Photoshop tutorials and resources

In this easy Photoshop CC tutorial I will show you how to create a fantasy photo effect. I will use a few stock images and blend modes to create beautiful and colorful light effects. 

Colorful Fantasy Photo Effect result

Stock used for this tutorial

Couple Sky Lights pack Light texture In order to create this fantasy looking effect in Photoshop we are going to use some light textures and blend modes. When I created the Colorful Portrait Effects tutorial I used a similar technique to create this beautiful effect in Photoshop: https://www.psdbox.com/tutorials/create-colorful-manipulations-in-photoshop This photo effect tutorial is going to be a lot easier. We are going to use only 2 stock photos to create the light effects and blend modes to create the desired effect on the Photo. At the end I will use Camera RAW to give the final touch. If you cannot use Camera RAW as filter, save your file in Tiff format and make sure you disable Layers before you save the file. Reopen the tiff file in Photoshop and it should open it by default in Camera RAW.

Photoshop tutorial - Easy Fantasy Photo Effects

In this video tutorial I will show you how to create an easy lith print photo effect in Photoshop. You can use any Photoshop version to create this effect. I used a free stock image from Unsplash to create this effect: Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash. This effect was used to be done in darkroom: A lith print is a silver gelatin print that has been over exposed and partially developed in highly diluted lith film developer. The prints often achieve tones that are impossible to achieve without toning and sometimes are only possible using the lith printing process. Quoted from: https://filmphotographyproject.com/content/howto/2012/01/what-lith-print   Download image Download PSD file

Lith print Photo Effect

If you want to get a nice lith print photo effect in photoshop, you will have to make use of adjustment layers and work with the shadows and highlights and blend modes. Noise is also an important part of this effect. I emulated that with the Noise Filter and then created a shadow mask for the noise to remove it from the brightest highlights. Watch the following video for more info.

Lith Print Photo effect tutorial

In this Photoshop CC 2017 tutorial I will show you how to create a romantic scene using free stock images. You'll learn how to create fantastic light effects and how to compose different images into a seamless romantic scene. Resources used Couple Room background Outdoor background Particles 1 Particles 2 Abstract lights

Original PSD file

End result

Summary: How to create a romantic scene in Photoshop CC 2017 These are the most important steps needed to create this romantic scene in Photoshop. You can use Photoshop CS6 or previous versions you should be able to get to a similar result. FOr more details please watch the video at the end of this article. Step 1 Open the picture of the room and remove the background behind the window. I used the Magic Wand and Quick Selection Tools but you can use any technique you want. Once the background is gone, add the the photo of the outdoor landscape and blur it 5px using Gaussian Blur or Field Blur.

Step 2 Extract the couple from the background and and place them on a new layer above the room layer and resize them until it looks realistic. Do not try to extract the hair accurately because you can paint it manually or using a stock image.

  Step 3 To integrate the couple into the background and create the romantic scene, use Adjustment Layers as clipping masks. You have to darken the couple and match the contrast of the room in order to make them look like they are inside the room. Blend modes come very handy in this situation. Check the video for more details

Step 4 Create shadows under the couple using a soft brush and an Opacity of 30-40% in order to have more control and create the shadow gradually. You can also paint shadows around the room if you want to darken certain areas.

Step 5 - Create hair in Photoshop I recreated the hair of the girl and the boy I used a 1px hard brush and sampled the original color of the hair and then I painted on a new layer under the couple's layer. Keep in mind that part of the hair is illuminated by the light that enters through the window so you have to use different tones when painting the hair.

  Step 6 - Create light effects in Photoshop CC 2017 I created an Outer Glow effect for the couple to emphasize them and the two layers (one on Screen and one on Color Dodge) and I created some light glows using a soft brush to create a more fantasy looking scene.

Step 7 - Create ambient Our romantic scene is almost ready but you can create a more cinematic or epic effect by using particles or light overlays. I used some dust particle overlays and some glitter overlays on Screen blend mode.

Manipulación romántica en Photoshop CC tutorial video

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I think it's time for another emotional manipulation tutorial. The main techniques used here are the same as on my other tutorials but I will also show you how to create realistic depth of field in Photoshop, how to create a shatter effect using brushes and how I got that cinematic effect on the final result.

Before we start I would like to mention that the original idea of this manipulation belongs to blackmamba08 so make sure you check her version as well.

Final Result

Stock used Kissing couple: http://diaryofj.deviantart.com/art/kissing-90818299 Landscape: Click here to download  the image Media Militia Particles: http://mediamilitia.deviantart.com/art/Particles-Design-Pack-142701166 Explosion debrish brush: http://www.brusheezy.com/brushes/17364-free-explosion-brushes Fire fireflies particles: http://ayelie-stock.deviantart.com/art/Magic-fire-02-118134577 Lens flare: http://www.psdbox.com/stock/high-quality-optical-flares Video Version

Cut-out techniques video Tutorial - Photoshop Extraction techniques

Step 1

Because the stock image of the kissing couple was not too big I was forced to use a canvas size of just 1200x768 which for me is a small canvas especially of you want to print the artwork. Create your document and paste the premade background adjusting it's size to fit the canvas.

Once you do that you can extract the kissing couple from the background and paste it slightly on the right (avoid placing them in the middle of the document). Don't worry too much about details on the girl's hair, we will mask it anyways.

Step 2

Create a layer mask for the couple layer and use grunge or splatter brushes to mask the back of the girl and part of her head. See image below. I used several grunge brushes packs. Make sure you use a different brush every time you stroke or you will have repeating patterns.

Step 3

I added some light effects to the couple layer. In fact I added these effects after I finished the artwork but you can add those now and adjust later if needed.

I wanted to create some rim lights on the boy's body so I used the same Inner Shadow technique as always. The Inner Shadow color that I use is #BA9752. Then I also added some Outer Glow. For more details see image below.

Step 4

Once I had the structure of the artwork I made some adjustments using adjustment layers as clipping masks. I adjusted the colors of the couple with Color Balance. Then I added a Photo Filter to add more warmth and then a Solid Color with the Hue blend mode and the color #AE9D86 and layer Opacity at 75%.

I wanted to blend the shatter edge of the girl's body a bit better with the background so I created a new clipping mask layer above the color fill layer, I changed the blend mode to Screen and I painted along the edge with a medium soft brush to add a bit of light on that side. I used the color #AF7E33.

Step 5

The overall image was too saturated so I used a Hue Saturation adjustment layer NOT as clipping mask above all the other layers and I reduced the Saturation to -20.

Step 6

In order to add more emphasis on the kissing couple, I blurred the background using the Lens Blur filter. This effect is called depth of field. First I duplicated the background layer because the Lens Blur filter cannot be applied to a Smart Object. Then I activated the Quick Mask mode and grabbed the Linear Gradient Tool (G) and drew a small gradient. Deactivate the Quick Mask mode inorder to get your selection. Now go to Filter>Blur>Lens Blur and apply some blur using about 10px for the radius. Make sure you only apply the filter to the landscape layer. That way you will have the grass near the couple in focus and as you fade into the distance it becomes blurrier.

Note: if the blur comes out the wrong way, invert your selection or before you apply the filter.

Step 7

This is probably the most challenging part of this tutorial, making the shatter effect. I used several brush sets for this, layer masks and clipping mask layers.

First I placed some particles from the Media Millitia pack behind the girl. I erased some parts using a layer mask.

In order to make these particles look like they are actually part of the girl's body, I duplicated the couple layer (and deleted the lauyer mask of the duplicated layer) and used it as a clipping mask for the particles layer. Move this layer to the left so that you see the texture of the girl on the particles. Optionally, you can also add some outer glow to the particles layer. I used a dark orange color and set this effect to Color Dodge. But it looks awesome without thsi effect anyways.

I repeated the same process to add more particles.

Step 8

I created even more particles using an explosion debris brush pack. The key to this is to use a smaller brush size so that you create smaller and more detailed particles to fill the space between the previous bigger particles.

Step 9

The hardest part is done, all that's left to do now is add some effects and get that cool cinematic look. The fist thing I did is add a lens flare from my Lens Flares Pack. I placed it behind the couple and use the Screen blend mode.

Step 10

Add a spark of passion using the fire flying particles also with the Screen blend mode.

Step 11

Another light effect you can add is some light glows using a soft brush. I added this light effect above the couple layer. So I created a new layer above all the other layers and set its blend mode to Screen. The I used a soft brush and painted two soft dots using the color: #A2824A. If the light comes out too bright use a darker tone of the same color.

Step 12

We are almost there, just a few final adjustments and we are set. Select the top most layer on your palette and press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Shift+Command+Option+E) to create a stamp of all the visible layers or simple select the entire canvas, go to Edit>Copy Merged and paste on a new layer.

With the new layer created go to Image>Adjustments>Variations and select More Cyan. After applying the adjustment, change the layer's blend mode to Lighten and resuce the Opacity to about 70%.

Step 13

Create another stamp with the same keyboard shortcut, this will be our final result. Once the new stamp is ready, turn the layer into a Smart Object if you can (don't worry if you can't) and go to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects. I used the settings shown in the image bellow. This effect creates some vignetting effect and adds a certain dreamy effect to the scene. Apply some sharpening and you're done.

Final result