Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I'm going to show you how to create the look
of authentic, woodcut prints on paper from photos. You'll also be able to replace your photos with
others without having to redo most of the effects. Open a photo you'd like to use for this project.
downloaded this one from Shutterstock. We want to make sure that your document's resolution is
the same as mine, so that your results will look the same. Go to Image and Image Size. Either the
width or the height should be between 1500 to 2500 pixels and its resolution should be 150 pixels per
inch. If they're not, you'll have to adjust the setting amounts of some of the filters to achieve
the same results. I provided this paper texture that you can download. Its link is in my video's
description or project files. This type of paper is often used for woodcuts and wood engravings
due to its thinness, high strength, and texture. Before we begin, if you want to know as soon
as I upload new Photoshop tutorials, smash that "Subscribe" button and please remember to click
"Like" if you like this video. We'll make this texture into a pattern, which will allow our
document to be filled with this texture no matter what size or shape our document is. Go to Edit
and "Define Pattern". Then, click OK. That's it! If you want your woodcut print to just be your
subject and not include its background, we'll need to separate our subject from its background.
There are a few ways to do this depending on the version of Photoshop you're using.
For CC 2020 and later, unlock your photo and open the Properties panel. If you don't see it,
go to Window and Properties. Scroll down and click "Remove Background".
Photoshop automatically analyzes the photo and creates a layer mask of the subject's shape,
thereby masking out the background. If you're using CC 2018 or 2019, open your Quick Selection
Tool and click the "Select Subject" button, which creates a selection around the subject.
To remove areas of the selection, press and hold Alt or Option as you drag over those areas.
Click the Layer mask icon to make a layer mask next to it. On earlier versions, drag the Quick
Selection Tool over your subject. Then, make a layer mask. Whatever version you're using,
make a new layer below the subject and its layer mask by Ctrl or Cmd-clicking the New Layer icon.
We'll fill the empty layer with white, but before we do,
check your foreground and background colors. If they aren't black and white respectively,
press "D" on your keyboard. Since the background color is white, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete.
We'll convert our visible image into a Smart Object, so we can modify it non-destructively,
as well as allow us to replace it with a different photo without having to redo most of the effects.
To do this, Shift-click the top layer to make it active as well, and click the icon at the upper,
right. Click "Convert to Smart Object". Go to Filter, Stylize, and Oil Paint.
Drag the Stylization and Cleanliness all the way to the right. The Scale and Bristle Detail are
irrelevant, since they're associated with Lighting and since Lighting is unchecked, these filters
are non-functional. We'll repeat the Oil Paint filter numerous times to dramatically increase
the oil paint effect. Press Ctrl, Alt + F on Windows or Cmd + Ctrl + F on a Mac 7 or 8 times.
Go to Image, Adjustments, and Threshold. This filter converts our image into high-contrast,
black-and-white. The default level is 128. The more we drag the slider to the left,
the more the pixels are converted to white. Conversely, the more we drag it to the right,
the more the pixels are converted to black.
For now, I'll set the level to 126 for shadows, which is slightly darker than the
default amount. We'll create tow different Threshold layers. One for shadows and the
other for highlights. To save some space in the Layers panel, let's collapse the smart filters.
Make a copy of the layer by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Open the copy's smart filters and go back to
Image, Adjustments and "Shadows/Highlights". Drag the shadows all the way to the right.
We won't see any changes to our image until we drag the Shadow/Highlights just below Threshold.
Now, the Shadows/Highlights is affecting the Threshold, which is bringing out more detail in
the shadows. We can adjust the amount of detail by double-clicking Threshold to open it and dragging
the slider. Once we re happy with the amount of detail in the shadows, click OK. Next, I ll show
you how to reveal back the shadows in some areas, but first, let s collapse the Smart Filters.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask and open your Pencil Tool. Open the Pencil Picker and
pick a hard, round tip. We'll adjust its size in a moment. Make its Hardness and Opacity both 100%.
To make the pencil point bigger or smaller, make sure the Caps Lock key is off
and press the right of left bracket key on your keyboard.
Draw over the areas you want to reveal back.
We'll place the two layers into a folder by
Shift-clicking the bottom layer to make it active as well and pressing Ctrl or Cmd + G.
Change its Blend Mode to Multiply. Doing this will make our subject appear over the paper texture.
Create a new layer below it. We're going to fill it with the paper pattern texture, but to do that,
we need to temporarily fill it with a color. I'll fill it with the background color.
Double-click the layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Pattern Overlay". If the paper pattern doesn't automatically fill the background,
open the Pattern list, and scroll to the bottom. Click the last thumbnail image.
Feel free to adjust its scale.
Next, we'll mask out unwanted black areas and spots. Make a new layer and Shift-click the
pattern layer to make it active as well. Merge the two layers by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + E.
Make the folder active and click the Layer mask icon to make a layer mask next to it. Draw over unwanted
black areas to mask them out. Next, we'll add a slight color cast to our subject, which will
warm up the black color. To do this, click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Gradient Map".
Click the gradient bar to open the Gradient Editor. Click the "Black, White" gradient preset
and the lower, left Stop.
Click the color box and in the hexadecimal field,
type in 160D02.
Presently, the gradient adjustment layer is affecting our background, as well.
This is because adjustment layers affect all the layers below them in the Layers panel.
Since we want it to affect just our subject and not the background, we'll need to make the
adjustment layer into a clipping mask. To do this, click the Clipping Mask icon or go to Layer and
Create Clipping Mask. Lastly, we'll show some the paper texture through our subject.
empty area of the folder's layer to open its Layer Style window. We ll use the "Blend If" filter,
which uses the luminosity of layers to blend them together. "This Layer" represents the active
layer, which in our case is the subject folder. The "Underlying Layer" represents the paper
texture. Dragging the Underlying Layer sliders will cause areas of the paper texture to punch
through the subject. We can soften its transition by Alt or Option-clicking the middle of the
slider, which splits it in two. The inside half of each slider is where the blending reaches 100%,
while the outside half of each slider is where the blending begins. Play with the sliders until
your image has just the right combination. One last thing. In CC 2022 and later, Adobe added
3 interpolations or methods to the Gradient Map filter. Frankly, I don't see much of a difference,
however, upon trying each one, I noticed that the Linear method shows slightly more of the highlight
details than the other methods do.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!