Create a newspaper page

This tutorial will show you how to create an image that will look like a scanned newspaper page.



Step 1. Create a new document, size 630x900 and fill it with it a light, warm gray (color code #e4e4e4).

Step 2. To make the final result make more realistic, it’s necessary to mimic the way you can see the writing on the back page on a real newspaper.

To achieve this effect, open an image of a newspaper page you can find on the Internet (I chose this one), go to Image-> Rotate Canvas -> Flip Canvas Horizontal and then copy/paste it over the new document you just created. Set its opacity to 5%, so that the writing is only a bit visible.

Step 3. Newspaper articles often contain pictures, so I opened this one and resized it to 35%, and I placed it on the left like this:

Step 4. To convert the image to black and white, the best method is to go to Image -> Adjustments -> Channel Mixer… tick Monochrome and leave all the other settings as default.

Step 5. In order to create the headlines, I used Century Old Style Std, Italic, size 40pt and 24pt respectively. You may use any other font that is very legible and simple.

Step 6. To create the subtitles, I used Century Old Style Std, Bold, size 18pt. I left some space between them and the picture, and the headlines, in order to achieve an elegant, uncluttered look.



Don’t worry if the text you’ve done until now is not properly aligned. You can easily fix that later.

Step 7. Now it’s time to create the content of the news article. You need to create a text box: using the Type Tool, click on the desired starting point of the text box and drag down to create a rectangle.



Though it’s not visible in the screenshot above, the text box doesn’t go all the way to the bottom of the page. I’ve left a blank edge on the bottom of the page, because we’re later going to add the date and day of the week there, just like on genuine newspapers.

Step 8. Paste some text of your choice into the text box you’ve created (my source was Wikipedia). The font I used is Century Old Style Std, Regular, 14pt.



Notice that I’ve used a Sans Serif font. Because of their high legibility, most magazines and newspaper articles use Sans Serif fonts for the main body of text.

Step 9. Create a second text box as shown at step 7 and paste some text, using the font at step 8.

Step 10. The final step is to create a text box and add some text in the lower part of the page. I used the font Century Old Style Std, Regular, 12pt.



In order to verify and align the way the text and pictures fit on the page, go to View -> Show -> Grid. To change the position of a certain element, use the left and right arrow keys, or the Move Tool.


The final result:

Create digital makeup

This tutorial will show you how to apply digital makeup and additionally, how to change the eye color, smooth the skin texture of a model and enhance the image.

Though the process of applying makeup in Photoshop is fairly simple, the most important thing about digital makeup is that, by all means, it must look natural. It’s always better to "underdo" it than to overdo it, so keep that in mind while following this tutorial. Less is more, therefore try to be subtle.

The initial image (credits to sxc.hu):

The final result:




Step 1. First of all, we’re going to smooth the skin texture of the model. This will give the whole image a professional feel and improve its overall aspect.

Duplicate the background layer and go to Filter -> Noise -> Median and insert a value of 3. Next, go to Filter -> Blur… -> Gausian Blur … and insert 3 again.

Add a layer mask to the layer you just blurred, fill it with black and start painting with white over the skin, with a soft brush, varying the size according to the area. Make sure you avoid the lines of the face, eyes etc. because you don’t want to blur those, just the skin.




Step 2. Now we’re going to change the lip color to mimic a light pink lipstick. First, press Q in order to enter the Quick Mask editing mode, and then choose a soft brush, choose black as the color and then zoom in and paint over the lips. You’ll notice that instead of black, it will seem as if you were painting with red; this is because you’re in the mask mode. Make sure you don’t go over the edges. If you make any mistake, just choose white and paint over that part.



Switch back to Standard Mode by pressing Q again and you’ll notice a selection appear. The advantage of using the mask mode to select is that you have far more control over the selection than by using the Lasso Tool.

Go to Select -> Inverse and then to Image -> Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation… (or simply press Ctrl+U for the dialog box to appear) and insert the following settings:



Press Ctrl+H to hide your selection (this will not deselect the area, it will just make the marquee around it disappear), so that you can see clearly the edges of the selection. If you notice that an unwanted area around the lips turned pink, simply press Q to enter the Quick Mask Mode again, zoom in and carefully paint with black over that area. Then switch back to the standard mode by pressing Q again and take a look at the result.

Add a subtle highlight on her lower lip by using the Dodge Tool, a small soft brush, exposure set to 70%. With a slightly bigger brush you may highlight her upper lip, again in a very subtle way.

When you’ve finished, make sure the area of the lips is deselected to continue to the next step.


Step 3. To change the eye color, select the eyes by using the same method you used for the lips, and then press Ctrl+U to bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box, check Colorize and use the following settings:



Press Ctrl+H and check for any mistakes. If there are any, fix them as previously shown with the lips.


Step 4. Now we’re going to do the eye makeup. Select the eyelashes on her lower eyelid by using the Lasso Tool, with a feather setting of 5. Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast… and lower the Brightness to -10. Deselect the area.

Create a new layer and paint with a purple, soft brush on it, over the area between her eyebrows and eyes.

Set the layer blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 35%. Then refine the edges of the area by erasing with a large soft brush around it, making sure it blends in well and looks natural.



Step 5. To enhance the effect of the image, we can now adjust its color cast to better match the changes we made.

Add a Selective color adjustment layer with the following settings:

Reds: -43 0 -22 +7
Yellows: 0 0 0 -41
Neutrals: 0 0 0 -7


Step 6. Add another Selective color adjustment layer, in order to change the color of her dress from cyan to purple:

Cyans: -100 +100 -100 +100

You will notice that this layer will slightly affect the color of the eyes. I actually liked it better that way, so I didn’t change it.

If you don’t like that, then choose a soft brush and paint with black on the layer mask of the adjustment layer (I’ve highlighted it with yellow on the following screenshot).



Finally, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Auto Levels to really bring out the colors of the image and remove the somewhat reddish color cast it had.


The final result:

Transform a normal image into an artistic one

One of the reasons why Photoshop is so popular nowadays is the unbelievable control it gives you over the images you want to edit. By using the right filters and techniques you can easily transform any bland, lifeless shot into an impressive, artistic dreamscene. It only takes a few steps to turn this image:



into this:




So let’s begin!

Step 1. Open the original image and Duplicate the background layer. Set the resulting layer to Soft Light, 100%. Then go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and insert a value of 5.

Step 2. Duplicate the second layer and press Shift+Ctrl+U to desaturate it. You should now have something that looks like this:



I normally avoid using blurs in my artwork, but in this particular case this effect is very welcome because it gives the entire image a very soft, dreamy glow.

Step 3. To enhance the colorcast of the image, add a Selective color filter with the following settings:

Yellows: 0 0 0 +100
Whites: -25 -5 +100 -25
Neutrals: +10 +15 +20 0
Black: 0 +20 0 0

Then select all the layers, right click and choose Create new smart object, like this:

Step 4. Create a new layer and fill it with black, then move it (by clicking on it and dragging it) down below the smart object. Add a layer mask to the smart object you just created. Now with a very large soft brush, opacity: 35%, paint with black on the mask, around the edges of the canvas to create a dark vignette. It’s preferrable to zoom out to get some perspective over what you’re doing. Make sure you don’t overdo it, because this effect needs to be subtle.



The vignette will focus the viewers’ attention on the central part of the image, while also adding a slightly dark feeling to it.

Step 5. Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen… and enter the following settings: Amount: 40%, Radius: 1 pixel. A dialog box will appear asking whether you want to rasterize the smart object, choose Yes.
Duplicate the layer you just sharpened and go to Filter -> Blur -> Radial Blur… Choose Zoom as the Blur Method and 10 as the Amount.
Next add a layer mask to the blurred layer and paint with black on it using a large, soft brush. Make sure you leave the outer edges white. If you make any mistakes just brush over that area with white or black, according to whether you want it to be visible or not.



This will further draw the viewers’ attention towards the center of the image, especially to the bright patch of light visible in the higher left.

Step 6. To further enhance the image’s colours, add a Curves adjustment layer that looks like this:

Step 7. To give the gray background a cyan hue that will contrast with the yellow in the leaves, add a Selective color adjustment layer with the following settings:

Step 8. To add a finishing touch you may add some text of your choice. I chose a very simple message, but I encourage you to come up with something even more suggestive. The font I used for “Autumn Leaves” is Trajan Pro, 36 pts for the capital letters and 30 pts for the rest of the text. For the “by anja” part I used Vujahday Flourish, 30 pts.

I placed the text near the bright spot of light because it’s really aesthetically pleasing, since that part is the main focus of the entire image.

Step 9. Duplicate both text layers and for each resulting layer, go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur (choose Yes when Photoshop asks you whether to rasterize the layer) and enter 150. Place these layers below the text layers.

Then select one of the text layers and add an Outer glow with the following settings:



Right click on the same text layer and choose Copy layer style. Then right click on the other text layer and choose Paste layer style.


The final result:

Basic Retouch and Colorization

This tutorial will show you how to do a basic retouch, change the colorcast of an image and colorize some of its elements.



Step 1. We will use this Naomi Watts image: 




Duplicate the layer then go to Filter -> Noise -> Median...and enter a value of around 3 pixels. Then go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur... and enter 5 pixels.

Step 2. Add a layer mask (by pressing the third button on the lower part of the Layers Palette) to the layer you have just blurred and fill it with black. Then pick a soft, medium sized brush and start painting with white on the layer mask. Make sure you avoid any lines on the face; use it only on the skin, to get a smooth, professional effect. Vary the brush size and opacity depending on the area. Avoid blurring the eyes, lips or hair.

After you finish this step, you should get something like this:





Step 3. Add a Curves adjustment layer with the following settings:





Step 4. Add a Selective Color adjustment layer with the following settings then fill its mask with black.

Reds: -55 0 0 0
Neutrals: -20 +15 –40 +5

Now paint with white over the lips and you will notice they’ll turn a light pink. Make sure you follow the edges of the lips properly.

Step 5. Add another Selective Color adjustment layer with these settings:

Yellows: -100 0 0 0
Whites: 0 0 0 –25
Neutrals: +20 –10 –50 +8

Fill its mask with black and carefully paint with white over the eyes.

Step 6. Go to Layer -> Flatten Image, then to Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen... and use the following settings:





Finally, go to Image -> Canvas Size… and choose black as a color, 40 pixels for both Width and Height to add a stylish outer border.

The final result:

Create a Vivid Celebrity Blend

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a bright, vivid blend of a celebrity of your choice. As for any Photoshop creation you do, make sure you choose good quality images that are part of the same photoshoot.

I have chosen these three images:

 

Step 1. Create a new document, sized 800x600 and place the first image in the center.

Step 2. Paste the other two pictures over the base image and resize them, then use the Eraser Tool to erase the unwanted overlapping parts. (Or you could add a layer mask and paint with black all the parts you want to disappear. The advantage of layer masks is that you can easily repair any errors or go back and modify them later).

After either erasing or masking out the unneeded parts, you should have something like this:



Step 3. From this step on, all we need to work on is the chromatic effect of the final image. Therefore, we will use various Selective Color and Curves adjustment layers to enhance the colours of our image.

First we will add a Selective Color adjustment layer with the following settings:

Reds: -100 0 0 0
Yellows: 0 0 -90 -100
Neutrals: 100 0 -50 0

Next, we're going to add a Curves adjustment layer, with the following RBG settings:



Step 4. Create a new layer on top of the others and fill it with a dark beige (color code b78a58). Then set this layer's blending mode to Linear Burn and its opacity to 55%.

Add a Selective Color layer with the following settings
and then duplicate it.

Reds: -47 0 +17 0
Neutrals: +13 0 -20 0

And finally, add another Curves layer:



Step 5. The final step is to add some text like the name of the artist and your own, perhaps some song lyrics too. I'm going to add a Kylie logo, using this font (only works one-letter uppercase: A, B, C...).  I used the letter 'I', then duplicated the layer and set the copy slightly to the right, behind the other layer.  Then I set the first layer to a bright cyan (color code  21a2e4) and the second layer to a deep pink (color code fb2d5d).

Step 6. Add an outer border by going to Image -> Canvas size..., choosing the color white and inserting the value 40 pixels for both Width and Height. Then go to the same menu again and insert 2 pixels for both Width and Height, and choose the color gray.

The final result:

Create an Abstract Landscape Blend

The purpose of this tutorial is to show you how to create an abstract, bright blend by using pictures of landscapes.

We will start by using these two images:

 

Step 1. Open the first image and paste the second one on top of it, using the blending mode: Lighten, 100%.

Step 2. Emphasize the colours of the image by applying successively three Selective Color layers, as follows:

The first layer:
Reds: -92 0 0 0
Cyans: -44 +100 0 -36
Blues: +100 -43 0 +25
Neutrals: -51 0 +100 +52

The second layer:
Reds: -100 0 +100 0
Cyans: 0 0 -100 0
Blues: -57 0 -100 0
Neutrals: +25 0 -40 0

The third layer:
Reds: -100 0 +100 0
Neutrals: +20 0 -20 0

To further emphasize the image, we will use a Curves adjustment:



Step 3. Now we will add the text. A handwriting font will always look great on this type of blend. I chose the font Carpenter, 130 pts, Color: white, without applying to it any further effects and wrote 'Summer bliss'. Then I duplicated the layer, moved it slightly upwards and changed its color to 5857fd (the color code is inserted here).

Another alternative for styling the text would have been (without duplicating the text layer) to go to Blending Options -> Stroke and add a 1 pt pink or orange outer border to it.


Step 4. Add a thick outer border to the final image by going to Image -> Canvas Size… and inserting the value 20 pixels for both Width and Height, and choosing the color white. Then go to the same menu again and choose 2 pixels for both Width and Height, and choose the color gray (notice that it will appear as orange because of the Selective Color layers).


The final result: