Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

As usual, the first step in creating our photo effect is to duplicate the Background layer so
that we don't damage our original image. To do that, go up to the Layer menu at the top
of the screen, choose New, and then choose Layer via Copy. Or, for a much faster way
to duplicate a layer, simply press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win ! Command+J
("ac#
$o to %ayer & 'ew & %ayer (ia )opy.
*ither way tells +hotoshop to create a copy of the Background layer, and if we look in the
%ayers palette, we can see that we now ha(e two layers. The original image is sitting
safely on the Background layer on the bottom, while a copy of the image is sitting
directly abo(e it. +hotoshop has automatically named the new layer ,%ayer -,#
A copy of the image appears on ,%ayer -,, which is now the currently selected layer.
Step : !dd ! "ue#Saturation !d$u%tment Layer
Before we get around to using the .issol(e blend mode, let's first con(ert our color photo
to a sepia tone. We can do that /uickly and easily using a "ue#Saturation ad0ustment
layer. )lick on the New &ill 'r !d$u%tment Layer icon at the bottom of the %ayers
palette. 1t's the circle split diagonally between black and white. Then choose
"ue#Saturation from the list of ad0ustment layers that appears#
)lick on the 'ew 2ill Or Ad0ustment %ayer icon and select ,3ue!4aturation, from the
list.
1f you're using +hotoshop )45 or earlier, this will bring up the 3ue!4aturation dialog bo6.
1f you're using +hotoshop )47 as 1 am here, the 3ue!4aturation options will appear in the
!d$u%tment% (anel, which is new to +hotoshop )47. 1f we wanted to simply con(ert the
image to black and white, we could do so by dragging the Saturation slider all the way
to the left, which would remo(e all of the color, lea(ing us with a black and white photo.
1'd rather make things a bit more interesting by adding a sepia tone effect. To do that,
select the Colori)e option at the bottom of the dialog bo6 or Ad0ustments +anel, which
will colori8e the entire image using a single color. Then set the "ue (alue to around *+,
either by dragging the 3ue slider or by typing the (alue directly into the input bo6#
4elect the ,)olori8e, option, then set the 3ue to around 79 for a sepia tone effect.
Step ,: Change The Blend -ode '. The !d$u%tment Layer To /Color/
:our image should now be colori8ed with a sepia tone. %et's make sure we're affecting
only the colors in the image, a(oiding any changes to the brightness (alues, by changing
the 0lend mode of the ad0ustment layer. :ou'll find the Blend "ode option in the top left
corner of the %ayers palette. By default, it's set to 'ormal. )lick on the word ,'ormal, or
on the small arrows to the right of the word to bring up a list of all the a(ailable blend
modes and choose the Color blend mode from down near the bottom of the list#
)hange the blend mode of the ad0ustment layer to )olor.
As we looked at in much more detail in our (hoto%hop1% &ive 2%%ential Blend -ode%
&or (hoto 2diting tutorial, the )olor blend mode blends only the colors from the
selected layer with the layer or layers below it. The brightness, or ,luminosity, (alues,
are left untouched. 3ere's my image after adding the sepia tone and changing the blend
mode#
The photo after applying a simple sepia tone effect.
Step *: Select /Layer 1/
)urrently, the 3ue!4aturation ad0ustment layer is selected in the %ayers palette. We know
that because it's highlighted in blue. We're going to be applying one of +hotoshop's
filters to the copy of our image on ,%ayer -,, but before we can do that, we need to make
,%ayer -, the selected layer. )lick on it in the %ayers palette to select it#
)lick on ,%ayer -, to select it.
Step 3: !pply The /!ngled Stroke%/ &ilter
With ,%ayer -, now selected, go up to the &ilter menu at the top of the screen, choose
Bru%h Stroke%, and then choose !ngled Stroke%#
$o to 2ilter & Brush 4trokes & Angled 4trokes.
This brings up +hotoshop's large 2ilter $allery set to the Angled 4trokes options along
the right column. 4et the Direction Balance, which controls the direction of the brush
strokes, to 3+, the Stroke Length to 13 and the Sharpne%% to , (these are the default
settings so you may not ha(e to change them at all#
4et the .irection Balance to ;9, 4troke %ength to -; and 4harpness to 5.
)lick O< to e6it out of the 2ilter $allery and apply the Angled 4trokes filter to the
image. The photo now appears more like a painting created by a series of diagonal brush
strokes#
A simple painting effect created with the Angled 4trokes filter.
Step 4: Lower The 'pacity o. /Layer 1/
With ,%ayer -, still selected, go up to the 'pacity option at the top of the %ayers palette
and lower the layer's opacity down to 3+5. This will blend the brush strokes in with the
original image on the Background layer#
%owering the opacity of a layer allows the layer(s below it to show through.
Step 6: Change The Blend -ode To /Di%%olve/
2inally, go back up to the Blend -ode option at the top of the %ayers palette and change
the blend mode for ,%ayer -, from 'ormal to Di%%olve#
)hange the blend mode of ,%ayer -, to .issol(e.
With the blend mode set to .issol(e, the brush strokes effect now has a speckled
appearance, adding to the old fashioned look of the image (the speckles will be easier to
see with your own image open in +hotoshop than they are in the small screenshot#
The .issol(e blend mode adds a speckled look to the effect.
Step 7: Select The "ue#Saturation !d$u%tment Layer
To create our speckled photo border, we're going to add a Solid Color .ill layer which
will ser(e as the color of the border. We need to place the fill layer abo(e all of the other
layers in the image. By default, +hotoshop adds new layers directly abo(e the currently
selected layer, and at the moment, ,%ayer -, is currently selected, which means that if we
were to add a new layer right now, +hotoshop would place it between ,%ayer -, and our
3ue!4aturation ad0ustment layer. That's not what we want. We want the new layer to be
placed abo(e the ad0ustment layer, which means we first need to select the ad0ustment
layer by clicking on it in the %ayers palette#
)lick on the ad0ustment layer in the %ayers palette to select it
Step 8: Drag 'ut ! 9ectangular Selection
Before we add the 4olid )olor fill layer, let's select the area that we want to use as the
photo border. 2irst, we'll drag out a rectangular selection around the area of the photo that
we want to appear inside the border. To do that, grab the 9ectangular -ar:uee Tool
from the Tools palette, or simply press the letter - on your keyboard to select it with the
shortcut#
4elect the =ectangular "ar/uee Tool.
Then, with the =ectangular "ar/uee Tool selected, click inside the image and drag a
selection around the area that you want to remain (isible inside the border. The area
outside of the selection will become the border. Try to keep the same amount of space
around all four sides as you drag out the selection. 1f you need to reposition the selection
as you're dragging it out, hold down your %pace0ar, drag the selection around with your
mouse to reposition it, then release the spacebar and continue dragging#
:ou can reposition the selection as you drag by holding down your spacebar.
Step 1+: ;nvert The Selection
We now ha(e the area that we want to appear inside the border selected. +roblem is, what
we really need is for the border area itself to be selected. 2ortunately, all we need to do is
invert the selection, which will deselect e(erything that's currently selected (the area
inside the border and select e(erything that's not currently selected (the border area. $o
up to the Select menu at the top of the screen and choose ;nver%e, or use the handy
keyboard shortcut for in(erting a selection, Shi.t+Ctrl+; (Win ! Shi.t+Command+;
("ac#
n(ert the selection to /uickly select the border area and deselect the area inside the
border.
1t may not seem at first like anything has happened since the original selection outline
still remains, but if you look closely, you'll see that a second selection outline has now
appeared around the edges of the photo. The area between the two selection outlines is
now selected and ready to become our photo border, while the area to appear inside the
border is now deselected#
Step 11: !dd ! Solid Color &ill Layer
)lick once again on the New &ill 'r !d$u%tment Layer icon at the bottom of the %ayers
palette and this time, choose a 4olid )olor fill layer from the top of the list#
The fill layers appear abo(e the ad0ustment layers in the list. )hoose a 4olid )olor fill
layer.
This brings up +hotoshop's Color (icker, allowing us to select the color that we want to
fill the layer with. 1'm going to stick with the default color of 0lack, so 1'll 0ust click O<
to accept black as my fill color and e6it out of the dialog bo6#
)lick O< when the )olor +icker appears to accept black as the color for your border.
'ormally, a 4olid )olor fill layer would fill the entire image with our chosen color, but
because we had the border area around our photo selected when we added the fill layer,
only the border area was filled with black#
The 4olid )olor fill layer fills the border area with black.
Step 1: Select The Layer -a%k
One of the great things about fill and ad0ustment layers in +hotoshop is that they each
come with a built>in layer ma%k. 1n fact, it's the layer mask for the 4olid )olor fill layer
that's causing the solid black color to appear only in the photo border area. 1f we look in
the %ayers palette, we can see that the 4olid )olor fill layer (which +hotoshop has named
,)olor 2ill -, contains a layer mask preview thum0nail. 'otice how the large
rectangular area in the center of the thumbnail is filled with black while the area around it
is filled with white. The white represents the area in our document window where the fill
layer is (isible (the photo border. The black represents the area where the fill layer is not
(isible (the area inside the photo border.
To create our speckled border effect, we'll need to blur the edges of our photo border,
which means we'll need to blur the layer mask. To do that, we'll need the layer mask
selected, so click directly on the layer mask pre(iew thumbnail in the %ayers palette to
select it. :ou'll know it's selected because a white highlight border will appear around the
thumbnail#
A white highlight border around the pre(iew thumbnail indicates that the layer mask is
currently selected.
Step 1,: Change The Layer Blend -ode To /Di%%olve/
$o back up to the Blend -ode option at the top of the %ayers palette and change the
blend mode for the 4olid )olor fill layer from 'ormal to Di%%olve#
)hange the blend mode of the fill layer to .issol(e.
Step 1*: !pply The /<au%%ian Blur/ &ilter
With the layer mask now selected and the blend mode for the layer set to .issol(e, go up
to the &ilter menu once again, choose Blur, and then choose <au%%ian Blur
$o to 2ilter & Blur & $aussian Blur.
This brings up +hotoshop's $aussian Blur dialog bo6. )lick on the 9adiu% slider at the
bottom of the dialog bo6 and drag it towards the right to increase the amount of blurring
that's applied to the layer mask, or drag it towards the left to decrease the blur amount.
What we're doing here is blurring the edges of our photo border, and because we'(e set
the layer's blend mode to .issol(e, the blurred edges will appear as a random speckled
pattern. <eep an eye on your image in the document window as you drag the slider to
0udge the results. The more blurring you apply, the wider the speckled border will appear.
The amount you end up using will depend entirely on your own personal preference. 1'm
going to set my =adius (alue to around -? pi6els, but again, your (alue may be different#
Ad0ust the look of your specked photo border by dragging the =adius slider left or right.
)lick O< to e6it out of the dialog bo6 and apply the blurring to the layer mask. And with
that, you're done@ 3ere is my final result after adding the speckled photo border effect#
The final result.
+hotoshop's .issol(e blend mode may not be the most popular kid on the block,
especially when it comes to serious photo editing , but as we'(e seen with a couple of
e6amples in this tutorial, it does ha(e potential when creating special effects . The ne6t
time you're looking for an interesting way to blend layers together, gi(e the .issol(e
blend mode a try and see what you come up with@ Aust remember that Di%%olve only
work% with %emi=tran%parent pi>el%, so you'll need to either be working with a layer
mask as we did here when we created our photo border or you'll need to lower the opacity
of the layer before you'll see any results with the .issol(e blend mode.