RGB" stands for "Red, Green and Blue") and isn't a channel itself:
Photoshop Tutorials - The Channels palette in Photoshop.

We're interested in the three color channels, and what you want to do is click on each channel while keeping
an eye on your image to see which one of them gives us the highest amount of contrast in the image.

Click on the Red channel first and you'll see your image turn black and white. Remember what it looks like,
then click on the Green channel. You'll see a different looking black and white version of the image. Again,
remember what it looks like, then click on the Blue channel for a third black and white version of the image.
You want to choose the version that offers the highest amount of contrast, and chances are, if the image you're
working on looks similar to mine, it will be the Blue channel with the highest contrast. Here's what my Blue
channel looks like. The sky in the background is nice and bright while the trees and ground are very dark,
exactly what I was looking for:
Photoshop Tutorials - The Blue channel's black and white version offers the best contrast between the sky and
the trees and ground.
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Step 2: Make A Copy Of The Channel

Now that I know my Blue channel is the one that offers the highest amount of contrast, I need to make a
duplicate of it. To copy a channel, simply click on it and drag it down onto the New Channel icon at the
bottom of the Channels palette (it's the second icon from the right):

Photoshop Tutorials - Copy the channel by dragging it onto the "New Channel" icon.

Release your mouse button and you'll see the copy of the channel below all the other channels in the Channels
palette. Since I copied my Blue channel, Photoshop named the duplicate "Blue copy":

Photoshop Tutorials - Copy the channel by dragging it onto the "New Channel" icon.
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Step 3: Darken The Dark Areas Further With The Levels Command

We need to increase the contrast even further in our copied channel by making the dark areas completely
black, and we can do that easily with Photoshop's Levels command. To access Levels, either go up to the
Image menu at the top of the screen, choose Adjustments, and then choose Levels, or for a faster way, use the
keyboard shortcut Ctrl+L (Win) / Command+L (Mac). Either way brings up the Levels dialog box. Directly
below the Histogram (the black graph that looks like a mountain range) in the center, you'll see three little
sliders - a black one on the left, a white one on the right, and a gray one in the middle. Click on the black one
on the left and begin dragging it towards the right. As you drag the slider, you'll see the dark areas in your
image becoming even darker. Continue dragging the slider towards the right until all the dark areas in the
image appear to be filled with black:

Photoshop Tutorials - Drag the black slider towards the right until all the dark areas in the image appear filled
with solid black.

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box. Here's my image after dragging the slider. The dark
areas now appear filled in with black while the sky in the background remains nice and bright:
Photoshop Tutorials - The copy of the Blue channel after darkening the dark areas further with Levels.

Step 4: Load The Channel As A Selection

Hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click directly on the channel in the Channels palette:

Photoshop Tutorials - Hold down "Ctrl" (Win) / "Command" (Mac) and click on the copied channel in the
Channels palette.

This loads the channel as a selection in the image:

Photoshop Tutorials - The Channel has been loaded as a selection in the document.
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Step 5: Add A New Blank Layer

Switch over to your Layers palette at this point and click on the New Layer icon at the bottom to add a new
blank layer:

Photoshop Tutorials - Click on the "New Layer" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

You'll see your image turn back into a full color image as soon as you click on the icon, and Photoshop adds a
new blank layer named "Layer 1" above the Background layer in the Layers palette:
Photoshop Tutorials - A new blank layer is added above the Background layer.
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Step 6: Fill The Selection With White

Press the letter D on your keyboard to reset your Foreground and Background colors if needed, which sets
black as your Foreground color and white as your Background color. Then use the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+Backspace (Win) / Command+Delete (Mac) to fill the selection with white on the new layer. It may not
be easy to tell that anything has happened if your sky was already fairly white to begin with as mine is, which
is why I haven't included a screenshot here, but we've now filled the sky area with solid white and we're going
to use it to create our sunbeams.

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Step 7: Duplicate The New Layer

With "Layer 1" selected in the Layers palette (the currently selected layer is highlighted in blue), use the
keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate the layer. A copy of the layer, which
Photoshop names "Layer 2", appears at the top of the Layers palette:

Photoshop Tutorials - Photoshop's Layers palette showing "Layer 2" now appearing above "Layer 1".
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Step 8: Apply The "Radial Blur" Filter To "Layer 2"

We're now going to create our sunbeams. With "Layer 2" selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Filter
menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, and then choose Radial Blur. This brings up the Radial Blur filter's
dialog box. Increase the Amount option at the top to somewhere around 80, although this value will depend
on the size of your image and how long you need your sunbeams to be. The higher you set this value, the
longer they'll be, so you'll probably need to experiment a little here. Select Zoom for the Blur Method, which
is what's going to give us our sunbeam shapes, and set the Quality option to Best. If you're running Photoshop
on a slower computer and you're simply experimenting at this point with the Amount value, you may want to
set the Quality option to either "Good" or "Draft", which will give you lower quality sunbeams while you're
experimenting but won't take as long for Photoshop to render them. You'll want to set it to "Best" though
when you're ready to create the actual effect.

In the bottom right corner of the dialog box, you'll see the Blur Center option. This is where we tell Photoshop
where want the sunbeams to start from (the spot where they'll "zoom" out from). The square area represents
your image (even though your image probably isn't square). Click in the general spot where you want the
sunbeams to be coming from. I want my sunbeams to start from approximately a quarter of the way down
from the top center of the image, so that's where I've clicked inside the square:

Photoshop Tutorials - Photoshop's "Radial Blur" filter settings. Change the settings circled in red above.

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box and have Photoshop create our first batch of
sunbeams:
Photoshop Tutorials - The image after applying the Radial Blur filter to create the first sunbeams.

The sunbeams don't really stand out very well just yet, but we'll fix that next.

Step 9: Add An "Outer Glow" Layer Style

To make our sunbeams stand out a bit more, let's add a glow to them. Click on the Layer Styles icon at the
bottom of the Layers palette (the icon that looks like the letter "f"):
Photoshop Tutorials - Click on the "Layer Styles" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Then choose Outer Glow from the list of layer styles that appears:

Photoshop Tutorials - Click on the words "Outer Glow".

This brings up Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Outer Glow options in the middle column. No
need to change any of the settings here. The defaults work fine for our sunbeams, so simply click OK to exit
out of the dialog box and apply the Outer Glow effect:
Photoshop Tutorials - Click OK when the "Outer Glow" dialog box appears to accept the default settings and
apply the effect to the sunbeams.

The sunbeams now stand out much better with the Outer Glow applied to them:
Photoshop Tutorials - The image after applying the Outer Glow to the sunbeams.
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Step 10: Change The Layer Blend Mode To "Soft Light"

The sunbeams are a little too intense now though, so let's make them look a bit more realistic, and we can do
that simply by changing the blend mode of the layer they're on. With "Layer 2" still selected, go up to the
blend mode options in the top left corner of the Layers palette. By default, the blend mode is set to "Normal".
Click on the down-pointing arrow to the right of the word "Normal" and select the Soft Light blend mode
from the list:

Photoshop Tutorials - Change the blend mode of "Layer 2" to "Soft Light" to make the beams of light look
less intense and more realistic.

Here's my image after changing the blend mode to "Soft Light":

Photoshop Tutorials - The image after applying changing the blend mode of "Layer 2" to "Soft Light".
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Step 11: Duplicate "Layer 2"

With "Layer 2" still selected, press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate it. Photoshop copies the
layer, adds it above "Layer 2" in the Layers palette, and names it "Layer 2 copy":
Photoshop Tutorials - Press "Ctrl+J" (Win) / "Command+J" (Mac) to duplicate "Layer 2".

Step 12: Lengthen The Sunbeams With The "Free Transform" Command

We now have two copies of our sunbeams, one on "Layer 2" and the other on "Layer 2 copy". Let's make the
sunbeams on "Layer 2 copy" longer to add some variety to them, and we can do that easily using Photoshop's
Free Transform command. Before we do that though, if you're currently working with your image inside a
document window, press the letter F on your keyboard to switch your screen mode to Full Screen Mode With
Menu Bar, which will make it a lot easier to see what you're doing. Then press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T
(Mac) to bring up the Free Transform box and handles around the image.

If you look closely in the center of the image, you'll see a little target icon. Click on it and drag it up into the
same location your sunbeams are zooming out from:

Photoshop Tutorials - Click on the small target icon in the center of the Free Transform box and drag it to the
spot where your sunbeams are originating from.

Once you've moved the target icon into its new location, hold down Shift+Alt (Win) / Shift+Option (Mac) and
drag any of the corner handles outward to stretch out the sunbeams. By holding down the "Shift" key as we
drag, we tell Photoshop to constrain the proportions of the image, and holding down "Alt/Option" tells
Photoshop to use the location of that little target icon we moved a moment ago as the center of the
transformation, so the beams of light stretch out from that point. Here, I'm dragging out the bottom left handle
to make the sunbeams longer:
Photoshop Tutorials - Hold down "Shift+Alt" (Win) / "Shift+Option" (Mac) and drag out any of the four
corner handles to make the beams of light on "Layer 2" longer.

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation.

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Step 13: Resize And Reposition "Layer 1" To Create The Ground Reflections

At this point, our beams of light through the trees are complete, but let's finish things off and add a bit more
realism by making them appear to be shining on the ground after they pass through the trees. If you remember
from earlier in the tutorial, we created a selection from the channel we copied, then added a new layer ("Layer
1") and filled it with white. Up until now, we haven't done anything with that layer, but we're going to use it
right now to create the light shining on the ground.

To do that, first click on "Layer 1" in the Layers palette to select it. Then once again press Ctrl+T (Win) /
Command+T to bring up the Free Transform box and handles. Click anywhere inside the image (except for on
the target icon in the center) and drag the image down until the white-filled areas are appearing over the
ground. These white-filled areas are going to become the light shining on the ground. You'll most likely also
need to resize them by dragging the top and bottom center handles inward to "squish" them a bit into position:
Photoshop Tutorials - Use Free Transform to drag the white-filled areas on "Layer 1" down until they appear
over the ground, then drag the top and bottom center handles inward to resize them and "squish" them into
place.

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation.

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Step 14: Change The Blend Mode Of "Layer 1" To "Overlay"

Finally, to make the white-filled areas look more like light shining on the ground and less like, well, white-
filled areas, simply go up to the blend mode options once again in the top left corner of the Layers palette and
change the blend mode for "Layer 1" from "Normal" to Overlay:

Photoshop Tutorials - Change the blend mode of "Layer 1" to "Overlay".

And with that, we're done! Here's my original image once again for comparison:
Photoshop Tutorials - The original image once again.

And here, after changing the blend mode of "Layer 1" to "Overlay" to create the light shining on the ground,
is my final result:
Photoshop Tutorials - The final result.

And there we have it!

Photoshop Sparkles: Add A Sparkle Trail To A

Photo
Learn Adobe Photoshop with Photoshop Effects Tutorials at
Photoshop Essentials.com
Written By Steve Patterson

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we're going to learn how to add a sparkle trail to a photo, using a custom
Photoshop sparkle brush we'll be creating. I got the idea for this tutorial after seeing the poster for an
upcoming Dustin Hoffman/Natalie Portman movie, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium", but of course
sparkle trails have been around since the days of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, and I'm sure even long before that.
Fortunately, Photoshop makes them extremely easy to create thanks to the powerful brush controls that were
introduced in Photoshop 7, which are still just as powerful and useful today!

Here's the image I'll be starting with in this Adobe Photoshop Tutorials:

Photoshop Sparkles: The original image.

I'm going to make her magic wand look a little more magical by adding a sparkle trail. Here's how it will look
when we're done:
Photoshop Sparkles: The final result.

Let's get started.

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Step 1: Open A New Photoshop Document

As I mentioned, we'll be creating our sparkle trail using a custom made Photoshop "sparkle" brush, and the
first thing we need to do is create our brush. To begin, go up to the File menu at the top of the screen and
choose New, which brings up Photoshop's New Document dialog box. You can also access the New
Document dialog box using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+N (Win) / Command+N. Enter 200 pixels for the
Width and 200 pixels for the Height, and make sure the Background Contents option near the bottom is set to
White so our new document has a white background, then click OK:
Photoshop Sparkles: Create a new Photoshop document that's 200 pixels wide by 200 pixels high, with white
as the background color.

Photoshop opens a new 200x200 document with a solid white background:

Photoshop Sparkles: The new Photoshop document.

Step 2: Select The Brush Tool

With our new document created, select the Brush Tool from the Tools palette, or simply press the letter B on
your keyboard to access it with the shortcut:
Photoshop Sparkles: Select Photoshop's Brush Tool.

Step 3: Set Your Foreground Color To Black

We need black as our Foreground color, which is the color Photoshop uses to paint with when we have the
Brush Tool selected, so if black is not currently your Foreground color, press the letter D on your keyboard to
quickly reset your Foreground and Background colors, which sets black as your Foreground color (white
becomes your Background color). We can see our current Foreground and Background colors in the color
swatches near the bottom of the Tools palette (the swatch in the upper left is the Foreground color and the one
in the bottom right is the Background color):

Photoshop Sparkles: The Foreground and Background color swatches in the Tools palette.

Step 4: Select the "Star 70 Pixels" Brush

The "sparkle" brush we're creating is really just a combination of several other brushes that ship with
Photoshop, and you can experiment on your own if you like with different brush combinations to create your
own unique "sparkle" brush, since there's several brushes that would work well for this effect.

I'm going to start with the Star 70 pixels brush, so switch over to your Brushes palette, click on words Brush
Presets in the top left corner to see a list of preset brushes on the right, then scroll down the list until you get
to the "Star 70 pixels" brush.

Click on it to select it:

Photoshop Sparkles: Click on the words "Brush Presets" in the top left corner of Photoshop's Brushes palette,
then scroll down the list of preset brushes on the right and select the "Star 70 pixels" brush.

Step 5: Click In A Few Random Spots Inside The Document With The Brush

With the "Star 70 pixels" brush selected, click in a few random spots inside the document to add our first few
"sparkles". Three or four clicks should do the trick:

Photoshop Sparkles: Click in three or four random spots inside the document with the brush to create the first
few "sparkles".
Step 6: Select the "Airbrush Soft Round 17" Brush

After you've added the first few sparkles, switch back to the Brushes palette and scroll up the list of preset
brushes until you come to the Airbrush Soft Round 17 brush. Click on it to select it:

Photoshop Sparkles: Scroll up to the "Airbrush Soft Round 17" brush in the Brushes palette and click on it to
select it.

Step 7: Click In A Few Random Spots Inside The Document With The New Brush

Just as we did with the previous brush a moment ago, click in three or four random spots inside the document
with the new brush. This adds more "sparkles", as well as a little variety to them:
Photoshop Sparkles: With the new brush selected, click once again in three or four random spots inside the
document.

Step 8: Select The "Assorted Brushes"

Switch back to the Brushes palette once again, and this time, click on the small right-pointing arrow at the top
of the palette to access the drop-down menu and select Assorted Brushes from the list of additional brushes at
the bottom:

Photoshop Sparkles: Select "Assorted Brushes" from the list of additional brushes in the Brushes palette drop-
down menu.

Photoshop will pop up a message asking if you want to replace the existing brushes with the new brushes.
Click the Append option to have Photoshop simply add the new brushes in with the existing brushes rather
than replacing them:

Photoshop Sparkles: Select the "Append" option to add the new brushes to the bottom of the list of available
brushes.

Step 9: Select the "Starburst - Small" Brush

With the Assorted Brushes added in the Brushes palette, scroll down the list until you come to the Starbust -
Small brush and click on it to select it:
Photoshop Sparkles: Scroll down the list of preset brushes until you come to the "Starburst - Small" brush.
Click on it to select it.

Step 10: Click In Three Or Four Random Spots Inside The Document

With the "Starburst - Small" brush selected, click in another three or four random spots inside the document to
add the rest of our sparkles:

Photoshop Sparkles: Add the remaining sparkles by clicking in a few random spots with the "Starburst -
Small" brush.
Step 11: Define A New Brush Preset

We've added all of our sparkles. All we need to do now is save them as a brush. To do that, go up to the Edit
menu at the top of the screen and choose Define Brush Preset. Photoshop will pop up a dialog box asking you
to name the brush. I'm going to name mine "Sparkle Brush":

Photoshop Sparkles: Type in a name for your new brush. I've named mine "Sparkle Brush".

Click OK after you've entered in a name and your new brush is created! You can close out of the brush
document at this point, since we no longer need to have it open. No need to save it when Photoshop asks,
since the brush is already created.

Step 12: Open A Photo And Add A New Blank Layer

With our "sparkle brush" now created, we can add our sparkle trail to a photo, so go ahead and open the photo
you want to use if it isn't open already. Then click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette
to add a new blank layer above the Background layer, which is the layer that contains our image. Photoshop
will automatically name the new layer "Layer 1". Double-click directly on the name and rename it to
"Sparkles":

Photoshop Sparkles: Add a new blank layer to the photo document and rename the layer "Sparkles".

Step 13: Select The Brush Tool Once Again

We need to select the "Sparkle Brush" we just created, but in order to select it, we first need to have the Brush
Tool selected, so go ahead and either select it from the Tools palette or press B on your keyboard:
Photoshop Sparkles: Select the Brush Tool once again.

Step 14: Set Your Foreground Color To White

Our sparkle trail wouldn't look very impressive it we created it in black, so we need to set our Foreground
color to white. To do that, simply press X on our keyboard to swap your current Foreground and Background
colors, which will set white as your Foreground color (black becomes your Background color). Again, we can
see this in the color swatches near the bottom of the Tools palette:

Photoshop Sparkles: Set your Foreground color to white.

Step 15: Select the Sparkle Brush

Switch back over to your Brushes palette, click once again on the words "Brush Presets" in the top left corner
of the palette if the option isn't already selected, then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the list of preset
brushes on the right. Your "Sparkle Brush" (or whatever you named it) will appear at the bottom:
Photoshop Sparkles: Scroll down to the bottom of the list of preset brushes in the Brushes palette and select
the sparkle brush you created a moment ago.

Step 16: Select The "Shape Dynamics" Option

Click directly on the words Shape Dynamics on the left of the Brushes palette to select the "Shape Dynamics"
options, which will appear on the right of the palette. Make sure you click directly on the words and don't just
click inside the checkbox on the left:

Photoshop Sparkles: Click directly on the words "Shape Dynamics" on the left of the Brushes palette.

Step 17: Set The "Size Control" To "Fade"

With "Shape Dynamics" selected, if you look in the top right of the Brushes palette, you'll see a "Size Jitter"
option, and directly below that, you'll see a Control option. This "Control" option is technically the "Size
Control" option and it allows us to specify what, if anything, will affect the size of the brush as we paint with
it. Click on the down-pointing arrow and choose Fade from the list, then enter 25 in the box beside it:
Photoshop Sparkles: Set the "Control" option to "Fade" and enter "25" in the box beside it.

By setting the Size Control option to "Fade", Photoshop will gradually fade the diameter of our brush down to
zero when we paint a brush stroke, and it will do so using the number of "steps" we've specified, which in this
case is 25. You'll most likely need to experiment with the number of steps to get your sparkle trail to fade out
properly with your image, but 25 is a good place to start.

Step 18: Select The "Scattering" Option

Click directly on the words Scattering on the left of the Brushes palette, below the words "Shape Dynamics",
to bring up the "Scattering" options. Again, make sure you click directly on the words and don't just click
inside the checkbox on the left. We want the "Scattering" options to appear on the right of the Brushes palette
and for that, we need to click directly on the words:

Photoshop Sparkles: Click directly on the words "Scattering" on the left of the Brushes palette.

Step 19: Set The Scattering Options

When the Scattering options appear on the right of the Brushes palette, enter 110% for the Scatter Amount,
then enter 3 for the Count option and 35% for the Count Jitter:

Photoshop Sparkles: Change the "Scattering" options circled in red above.

Once again, you'll most likely find you need to experiment with these values a little, since your image will be
different.
Step 20: Set The Brush "Spacing" To 50%

Click directly on the words Brush Tip Shape in the top left of the Brushes palette, below the words "Brush
Presets". Then, down near the bottom of the Brushes palette, set the Spacing option to about 50%:

Photoshop Sparkles: Change the "Scattering" options circled in red above.

In this case, the "Spacing" option determines the maximum length of our brush stroke (our "sparkle trail"),
and as with the "Shape Dynamics" and "Scattering" options, some experimenting may be necessary to get
your sparkle trail to the proper length for your image.

Step 21: Drag Out Your Sparkle Trail

Our "Sparkle Brush" has been created and the options have been set in the Brushes palette, so with white as
our Foreground color, we can go ahead and add our sparkle trail! To do that, click either or or just beside the
object that's creating the sparkle trail (the girl's magic wand in my image) and then drag out a brush stroke in
the direction you want the sparkle trail to be coming from. You'll probably need to resize your brush first, and
the easiest way to do that is by using the left and right bracket keys on your keyboard. The left bracket key
makes the brush smaller and the right bracket key makes it larger.

I'm going to click just to the left of the girl's magic wand and then drag my brush over her head and down the
right side, as if the sparkle trail was created by her waving the wand. Notice how Photoshop fades the size of
the brush as the brush stroke gets further and further from the starting point, until the brush eventually fades to
nothing, thanks to the options we set in the Brushes palette:
Photoshop Sparkles: Click on or near the object creating the sparkle trail, then drag in one continuous motion
in the direction the sparkle trail is coming from.

Step 22: Duplicate The Sparkles Layer

With the "Sparkles" layer selected in the Layers palette, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J
(Mac) to duplicate the layer. A copy of the layer will appear above the original in the Layers palette:

Photoshop Sparkles: Photoshop's Layers palette showing the copy of the "Sparkles" layer above the original.
Step 23: Apply The "Gaussian Blur" Filter

We're going to add a bit of a glow to our sparkles, and we'll do that by adding a slight blurring effect to the
duplicate layer we just created. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, and then choose
Gaussian Blur. When the Gaussian Blur dialog box appears, enter a Radius value of about 4 pixels:

Photoshop Sparkles: Apply the Gaussian Blur filter to the copy of the Sparkles layer.

You may want to go a bit higher if you're using a high resolution image. The idea is simply to add enough of a
blur that the sparkles appear to have a faint glow around them:

Photoshop Sparkles: The sparkles now appear to have a faint glow after applying the Gaussian Blur filter.
Step 24: Duplicate The "Sparkles Copy" Layer

To increase the brightness of our sparkles, with the "Sparkles copy" layer selected, once again use the
keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to create a duplicate of it, which appears at the top of the
Layers palette:

Photoshop Sparkles: Duplicate the "Sparkles copy" layer to increase the brightness of the sparkle trail.

Step 25: Add An "Outer Glow" Layer Style

To complete the effect, let's add a bit of color to the glow around the sparkles. To do that, with the top layer
selected in the Layers palette, click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers palette (the icon that
looks like the letter "f") and select Outer Glow from the list:

Photoshop Sparkles: Click on the "Layer Styles" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and select "Outer
Glow".

This brings up the Layer Style dialog box with the Outer Glow options in the middle column. Choose a color
for your glow by clicking on the color swatch directly below the word "Noise" and choosing a color from
Photoshop's Color Picker. I'm going to choose a pinkish-red color for mine. Then decrease the intensity of the
color by lowering the Opacity of the glow. I'm going to lower mine to about 60%:
Photoshop Sparkles: Choose a color for the Outer Glow by clicking on the color swatch and choosing a new
color from the Color Picker, then lower the Opacity of the glow to reduce the intensity of the color if needed.

Click OK to exit out of the Layer Style dialog box, and you're done!

Here, once again, is my original image:

Photoshop Sparkles: The original image.

And here, after adding some color to the glow around the sparkles, is my final result:
Photoshop Sparkles: The final result.

And there we have it!

Adding Reflections To Sunglasses In Photoshop

Learn Adobe Photoshop with Photoshop Tutorials at Photoshop
Essentials.com
Written By Steve Patterson

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we're going learn how to add reflections, or at least, different reflections,
to sunglasses.

This is a popular Photoshop effect and opens up a world of creative and artistic possibilities depending on
who is wearing the sunglasses and who or what you have them looking at.

Here's the image I'll be using for this Photoshop tutorial:

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: The original image.

If we look closely, we can see that there already is a faint reflection in her sunglasses, and it looks like she's
standing on the side of a road if I'm not mistaken. To me, she could just as easily be standing on a tropical
beach, so we're going to give her more mirror-like reflective lenses and have her looking towards the water
instead by using this photo:

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: A photo of a tropical beach.

as the reflection in her sunglasses:

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: The final result.

Let's get started.

Want a better way to learn? Download this tutorial as an easy to read, ready to print PDF eBook!

Step 1: Select One Of The Lenses

We need to work on one lens at a time, so let's begin with the lens on the left (our left, her right). To complete
the work on the other lens, all we'll need to do is repeat the same steps we're about to do. First, we need to
select the lens, so select around the outside of it using the selection tool of your choice (Lasso Tool, Pen Tool,
etc.):

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: Select around the outside of the lens on the left using the Photoshop
selection tool of your choice.

Step 2: Create A New Blank Layer

With the lens selected, click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to add a new blank
layer above the original Background layer, which is the layer that contains our original image:
Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: Add a new layer by clicking on the "New Layer" icon.

Photoshop adds a new layer above the Background layer and automatically names it "Layer 1". Double-click
directly on the layer's name in the Layers palette and rename it to "left lens" to make it easier for us to keep
track of what we're doing (it's always a good idea to name your layers):

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: A new layer is added above the Background layer. Rename the layer "left
lens".

Step 3: Fill The Selection With Black On The New Layer

With the "left lens" layer selected (the currently selected layer is highlighted in blue in the Layers palette),
press the letter D on your keyboard to reset your Foreground and Background colors if necessary so black
becomes your Foreground color (white becomes your Background color), then use the keyboard shortcut
Alt+Backspace (Win) / Option+Delete (Mac) to fill the selection we made with black:

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: The left lens now appears filled with solid black.
Press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) when you're done to deselect the selection.

It looks like we've filled the left lens with black, but since we're using layers and we've filled the selection on
a layer above the Background layer, our original image isn't affected at all. The black filled selection area and
the original photo are completely separate from each other.

Step 4: Drag The Second Image Into The Document

At this point, we need to bring in the image we're going to be using as the reflection in the sunglasses, so open
your second image in Photoshop if it's not open already and have both images displaying in their own separate
document windows on the screen (you can cycle through the various screen modes for each document by
pressing the letter F on your keyboard). Press V to quickly select Photoshop's Move Tool, then simply click
anywhere inside the second image and drag it into the sunglasses document:

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: Use the Move Tool to drag the second image into the main sunglasses
document.

If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that the second image has been added on a new layer above the
"left lens" layer. Double-click on the layer's name and rename it to "left reflection":
Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: The second image has been added on a new layer at the top of the Layers
palette. Rename the new layer "left reflection".

Step 5: Create A Clipping Mask

Currently, the image on the "left reflection" layer is blocking much of the sunglasses image from view. What
we want is for it to appear only inside the left lens, and we can do that easily by using the "left lens" layer as a
clipping mask for the "left reflection" layer above it. What this means is, the only area of the tropical beach
photo that will remain visible is the area sitting above the black-filled area on the layer below it. Any areas of
the tropical beach photo that are sitting above any transparent areas on the "left lens" layer below it will be
hidden from view.

To create the clipping mask, with the "left reflection" layer selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Layer
menu at the top of the screen and choose Create Clipping Mask, or use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+G
(Win) / Option+Command+G (Mac). Either way turns the "left lens" layer into a clipping mask for the "left
reflection" layer above it, and the tropical beach photo (or whatever photo you happen to be using) is now
sitting nicely inside the left lens:

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: The tropical beach photo now appears inside the left lens.

If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that the "left reflection" layer now appears indented to the right,
with a small arrow pointed down towards the "left lens" layer below it, which indicates that the "left
reflection" layer is now being clipped by the "left lens" layer:
Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: Photoshop's Layers palette showing the "left reflection" layer being clipped
by the "left lens" layer below it.

Step 6: Resize And Reposition The Image With Free Transform

Now that our reflection image is inside the left lens, let's resize it and reposition it. We can do both of those
things at once using Photoshop's Free Transform command, so press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to
bring up the Free Transform box and handles around the second image. Even though we can only see the part
of the image that's inside the lens, Photoshop places the Free Transform box and handles around the actual
dimensions of the image. If you can't see some of the handles because they're outside of the viewable area
inside the document window, press F on your keyboard to switch your view mode to Full Screen Mode With
Menu Bar, which will allow you to see all of the Free Transform handles (press F a couple more times when
you're done with Free Transform if you want to switch back to the document window view mode). Then
simply drag any of the corner handles inward to resize the image. Hold down Shift as you're dragging to
constrain the proportions of the image, and hold down Alt as you drag if you want Photoshop to resize the
image from its center:

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: Resize the image by dragging any of the corner handles. Hold "Shift" to
constrain the image proportions and "Alt" (Win) / "Option" (Mac) to resize the image from its center.
If you need to rotate the image, move your mouse outside any of the corner handles. You'll see your mouse
cursor change to a curved line with a small arrow on each end. Simply click and drag with your mouse to
rotate the image.

To move the image, click anywhere inside the Free Transform box and move the image around with your
mouse. Just don't click on the small target icon in the center, otherwise you'll move the target icon, not the
image. Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation. Here's my image
after moving and resizing my tropical beach photo inside the lens:

Photoshop Sunglasses Reflection: The image serving as the reflection has now been moved and resized.