If you didn’t download the source file for Part I and want to follow along simply download .pat file here. Install the pattern by choosing Edit>Preset Manager from the main menu, choose Patterns from the drop-down-menu and press the Load button on the right hand side of the dialog. Navigate to wherever you saved the downloaded .pat file, select it and press OK to load the pattern into Photoshop.

Now that the pattern is loaded lets go ahead and open a new document in Photoshop (mine is 540×400px at 72ppi). Although the dimensions of your file don’t matter, if you’re using a higher resolution you’ll need to make slight adjustments to the layer styles we apply along the way.

By default the background layer of a new Photoshop document is locked. Double click on the Background layer and rename it to unlock it (I usually just rename it Background again but you can call it Elmo or George if you’d like).

The first item of business is somehow get our pattern onto the stage where we can work with it. You could choose Edit>Fill from the main menu and fill the layer with the pattern, but you’d loose some of the valuable adjustments that are gained by using a Layer Style to add the pattern instead, so we’re going to do it that way instead.

Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the Background layer in the Layers palette and choose Blending Options from the menu. Select Pattern Overlay from the list of style options on the left, choose the pattern we loaded into Photoshop in Step 1 (it should be the last pattern in the Pattern Picker).

One look at the stage will tell you that the pattern (at least for this document size) is far too large, and here’s where using a Layer Style comes in handy… Take the Scale slider at the bottom of the Pattern Overlay style options box and slide it down to 50%. Here’s another little tip for you – if the pattern isn’t set on the stage the way you like it, just click and drag it on the stage to a position that’s more pleasing before closing the Layer Styles dialog box. Once it looks the way you want press OK to commit the style.

(*note: I’ve found that the Scale slider in the Pattern Overlay style dialog works best at even divisions of 100%, so 75%, 50%, 25% and 12.5% will yield the clearest and least pixelated results.)

Now we have the pattern added to the background but we don’t have any way to work directly with the pattern itself. To solve this problem we’ll now move the pattern onto it’s own layer. Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the layer style icon inside the Background layer and choose Create Layer from the menu. This will take the layer style we just applied and break it into layers that are clipped to the Background layer. In this case it creates a new layer above the Background layer called Background’s Pattern Fill.

We don’t actually want this new layer clipped to the Background layer, so lets release the clipping by Control-Clicking (PC: Right-Click) on the Background’s Pattern Fill layer and choosing Release Clipping Mask

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Now we’ve got our document setup and are ready to start adding the styles that will create the look and feel of our heavy damask fabric. Lets start with adding some color and and texture to the Background layer.

Click on the Background layer in the Layers palette to select it as the working layer. Change the foreground color in the Tools bar to something nice and subtle, anything except purple is fine… by now you know my rule about purple. I chose a nice blue color #30505d. Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the Background layer with the pretty new color and add the following Pattern Overlay layer style.

The pattern used here is called Gauze

After adding the color and pattern overlay to the Background layer this is what my document looks like so far.

Click on the Background’s Pattern Fill layer in the Layers palette to select it as the working layer and add the following two Layer Styles. By adding a different Pattern Overlay and a slight Bevel and Emboss we can make the pattern look as if it stands off the base fabric and is heavier and darker. These two layer styles are both rather subjective and you can get cool results playing around with the settings, patterns and blend modes of each so don’t be afraid to experiment.

Here are my style settings. Be careful to check each setting and slider as many of them have been adjusted.

Again here is what my document looks like after adding the Pattern Overlay and Bevel and Emboss to the Background’s Pattern Fill layer.

With our texture and color added we can now select an area to define as a repeating pattern just like we did in Part I (Steps 13-14) by setting guides at each edge of the repeating pattern. It helps to really zoom-in on the pattern so that you can see each pixel to make each guide exact.

Using guides to define the pattern make sure that any areas that are excluded on one side of the pattern are included on the opposite side.

Once you think you’ve got your guides in the right place, copy the pattern area, open a new document and using duplicate layers mock-up the pattern to make sure all sides align correctly.

Once you’re sure your guides are in the right place make a selection of the pattern and choose Edit>Define Pattern from the main menu. Your new pattern will now appear in the Pattern Picker ready to use in your next project.

At this point I’d recommend saving your file incase you decided you want to change anything on it later. Simply filling the Background layer with a different color will change the coloring of the entire fabric pattern and you can save that pattern for future use as well.

In the download at the end of the lesson I’ve included a .pat file with the basic pattern as well as a blue and red version for your use. I hope you’ve learned something useful!

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Though there are multiple ways to get to the same result, for me the following method is the most accurate, detailed and versatile, and unlike other methods it allows unlimited future reworking of the pattern if needed… it’s also requires the most work, so be prepared.

(*note: This tutorial assumes you know how to use the pen tool with a degree of proficiency.)

There are a myriad of excellent resources and inspiration for repeating patterns online and anytime I’m creating something this complex I like to at least have a piece of reference material to get me started. In this case I’m going to go wallpaper shopping… yes, actual wallpaper. I paid a visited to the Wallpaper Direct website and did a search for “damask” patterns. Once I found a pattern I thought would make a good starting point I copied the image and pasted it into a new Photoshop document.

To get this swatch for yourself if you’re following along at home follow this link to reach the search page where I found my pattern. Click on the DE067 / Ashdown swatch which will open the popup window showing the pattern repeating in the background (although not exactly perfectly). Command-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the background pattern in the upper left corner of the window and choose “View Background Image”, this will show just the .jpg file the page is using as it’s repeating background. Command-Click (PC: Ctrl-Click) on the image and choose “Copy Image” then switch back to Photoshop and press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to paste the pattern onto the stage of a new document.

(*note: I’m using a 1000×1000 pixel document so that I can have plenty of room to work.

Next lets press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the new layer and move the copy to where the next tile in this repeating pattern should go. Repeat this another two times until you’ve created a space where you can see how the pattern is supposed to look on all sides. I’m going to place a copy above, below and off to the right of my initial swatch. If you’re using the same swatch as me, you’ll notice that the edges don’t meet up exactly right (like there are a few edge pixels missing), to compensate for this I’m going to leave a little gap between those spaces so when I trace the pattern everything will actually be in the right place.

To keep things clean select all 4 pattern layers in the layers palette and press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E) to merge the selected layers into a single layer.

Now that I’ve got a good idea of the flow of the pattern we’ve got one last step in the setup process before we get into creating the new pattern. We’ll be tracing the edges of our source pattern with the pen tool in a minute and since we obviously want our pattern to be perfectly symmetrical lets add a simple vertical guide. If your rulers aren’t visible press Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R) to bring them up and drag a guide onto the stage by clicking on the ruler on the left side of the stage and dragging the guide out to the stage. The guide needs to cut the pattern in half perfectly.

This is where the real work begins. Grab the Pen tool by pressing the P key. Beginning at the top of the pattern place an anchor point on the guide line and begin tracing the right (or left) side of the pattern. I find that zooming in on the area I’m working on makes this easier. Keep in mind that you’re creating a new pattern here and you can take as much liberty or add/subtract as much detail as you see fit. The swatch we’re working on is just a guide and you can deviate as much as you like.

Work until you’ve got one side of the pattern completely traced out.

Before we go any further lets click over to the Paths tab in the Layers palette and give our work path a name (if it isn’t visible choose Window>Paths from the main menu). If we were to deselect our path and start a new work path at this point we would loose all that hard work which (speaking from experience) totally sucks. By giving the path a new name we commit it as part of our working document.

Press the A key to switch to the Path Selection tool and drag a selection around the whole path to select the entire thing. You’ll know it’s all selected because every point on the entire path will be selected.

With the whole path selected and the Path Selection tool still active hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key and click and drag the path to duplicate it. This will effectively duplicate our entire path inside the existing path layer. Be sure to drag the copy far enough away from the original that the two are not touching.

(*note: If you press and hold the shift key once you begin to drag/copy the path you can constrain your the line of your drag so it is exactly straight across from the original.)

Obviously we need to make this copy of our path face the opposite direction so lets choose Edit>Transform Path>Flip Horizontal from the main menu. Then with the arrow keys move this copied path to meet the other side. You will want to zoom in on one of the junction points as close as possible to make sure that the two paths meet perfectly at the center. I found that hiding the guide made it easier as well.

Because this core pattern repeats vertically with a slight overlap, I’m going to now select the entire complete path and duplicate it again (just like before), this time dragging it vertically down until it sits over the source pattern below, slightly overlapping the upper path.

Notice that to the right and left of the main pattern that the center portion of that pattern is repeated on each side. To create these we’ll simply duplicate the path again, remove the leafy outer border and place what’s left to the right and then the left of the main pattern.

(*note: I’d hope you know better than to get this far into a complex project without saving your document, but if not, you ought to do it now!)

The path layout is now complete so lets switch back to the Layers palette and create a new layer by clicking the Create New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette or by using the keyboard shortcut Command-Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-N) and call the layer Pattern.

Press the D key to reset the foreground color to black and then fill the layer with black by pressing Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace). Now lets add a Vector Mask to this layer using our path. Press the P key to switch to the Pen tool, Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the path and choose Create Vector Mask.

You can now hide or delete the original pattern reference layer because we don’t need it anymore.

Now that we’ve got the pattern laid out with all it’s parts it’s time to define the center of the pattern that will be our repeating section. We’ll begin by placing a guide at a top point of the pattern. It’s important to choose a spot at the top that’s easy to find and contains all the repeating information. I chose the top of this point to make it easy to find the correlating point in the lower area. It helps a lot placing these guides to zoom in until you can see each pixel.

(*note: Before placing these new guides I chose View>Clear Guides from the main menu to remove the center guide we placed on the stage earlier.)

Now scroll down and find that EXACT same point in the lower half of the pattern and place another guide there. Every pixel counts so make sure your guide is placed perfectly.

Repeat this process adding guides to the left and right sides of the pattern. Make sure that any parts of the pattern that are outside the guide on the left are inside the guide on the right.

With all my guides placed for the pattern I’ll often create a selection inside my guides of the pattern area, copy the selection and paste it into a large new document where I can duplicate the pasted tile and layout the repeating tiles to make sure everything lines up perfectly. In this case I discovered that a small area at the top corners of my pattern were missing. I show you this oversight to demonstrate how important it is to make this test file before going any further and how easy it is to miss small details in a complex pattern.

Testing your pattern at this stage will save you hours of trouble later.

By simply deleting the Vector Mask from my layer and adding copies of the smaller side elements to the top of the design back in my Paths layer in the Paths palette, and adding a new Vector Mask including the modified paths I easily remedied the problem.

Now that we’ve fixed and tested the pattern to insure that it tiles perfectly it’s time to turn this baby into a Photoshop pattern.

We only want the black areas to be visible on in the pattern so hide the Background layer by clicking the eye icon next to it in the Layers palette and make sure the Pattern layer is selected as the active layer. Press the M key to invoke the Rectangular Marquee tool and drag a selection inside our guided area.

Choose Edit>Define Pattern from the main menu, give your pattern a name and click OK. The pattern has been saved and is now available in the Pattern Picker. If you choose Edit>Preset Manager and choose Patterns from the menu you will find your new pattern at the end of the list.

You’ve now completed Part I of the tutorial. You can now continue to Complex Repeating Patterns Part II where we’ll add color and texture to create a stunning and versatile repeating pattern.

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Final Image Preview

Before we get started, let’s take a look at the image we’ll be creating.

Step 1

Create a New Document 950 pixels wide by 600 pixels heigh, set the Resolution to 300 pixels/inch, and the Background to white. Make a rectangular selection with a Style of Fixed Size, a Width of 400 px, and Height of 100 px.

Step 2

Drag and snap guides to all edges and vertical center of the selection.

Step 3

Open the gradient picker and select the “Steel Bar” preset from the drop down menu. If you can’t see the preset in the list, click the triangle button on the right and select “metals” from the list. Click Append. Create a new layer and name it “Body.” Fill the selection with the gradient from bottom to the top of the selection.

Step 4

To make our pencil more reflective go to Image > Adjustments > Curves (Command + M), and adjust it as in the below image.

Step 5

With the selection still active, create a new layer and fill the selection with the color #d60005, then set the layer Opacity to 60%. Name the new layer “Color.”

Step 6

Right click the “Body” layer and duplicate it. Name it “Metal” and move it to the top of the layer stack. Select the Rectangular Marque Tool, set style to “normal,” make a selection as in the image below, and hit Delete. Drag a guide from the left ruler and snap it to right edge of the selection.

Step 7

Select the Elliptical Marque tool and make a selection from point 1 in the image while holding down the Alt and Shift keys. Right-click inside the selection and choose Transform Selection, then set the Horizontal Scale to 50%, and hit Enter twice to apply. Hit Delete to delete the selected area. This will give our pencil a perspective look.

It’s a good idea to save it because we will need this selection later. Go to Select > Save Selection. Name the selection “Ellipse.”

Step 8

With the Marque tool still selected, drag the selection towards the right edge of the “Metal” layer. Drag another vertical guide until it snaps to the center of the selection.

Step 9

Pick the Rectangular Marque tool, then while holding down the Shift key, make a selection as shown below. Go to Select > Inverse and hit Delete.

Step 10

While holding down the Command key, click the “Metal” layer to load the selection (Click on the thumbnail of the layer, not on the layer name). With any selection tool selected, move the selection 4 pixels right. You can do it by pressing the Right Arrow on the keyboard 4 times.

Go to Select > Inverse. While holding down the Command + Alt + Shift keys, click on the “Metal” layer. Alt + Shift combination is for intersecting the already selected area and the new selection that we’re going to make. The new selection is the metal part because we’re holding down the Command key as well. So the metal part and our current selection will be intersected. Using this selection make a thin line on the metal part selected. Use these lines to make the bumps.

Step 11

Copy and paste the selection into a new layer and name it “Bump.” Apply a Gradient Overlay and Bevel and Emboss with these settings. To make it slightly bigger than the metal layer, hit Command + T, and set the Vertical Scale to 102%.

Step 12

Duplicate the “Bump” layer and move the copy 6 pixels to the right. Repeat this step once more to make a total of 3 bumps. Select these 3 layers and merge them (Command + E.) Duplicate the merged layer to create another set of bumps and place it as you like.

Step 13

Duplicate the “Metal” layer and name the copy “Eraser”. Drag the “Eraser” layer below the “Metal” layer. Move the “Eraser” layer about 60 pixels right. Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation (Command + U.) See the image below for the Hue/Saturation settings.

Duplicate the “Metal” layer again and name the copy “Shadow.” Drag the “Shadow” layer below the “Metal” layer. Hit Command + U and bring the lightness to -100. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set the Angle to 0 and Distance to 5, then apply it. Now we can merge the layers related to the metal part of the pencil. Choose “Shadow,” “Metal,” and Bump layers, then Hit Command + E to merge them.

Step 14

Create a new layer and name it “Tip.” Using the Polygonal Lasso tool make a selection, as in the image below. Fill the selection with a light yellow orange. Move this layer down below the “Body.” Go to Select > Deselect to loose the selection (Command + D).

Step 15

Select and Duplicate the “Body”. Name the new layer “TipGradient.” Move this layer to the top. Hit Command + T, then set the scale and position as in the below image. Hit Command + U to bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box and use these settings: Hue set to 33, Saturation set to 53, Lightness set to +37, and Colorize Checked.

Step 16

Drag “TipGradient” layer down below the “Body” layer. Hold down Alt and click between the “TipGradient” and “Tip” layers.

Step 17

With “TipGradient” layer selected, go to Edit > Transform > Perspective and adjust the perspective like this.

Step 18

Go to Select > Load Selection, and load the selection “Ellipse.” Position the selection as in the image, then Delete the selected area from both the “Body” and “Color” layers.

Step 19

With the “Color” layer selected, create a new layer and name it “Wood.” Press D on the keyboard to change the Foreground and Background colors to black and white. Press X to make foreground white. Fill the selection with white. Then go to Filter > Render > Fibers. Use 10 for both variables. Hit Command + T, rotate it 90 degrees counter clockwise, and scale it as shown below.

Step 20

Go to Edit > Transform > Perspective and adjust the perspective as shown. Set the Blending Mode to Soft Light and Opacity to 60%.

Step 21

Get the Elliptical Marque tool and make a selection, as shown below. Select the “Wood” layer and hit delete. Select the “TipGradient” layer and hit Command + U, then set the Saturation to -100. Hit Command + L and apply these settings. This will make the tip darker and high contrast.

Step 22

Now we’re about to finish. Select all the layers except the “Background” layer and Hit Command + E to merge them. Rename the layer as “Pencil.” Duplicate the “Pencil” layer and name it “Reflection.” Drag the “Reflection” layer below the “Pencil” layer.

Duplicate the “Reflection” layer again, and name it “Shadow.” With the “Shadow” layer selected hit Command + U and set the Lightness to -90. Hit Command + T and scale it to three-fourths of its height. Choose the “Reflection” layer, then go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical.

Step 23

With all layers selected except the “Background” layer, hit Command + T, and rotate them -30 degrees. Move the “Shadow” and “Reflection” layers as shown below.

Step 24

Choose the “Reflection” layer and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Apply it with a Radius of 3 and set the Opacity to 60. Choose the “Shadow” layer, then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Apply it with a Radius of 7 and set the Opacity to 80.

Step 25

With the “Reflection” layer selected, add a Layer Mask using the Add Layer Mask button, which is located at the bottom of the Layer Palette. Fill the mask with the Gradient tool, from white to black, which makes the shadow vanish.

Step 26

With the “Pencil” layer selected, apply a Gradient Overlay with these settings.

Step 27

That’s it! You can change the position and also change the background color if you wish. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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Final Image Preview

Before we get started, let’s take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Click the screenshot below to view the full-size image.

Step 1

This is a beginners tutorial, for this we’re going to use two of the most popular filters Displace and Vanishing Point. We’ll also use Illustrator to render the 3D cup.

Let’s get it started. First of all open Illustrator, I’m using Illustrator CS3 to render the cup. Create a new Web Document that is 1024 pixels by 768 pixels. Next, draw a shape with the Pen tool, as in the image below. Ensure the foreground color is a light gray (#E6E6E6) and set the Stroke Color as None.

Step 2

Revolve our shape to make it spin from the left or right side, you can see a detail tutorial about using this technique over at VECTORTUTS: Working with 3D Objects and Transparencies to Make a Vector Cola Bottle Design, but as this is a Photoshop tutorial I’ll keep it simple.

Go to Effect > 3D > Revolve, in the popup dialog click on More Options and set the following values: Angle at 360º, Offset 0px from the Right Edge, Surface of Plastic Shading, and Blend Steps set at 100. Use the following image as a guide. After clicking OK, you’ll see how our ugly 2D shape turns into a nice 3D cup.

The cup’s hole must have the same diameter as the cup’s base. When you’ve finished the cup, copy (Command + C) the vector shape.

Step 3

Then open Photoshop, create a new document 1024 pixels by 768 pixels set to RGB 72 dpi, and paste the clipboard into a new layer (be sure to paste the cup as a Smart Object). Make the object a little bit bigger and hit Enter.

Step 4

Duplicate the vector object by dragging the layer miniature over the New Layer mini-button and go to Layer > Render > Smart Object to render the copy.

Step 5

Now we’re going to create a Displacement Map using the cup’s deep levels. Select the “Cup copy” layer and Right-click (Alt-click) over it, then select Duplicate Layer. In the popup dialog under the Document option select New from the drop down and type a name like “map.” Save the new document somewhere.

Step 6

Create a new document 1024 pixels by 768 pixels and paste this image into a new layer. You can create a texture from scratch if you want. I’m using stock this time.

Step 7

Go to Filter > Liquify to make some curves in the vains of the wood texture, as shown below.

Step 8

To apply the Displacement Map go to Filters > Distort > Displace, set both the Horizontal and the Vertical scale to 10, then select Stretch To Fit and Repeat Edge Pixels. Select all (Command + A) and Copy (Command + C) the selection.

Step 9

Paste (Command + V) the document into a new layer above all the other layers in our main document, then name it “Wood1.” Also, change the layer’s Blend mode to Multiply. At this point you must see the cup.

Step 10

Now Command-click the “Cup copy” layer miniature, then Command + Shift + I to invert the selection. Select the “Wood1″ layer, go to Layer > Layer mask > Reveal All, and fill the selection with black using the Fill tool (G). Finally, add a new Fill layer as a black background.

Step 11

Create a new layer below the “Cup” layer, name it “Floor” and select it. Go to Filters > Vanishing point and draw a plane using the cup’s base as a guide, then expand the plane as much as you want. We’re going to paste the “Floor” texture in this plane, grab this image, or any other, and paste it into the vanishing point plane.

Step 12

There’s a nice wood surface to work with. Hide the farthest side of the surface, show the ruler (Command + R), and drag a horizontal guide. Select the “Floor” layer and add a Layer mask > Reveal all. Using a big soft black brush, paint some areas of the layer mask hiding some areas of the surface. You can use the guide to get a straight line. Also, you can hide a little bit of the surface’s front side.

Step 13

Now we’re going to add a background picture, a curtain. First, flip the image horizontally and paste it into a new layer named “Curtain.” Using the same idea as the previous step, add a Layer Mask > Reveal all to the “Curtain” layer. Using the same big brush draw some black areas on the layer mask. Once you’ve finished hiding the main areas, change the brush’s Opacity and Flow to 50%, and hide more areas.

Step 14

Now for some Dodge and Burn! Our two best friends. Select the “Cup copy” layer, then using the Burn tool (O) set to 100px, Hardness 0%, and Exposure 20%, burn some areas against the light direction. Do this inside the cup as well. Do it very carefully, and if you need to Dodge some areas of the cup as well.

Step 15

A quick tip to burn only the inside of the cup. Select the “Cup copy” layer. Make an elliptic selection covering the entire hole, then select the Burn tool, and start painting. It only burns inside the selection, as you can see below. If you want to dodge outside the selection, Command + Shift + I to invert the selection, then select the Dodge tool and start painting.

Step 16

Duplicate the “Cup copy” layer, then place it above the “Floor” layer and below the “Cup copy” layer. Press Command + U to adjust the Hue/Saturation and set the Lightness value to 100. Select all and cut (Command + X) the black copy.

Step 17

Go to Filters > Vanishing Point and paste the image over the plane. Distort the shadow to make it look like the image below. Next, using a Layer mask or the Eraser Tool, delete some areas of the shadow next to curtain.

Step 18

Select the “Cup copy 2″ (Shadow) layer and go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur, then set the Radius value in 6px. Set the shadow’s Blending mode to Multiply and Opacity to 85%.

Step 19

As you can see, there’s a tiny part over the cup’s base without any shadow. To fix this duplicate the “shadow” layer and paste it above the “cup” layer, then delete everything but the tiny shadow of the cup’s leg.

Step 20

Paste the dark cup again, but this time into a new layer below the floor shadow. Press Command + F to re-apply the gaussian blur, then using a soft Eraser or a Layer mask delete all the extra shadow; We only need the shadow over the curtain. Finally, change the Blending mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 75%.

Step 21

Now for an additional shadow detail, duplicate the “floor shadow” layer, make it wider and change the Opacity to 20%.

Step 22

Now, add a bit of liquid to our design – wine is perfect. Show the Guides and draw two horizontal and two vertical guides tangent to the cup’s hole. Then using the Eliptical Marquee tool, draw an ellipse using the tangent guides as boundaries.

Step 23

Select the Gradient Fill tool, set the Radial gradient mode, then change the Foreground and Background colors to #980015 and #4C000F respectively. Also, fill the selection with the gradient.

Step 24

Move the “Wine” layer a few pixels down. Make the same selection again, Command + Shift + I to invert the selection. and hit Delete to remove the selection. Finally, change layer’s Blending Mode to “Overlay.”

Step 25

Now you can add more details to the wine, I added two ripples by using a soft white Brush opacity and flow below 50%.

Conclusion

That’s it! Of course, you can try to create your very own scene, design different objects, apply other textures, and get outstanding results. Try it! You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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Final Image Preview

Before we get started, let’s take a look at the image we’ll be creating. As always, the layered Photoshop file is available via our PSDTUTS Plus membership.

Step 1

The printing technique known as engraving, is a process by which an intaglio matrix (or metal plate) is incised with a design, then is used for printing images on paper. By using Displacement Maps in a creative way, I was able to recreate that look. I began with an illustration. For this tutorial, I sketched a picture of Alice from the famous Lewis Carroll story, and inserted it on a layer named “Line Art.”

Step 2

In an engraving, the lines follow the contour of the form, giving it a three-dimensional quality. The same thing can be done with the help of the Displace Filter. The filter uses a grayscale Displacement Map to calculate the amount of distortion it will apply to the texture. In general, darker values make the texture appear to recede, bending the texture downward, while lighter values appear closer, bending upwards.

Creating a Displacement Map is simple.

1. Create a layer named “Flat.” On this layer, fill the illustration with a flat, medium-gray color (#646464 will do nicely). It is best to do this with the Pencil Tool (B) or Lasso (L) rather than the Brush, so the outlines are nice and crisp.
2. Select the contents of the “Flat” layer.
3. On a separate layer named “D. Map,” shade within the selection area using a large brush with a low Flow percentage. I used pure white, then pure black, passing multiple times over areas, until the appropriate values were reached.
4. Adjust the opacity of the “D.Map” layer until it has a less harsh range of tones (if necessary).
5. Duplicate the “Flat” layer, merge it with “D. Map,” and apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to smooth out the brush strokes.
6. In order to produce perfect values, adjustments can be made to the Displacement Map in the Brightness/Contrast menu (Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast).
7. Finally, hide the “Line Art” and original “Flat” layer, leaving only the “Background” and newly merged “D. Map” layer. Duplicate the image (Image > Duplicate). Name the new image, “d-map,” check the box marked, Duplicate Merged Layers Only, then save the new image.

Yes, I know Alice looks deranged in the second frame, but she has the Mad Hatter and March Hare to deal with, so she’s bound to have her moments.

Step 3

Before I could use the Displace Filter, I needed to make a set of engraving textures that could be wrapped around my illustration. I made one horizontal, one vertical, and one angled texture, giving each its own layer named “Horiz.,” “Vert.,” and “Angle,” respectively. These were placed in a group named, “Textures.” They were each large enough to cover the entire drawing.

In order to keep the textures within the boundaries of my illustration, I selected the contents of the “Flat” layer and used it as a Layer Mask for the entire “Textures” group.

Step 4

Finally, I was able to put the Displace Filter to work. I began by filtering the horizontal engraving texture. While putting the “Horiz.” layer in focus, I selected the Displace Filter from the menu (Filter > Distort > Displace). Keep in mind that the size of the image you work with will determine which values are placed in the Horizontal Scale and Vertical Scale options.

Since I was working with a large image and a texture containing horizontal lines, I gave Vertical Scale a value of 50, and nothing for Horizontal Scale. The remaining options for the Displace Filter were unimportant for this application, so I clicked OK.

Keep in mind, the result of the filtering process does NOT have to be 100% perfect. There will always be a few rebellious pixels here and there. When a good 75-80% of the lines meet your satisfaction, then proceed.

Step 5

These were my results so far!

I repeated the same procedure (using the Displace Filter) for the “Vert.” layer, this time choosing a Horizontal Scale value of 25, while leaving Vertical Scale set to 0. I did not displace the “Angle” texture, for this particular illustration.

If you are unhappy with the results of the filtering process, you can alter your Displacement Map and/or the Vertical Scale value of the Displace Filter until the texture wraps around the form properly. Without a Preview option on the filter, you will have to gain experience with the way the filter behaves before you can predict its output. This may be challenging at first, but things will eventually become clear.

Step 6

After using the Displace Filter on all of my engraving textures, it was time to selectively remove parts of each texture. I used the textures to define the following areas of light and shadow:

• Absence of texture represents areas of direct light.
• Horizontal texture is a light shadow.
• Vertical texture is a medium shadow.
• Angled texture is a dark shadow.

I began to define these areas by duplicating the “Flat” layer. I renamed this layer “Shadow,” and created the four areas of light and shadow listed above. I kept each area perfectly flat, using the Lasso Tool (L) and Paint Bucket (G).

As you can see, I relocated the core shadow from its normal position (near the direct light), to the opposite side of the form (closer to where the reflected light would normally appear). I found that this produced the best results due to the fact that there was no blending between areas of shading. I also broke the rules of light and shadow wherever I felt an area needed emphasis.

Step 7

I began to selectively remove parts of the textures. It was really exciting seeing the image come together!

With the Magic Wand Tool, I selected the areas of direct light (the whitest parts) on the “Shadow” layer. I inverted the selection (Select > Inverse) then went to the “Horiz.” layer and created a Layer Mask from that selection. This revealed the texture on all parts of the form other than the whitest value.

Next, on the “Shadow” layer, I selected both the areas of direct light, and the areas of lightest shadow (the two lightest values). I inverted the selection, chose the “Vert.” layer, and I masked that layer.

Finally, while on the “Shadow” layer, I selected the very darkest value. I moved focus to the “Angle” layer, and created a Layer Mask from that selection.

At this point, I adjusted each layer’s opacity until the values were well-balanced. Also, I readjusted the “Shadow” layer.

Step 8

To complete the illustration, I created a background using the three engraving textures. I selected the “Flat” layer, then masked this background with the selection. Underneath these layers, I used the Brush Tool (B) with a low Flow percentage and the Mode set to “Dissolve.” I sprayed some random gray and maroon tones over a flat gray background.

Conclusion

Finally, my illustration was finished! This tutorial shows how the look of engraving can be reproduced in Photoshop. By using different patterns, you could mimic the look of a woodcut, crosshatch, stipple, or almost any other classic technique. Your imagination is the only limit!

Let’s take a look at the final image. It looks pretty darned good, if I do say so, myself!

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But what if you’re person who can’t draw a stick figure to save your life? Do you always loose at Pictionary? No problem! I’ll show you how to cheat your way through to awesome results even if you’re crap with a pencil!

(*note: If you’re going to play along at home, you’ll need a printer and scanner.)

So how about I stop pointing out your stick figure shortcomings, and lets get started.

First things first… you’ll need to decide what sort of hand drawn element you want to add to your design. Whether it’s a simple bit of handwritten text or a complex drawing, knowing what you want is the first step. I’ve decided to draw an old banner style element, but like you I’ve spent too much time with a mouse and too little time with a pencil lately, so here’s what we’re going to do:

Open up a new Photoshop document by pressing Command-N (PC: Ctrl-N). When the New Document dialog appears choose US Paper from the Preset drop-down menu, change the ppi setting to 150 and click OK.

With this new document we’re going to create a graphical version of what we want to be drawn into our design. We’re doing this because we’re going to take a step back to high school art class and do some tracing in the next step.

I’m going to use one of the custom shapes from my popular Heraldic Shapes custom shape set, but you can use anything you’d like. Feel free to add text, shapes, even photos if you’re feeling ambitious. My only pointer here would be that this is easiest if your design is in black and white. Make your design nice and big so it’ll be easy to trace (you can always shrink it to fit your design).

I also rotated my canvas so that I could work horizontally by choosing Image>Rotate Canvas>90° CW from the main menu. If you do this, don’t forget to rotate it back before moving on to the next step.

When you’ve got your design all done, choose File>Print from the main menu to print out a hard copy.

With the printed out design in your hot little hands, grab a blank piece of paper and some tape and go find yourself a window that has light coming through it (unless of course you’re one of the cool kids that has a light table at home). Tape the paper with your printed design onto the window at a level that will be easy for you to draw then tape the blank paper over the top and SHAZAM! you’ve got a light table of your very own!

Sharpen up that #2 pencil and get to tracing! When you’re done, pull your mess down from the window, remove the tape from the edges and move on to Step 4.

Ok, now take that beautifully traced page over to the scanner (I told you you’d need one, remember?). Scan the page using the scanner’s “Photo” setting, this will ensure that you capture all the levels of gray that your pencil put down and will give the depth to the final result to be convincing. Save the scan as a .jpg or .tiff at at least 150ppi.

Now back to Photoshop where you’ll need to open the design you want to place your pencil drawing into as well as the pencil drawing we just scanned. Since I want to be able to show you a full scale version, I’ve created a small file with an aged paper background. If you’re interested in how to create one of your own, check out my Creating Old Paper With Custom Brushes tutorial.

Arrange your two photoshop windows so that you can see them both, press the V key to switch to the Move tool, then click and drag your scanned pencil drawing into your design document.

It’s quite possible that your drawing is way too big when you get it into your design document so press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to activate the Free Transform tool. Holding down the Shift key to constrain the dimensions of your pencil drawing, click and drag from the corners until you’ve got it sized correctly then commit the transformation by hitting the Return (PC: Enter) key on your keyboard.

Obviously all that white background needs to be dealt with now, and this is the easy part. Make sure that the layer with your pencil drawing is active in the Layers palette and change the Blend Mode of the layer to Multiply. Depending on your background you may want to lower the layer opacity a little as well.

(*note: The Color Burn and Linear Burn blend modes can also produce good results depending on your background.)

And there you have it! You’ve just added a pencil sketch into your design AND you’ve made people think you actually know how to draw!

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Over the years as a graphic designer I’ve accumulated a wealth of custom brushes, shapes and actions that I keep carefully organized and labeled for future use. The brush set I’ll be sharing with you today has been in my collection for probably five of six years and every once in a while I’ll find a good reason to load it into my brushes palette. If you’ve never done that before, don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it as we go.

If you’re playing along at home you should download the brush set before we get started.

Lets go ahead and begin by opening a new document in Photoshop. Mine is 540×300 pixels at 72ppi.

Since stitching on a plain white canvas is a little silly, lets go ahead and spice up the Background layer with a little texture. By default the Background layer in any new Photoshop document is locked, so lets go ahead and double-click on the Background layer in the Layers palette to bring up the Layer Properties dialog box. Simply rename the layer or name it Background once again and hit OK to unlock the layer.

Now that our Background layer is unlocked we’re going to add a Pattern Overlay Layer Style to it which will give us a quick and easy denim background to work with.

Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the Background layer in the Layers palette and choose Blending Options from the menu. This will bring up the Layer Styles dialog box. Click on the Pattern Overlay text in the left column. (You must click on the text and not on the checkbox. Clicking the checkbox will turn the style ON but it won’t give you the options for the style, so it is important to click on the text so we can modify the Pattern Overlay style options.)

Next we need to load a new set of Patterns into the Pattern Picker. Click on the Pattern swatch to reveal the Pattern Picker, then click the little circle with the arrow in it at the top right corner of the picker. Choose “Patterns 2″ from the list and click OK to load the new pattern set into the Pattern Picker. Now simply click on the Denim swatch which is the 4th pattern in the set and click OK to close the Layer Styles dialog box and commit the style to the layer.

Yes, I know, this graphic is a mess… but hopefully it gets the point across.

You should now have a background full of denim and a layer style icon in the Background layer of the Layers palette.

It’s now time to add some text to our document. Press the D key to reset the foreground color to black, then press the T key to invoke the Type tool. Click on the stage to place the cursor and type some text onto it. Notice that when you added the text that Photoshop automatically added a new layer for it.

(*note: To commit the text you can either press the Enter key on the 10-key corner of your standard keyboard or click the Check-Mark in the Text Tool options bar at the top of Photoshop.)

Now that our text is created and while we still have the Type tool chosen we need to create an outline path of the letters. Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the text on the stage and choose Create Work Path from the menu. This will create a white outline around each letter indicating that you’ve created a work path (obviously) which we will use later in the lesson to stitch around.

Add a new layer above your text by clicking the Add New Layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette or by using the keyboard shortcut Command-Option-Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-N). Rename the layer by Double-Clicking on the layers name in the Layers palette. I called this new layer Stitches.

Now it’s time to setup everything in preparation for the stitching, and the first thing we need to do is load the stitching brush set into our Brushes palette. If you haven’t downloaded them yet you’ll want to do it now by clicking HERE. Save the brush set to your desktop or someplace you’ll remember when we go looking for them.

Press the B key to invoke the Brush tool, then bring up the Brushes palette by choosing Window>Brushes from Photoshop’s main menu. In the upper right hand corner of the Brushes palette, click on the options icon and choose Load Brushes from the menu. Navigate to the brush stitches brush set that you just downloaded to your hard drive and click Load. You will then be asked if you want to Append the brushes to the end of your current brushes or if you want to replace the existing brushes by clicking OK. For my example I’m going to replace my existing brushes, but either option works fine.

Now that the brush set has been loaded into the Brush Picker lets go ahead and select the V-shaped brush. We’ll need to make a few adjustments to the settings in the Brushes palette for this brush to make it work the way we want.

First off lets reduce the size of the brush to around 8 pixels in the Diameter setting then make sure the Spacing checkbox is checked and that the spacing is set to around 80%. The spacing change makes the V’s overlap enough to look like interlocking stitches.

While still in the Brushes palette click down to the Shape Dynamics link on in the menu on the left and make sure that the Angle Jitter control is set to Direction. This will make the brush rotate as it goes around the corners to the different sides of our letters.

At last it’s time to make the magic happen. Put on your wizard hat and swap the foreground and background colors by pressing the X key (white should now be showing as the foreground color at the bottom of the Tools palette). Press the P key to switch to the Pen tool and then Command-Click (PC: Right-Click) anywhere on that little white outline that is the Path around the text. Choose “Stroke Path” from the menu, make sure that “Brush” is selected from the drop-down menu and that the Simulate Pressure checkbox is un-checked then click OK.

You’ll now see that the brush we chose has been used to stroke the entire path of the text. Since we’re done with the path now you can either click over to the Paths tab in the Layers palette and delete it, or simply press Command-H (PC: Ctrl-H) to hid it.

To make the stitches a little more realistic lets go ahead and add a few layer styles to the Stitches layer. Just like we did in Step #1 lets Command-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the Stitches layer and choose Blending Options. Now add a Drop Shadow and a Bevel and Emboss as shown below, be sure to check each setting to make sure you haven’t missed anything then click OK.

The slight Bevel and Emboss will add a little more dimension to the thread while the Drop Shadow will add a touch of shading around the edges.

Before we move on let me show you a cool little trick to change the background color. Since the background is a preset color pattern and not an overlay we can’t just change an underlying layer color so we have to resort to other methods. Click on the Background layer in the Layers palette to make it the active working layer. Now lets add an adjustment layer by clicking on the Create A New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette (it’s the circle with half black and half white), choose Hue/Saturation and use these settings (or any that look pretty to you).

The last little bit of adjustment I did was to click over to the Text layer in the Layers palette and change it’s Blend Mode to Multiply and it’s Fill opacity to 70%. By doing this we allow a little of the denim texture to come through onto our black letters adding a little depth and realism.

(*note: You could also paste some real fabric into a layer above the Text layer and use a clipping mask to add even more coolness.)

Anytime you’re using a text to create this effect you will always have an outline of the lettering, but what if you just want to stitch letters? Well, if you’ve got a little experience with the Pen tool you can apply this same technique to any number of paths you’ve drawn yourself.

Below I’ve used the pen tool to draw some text.

Then I switched to the Brush tool, lowered the diameter of the brush to 6 pixels, switched back to the Pen tool and Stroked the path just like we did back in Step 10.

I then added the same Bevel & Emboss and Drop shadow to this new layer of stitches as we did to the original text.

In my final image I simply embellished on the techniques we’ve learned. Check out the .PSD download to view all my final adjustments!

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As always I recommend using a little reference material when you’re creating something from scratch that actually exists in the physical world. For today’s lesson I’m using two pieces I found at iStockPhoto, one for the card-stock background and one for the hang tag. By entering the item ID into the iStockPhoto search you can pull up the exact images I’m using.

In this lesson we’ll be using a photo of actual card-stock for the project. If you’d like to learn how to create this effect from scratch check out my Cardboard And Torn Paper Business Card tutorial.

Our first step will be to organize these items on the stage. I’ve merged the reference tag from iStock with the background layer for convenience. (The .PSD file at the end of the lesson will contain both original comp pieces from iStock). I’ve also rotated the card-stock background.

Lets go ahead and create the shape of our tag by tracing the outline of the reference tag with the Pen tool. This will be easy since the outline of the tag is all straight lines. Press the P key to invoke the pen tool and click your way around the outside of the tag until you end up back at your start point.

(*note: This is easier if you zoo in on the tag for a better view.)

Before we go any further lets click over to the Paths tab in the Layers palette (or by choosing Window>Paths from the main menu) and lets name our path. The reason for this is that if we create a new working path now without naming the one we just created we risk loosing the initial path because if we don’t name it Photoshop assumes we’re done with it.

While we still have the Paths tab open and our Main Tag Area path selected lets also add the hole. Press the U key to invoke the Custom Shape tool, in the options bar at the top of Photoshop make sure that the tool is set to Paths, choose the Ellipse tool and make sure the Exclude Overlapping Path Areas icon is selected.

Holding down the Shift key to constrain the circle, click and drag a circular path onto the stage where the hole in the tag is.

Sometimes despite our best efforts to do things in the correct order Photoshop can have a mind of it’s own so lets double check and make sure this new circular path indeed has the Exclude Overlapping Paths option actually chosen. Press the A key to switch to the Direct Selection tool and take a look at the options bar at the top of Photoshop. Mine actually had defaulted to the Add To Shape Area option rather than retaining the Exclude Overlapping setting. If this is the case for you, just go ahead and click on the Exclude Overlapping Path Areas icon to switch it. We do this to make sure that the hole is actually cutout of the tag.

Switch back to the layer tag and with the Direct Selection tool still selected click and drag around the entire path area to select both paths. Move the path over the top of the background texture and press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to invoke the Free Transform tool (yes it works with paths too). Make sure to hold the Shift key as you grab one of the corners of the transform box to constrain the path as you transform it to the size you want to use. Hit the Return (PC: Enter) key when you’ve resized the path to commit the transformation.

We can convert the selected path to a selection by simply pressing Command-Return (PC: Ctrl-Enter) and then convert the selection to a Layer Mask by clicking the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. (*note: make sure you’ve got the Main Tag layer selected before doing this or the layer mask won’t be applied to the right layer.)

While we’re on this Main Tag layer lets go ahead and add a couple of Layer Styles to it. Command-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the layer and choose Blending Options to bring up the Layer Styles dialog and add the following two styles.

Create a new layer above the Main Tag layer by clicking the Create New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette or by using the keyboard shortcut Command-Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-N), call this layer Grommet.

Press the M key to switch to the Marquee tool, use the fly out menu in the Tools bar to switch to the Elliptical Marquee tool or you can use the keyboard shortcut Shift-M (PC: Shift-M) to switch between Rectangular and Elliptical once the Marquee tool is selected. Click and drag a selection where the reinforcement grommet will live around the hole in the tag.

Click the foreground swatch in the Layers palette and change the color to #706340 and click OK the fill the selection with this new foreground color by pressing Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace).

Lets copy the layer mask from the Main Tag layer to the Grommet layer by holding down the Option (PC: Alt) key and clicking and dragging the layer mask (in the Layers palette) from the Main Tag layer to the Grommet layer. Lets also change the grommet’s layer Blend Mode to Overlay and lower the Fill opacity to 70%.

Just like we did in Step 9 lets go ahead and give the Grommet layer a few Layer Styles of it’s own.

It’s time to add some string to our tag. We’ll do this by drawing a few separate paths and then stroking the path with a brush so lets first press the B key to switch to the Brush tool and we’re going to choose a round hard edged brush with a radius of 3 pixels.

Create a new layer called String 1. Change the foreground color to #735e47 and press the P key to switch to the Pen tool. Using the Pen tool click and drag a path onto the stage that will represent our first piece of string coming from the opening of the hole.

With the Pen tool still selected Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the path and select Stroke Path. Choose Brush from the dialog and make sure Pen Pressure is not checked then click OK. Pressing Command-H (PC: Ctrl-H) when you’re finished will hide the path so you can see what you’ve done.

Repeat Steps 14-15 on a new layer called String 2.

And one last time lets create a path and stroke it to create the loop that wraps from behind the tag around the two strings we just created. I’ll call this layer String Loop. I’m going to draw this path overlapping the tag and we’ll trim it in Step 18.

Press M to switch to the Marquee tool, make sure the Rectangular Marquee is selected and then click and drag a selection to the edge of the tag (where we need to cut our loop of string). Press Delete (PC: Backspace) to remove the overlapping string then deselect by pressing Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D).

To add a little more realism lets add a Drop Shadow, Bevel & Emboss and Pattern Overlay to our string. You can add these layer styles to any of the String layers and then by holding down the Option (PC: Alt) key you can click and drag the layer style from one layer to the next (just like we did with Layer Masks earlier) to add the same style to all 3 String layers.

(*note: The Pattern Overlay is actually overkill for such a small piece of string, but if you’re creating this at 300ppi for a print project it will add the slightest bit of texture to the string and actually adds to the look nicely. Obviously at 300ppi you’ll need to adjust all the layer styles accordingly as well.)

Now that our tag is complete it’s time to put something on it. We’ll want to put the the graphics that will be on the hang tag just above the Main Tag layer and it’s a good idea to create clipping masks from all those layers back to the Main Tag layer so that any graphic that extends beyond the edges of the tag will retain the shape and edge effects of the tag itself.

I’ll start by throwing in the obligatory PSHERO star logo by creating a new layer just above the Main Tag layer and calling it Star. I’ve got the logo star saved as a custom shape so I’ll just throw it onto my layer and position it above the tag as desired. Then by Command-Clicking (PC: Right-Clicking) on the layer and choosing Create Clipping Mask I can use the Main Tag layer as a mask for the Star layer. I also switched the layer Blend Mode to Linear Burn and lowered the Fill opacity to 55% to make it look more like the star was printed onto the card.

(*note: By placing the star behind the Grommet layer which has Fill opacity to 70% I could see the star through the grommet, I didn’t like this look so I raised the Fill opacity of the Grommet layer back to 100% and lightened the color a little.)

I’ll repeat Step 20 a few more times adding text and a little bit of paint with a grunge brush to get to my final image, and yes, all this is included in the download at the end of the lesson. If you want more instruction on how to age and distress in Photoshop you should check out these tutorials:

Creating Old Paper With Custom Brushes
Create An Old Envelope
Antique Ace Of Spades

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Lets get started by taking a quick look at the photo we’ll be applying this effect to. I shot this close up of a California Succulent and although it makes for a compelling abstract by itself I thought it could make a much bolder statement. The shot is a vertical, so I apologize for the amount of scrolling you’ll have to do in this tutorial due to the image height.

We’ll jump right in and have a little discussion about using Calculations to create a Black & White composite. Although many photographers shy away from using Calculations for it’s reputation of being complex and confusing, it’s actually a rather simple and straightforward method. The Calculations dialog basically allows us to combine any two Alpha Channels together using any of Photoshop’s standard blend modes.

The basic method is this:
Open the Channels palette by choosing Window>Channels from the main menu (by default it’s a tab in the Layers palette set). In the Channels palette of an ordinary image you have 4 color channels: RGB which is the combined color information for all 3 basic color channels, RED which contains only the information for red, Green witch contains all the information for the green tones in the image and obviously Blue which as you may have guessed contains the blue tonal ranges.

By clicking on each channel individually in the Channels palette we can examine in more detail what information each channel holds. In my image I notice that the Red and Green channels are very similar and that the Blue channel contains quite a bit more contrast and detail. Although we can play with the channel combinations once we open the Calculations dialog, I find it’s very useful to know what’s going on before I get started.

When you’re done examining your channels, click back on the RGB composite channel and switch back to the Layers palette.

Without further hesitation lets jump right in and open the Calculations dialog by choosing Image>Calculations from the main menu. As soon as the dialog opens, you will notice that your image instantly changes to a black and white version representing the default settings for the Calculations dialog. Although we haven’t (and won’t) done anything to alter the original image the stage is now displaying what the color and blending combination we’ve selected will look like.

I’m going to go ahead and use the Blue channel as my first working channel since I know it holds all the heavy contrast for this image. Although the Red and Green channels are very similar, I do know that I liked the detail in the Red channel a little more than the Green so I’ll go ahead and select Red as my second working channel. Finally I’ll choose the Overlay blend mode at the bottom. The Blend Mode is actually a really cool setting to play around with as it will yield drastically different final results. Make sure the Result is set to New Channel and click OK.

You’ll notice that when you click OK your image doesn’t switch back to the color view, this is because we just created a new Alpha Channel and by default it is automatically selected. Click back over to the Channels Palette for a closer look.

As you can see in the image below a new channel has been created at the bottom of the Channels palette called Alpha 1.

We’re going to copy this channel and paste it on a new layer in the Layers palette so (with the Alpha 1 channel still selected in the Channels palette) start by pressing Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) to select the entire canvas then press Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) to copy the contents of the channel. Now click back up to the RGB composite channel to turn all the standard channels back on. Switch over to the Layers palette and press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to paste what we just copied onto the stage. This will automatically create a new layer and place the black and white version we created into it. See, Calculations aren’t so scary!

(*note: I suggest naming the layer based on the Calculations method you used to create it incase you need to know later.)

Next we’ll add a layer below the Calculations layer and add a gradient for the layer to interact with. Here’s a neat little trick for you: If you hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key when clicking the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette the new layer will be added below the current layer. Call this layer Gradient.

Lets set our foreground and background colors in preparation for our gradient. Set the foreground color to a nice light color, I’m going to be using a red/orange gradient so my light color will be #c34614 and the background color (the darker color) will be #561800. Press the G key to invoke the Gradient tool and choose Foreground to Background from the gradient picker in the Gradient options bar and make sure that Radial Gradient is selected.

I’m going to now click and drag on the stage to add the radial gradient. Because the lighter color is set as the foreground color, the gradient will naturally go from light to dark so I’ll start at the area I want to highlight and drag away from it to the furthest edge of my image.

Now lets get these two layers talking to each other by clicking on the Calculations layer and changing it’s Blend Mode to Overlay.

(*note: It may help you to actually perform this step before placing your gradient so you can experiment with different gradients until you figure out what works best for your photo.)

After completing the process you may find that your image needs a little more punch (or maybe not, but mine did), you can achieve this easily by clicking on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and adding a Curves Adjustment Layer to the top of the file.

Here’s what my final image looks like… Quite a contrast from the mellow photo we began with.

This technique works great for creating multiple versions of the same image in different colors. I hope you’ve learned a little something and that maybe you’ve discovered that the Calculations method of black and white conversion can actually be easy and produce some extremely nice results.

If you’d like to learn more about Calculations and the versatility of Channels in Photoshop you might want to pick up a copy of Scott Kelby’s Channels Book.

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Lets jump right in and open a new document (mine is 540×540 pixels at 72ppi).

Obviously we’ll need a photo to work with so open up your photo press Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) to Select All, then copy the photo by pressing Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) then close the photo file to return to your newly created working document.

Press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to Past the photo we just copied into the document and resize the photo if needed by pressing Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to invoke the Free Transform tool. Remember to hold down the shift key when resizing to constrain the proportions of your photo.

This effect looks best when the image has a border of some kind and for this exercise we’ll use a Stroke layer style to create the border. Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the Photo layer and choose Blending Options from the menu to bring up the Layer Styles dialog box. Choose Stroke from the list on the left and enter the following settings. Click OK when you’re finished to commit the Layer Style.

(*note: Notice that I’ve switched the placement of the Stroke to “Inside”, by doing this we avoid the rounded corner effect created by leaving the Stroke on the outside of the photo thus retaining the crisp sharp corners.)

With the border in place it’s time to add a highlight to the photo. Command-Click (PC: Ctrl-Click) on the Photo layer’s thumbnail in the Layers palette to load the photo as a selection. Create a new layer by clicking the Add New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette (I named this layer Highlight).

Press the G key to switch to the Gradient tool. Press the D key to reset the foreground and background colors to black and white, then press the X key to switch white to the foreground color in the Tools palette. From the Gradient Options bar that appears at the top of Photoshop choose the Foreground to Transparent swatch from the Gradient Picker and make sure that the Linear Gradient style is selected.

Now lets create the highlight by clicking and dragging a the gradient from the lower right hand corner towards the center of the photo as shown below. Drop the Fill opacity of this Highlight layer to around 50%.

Don’t deselect just yet, we’ll be using this selection for a few more steps.

Create a new layer above the Highlight layer called Shadow. With the gradient tool still selected press the X key to switch black to the foreground color and click and drag from the upper left corner of the photo towards the center to create the shadow as shown below. Lower the layers Fill opacity to around 15%.

Nope, don’t deselect yet!

Now we’re going to create the drop shadow for our photo that will give it that “jumping off the page” effect.

Start by creating a new layer below the Photo layer called Drop Shadow. Press Option-Delte (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the selection with black. Of course this black rectangle won’t be visible because it’s behind the photo but we’ll take care of that in a minute.

To soften the edges of the shadow we’re going to use a Gaussian Blur. Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect and then choose Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur from the main menu. For my example I’ll use a setting of 4 pixels, then click OK to commit the blur.

All that’s left is to reshape the shadow to create the right look. We will be using the Warp feature of the Free Transform tool to accomplish this so choose Edit>Transform>Warp from the main menu to invoke the Warp function. Unlike Free Transform, the Warp function allows us to transform in all sorts of cool ways by dragging end points or any spot inside the bounding box.

Go from corner to corner dragging the points into position and then drag the sides of the bounding box to their appropriate spots to create a look like the one below.

Drop the fill opacity of this Drop Shadow layer to around 50% to finish off the effect.

Add a subtle background, rotate the photo, add another… have some fun. Remember that any rotation of the photos will change the way the shadow is cast as well as the highlight and shadow layers above the photo. Keep your effect believable by being consistent in your lighting.

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