This grainy heatmap effect gives a photo an abstract, retro vibe with its ultra bright
colours that resembles thermal imaging.
In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create it using three examples, each with a different
colour scheme.
First we'll convert the photo with a gradient map to generate the surreal colours, then
the addition of some blur and grainy filters really helps to enhance the effect.
Then to finish off the piece we'll add some of my free texture downloads from Spoon Graphics.
Open your image in Adobe Photoshop.
This particular photo is by Jacob Mejicanos on Unsplash.com.
It's a pretty big size, so it's resized to 2000x3000px under the Image > Image Size menu.
In order to apply the effects non-destructively so the settings, or the photo they're applied
to can be altered later, we need to turn the layer into a Smart Object.
Right Click and choose Convert to Smart Object in the Layers panel.
A Gradient Map could be applied as an adjustment layer, but to contain it within this specific
layer, apply it via the Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map menu.
Click to edit the gradient and begin applying gradient handles with your chosen colours
from dark to light.
My first colour replaces the default black with a dark blue of #000817.
Next, a much lighter blue is added, using the colour #3349b9, but you can simply move
the sliders around to find a nice hue.
The colours should naturally transition into each other, so try to follow the colour wheel,
but to produce the abstract effect you need to choose bright, vivid and contrasting hues.
This bright red is #ff303f
As the colours reach the other end of the gradient, they will be applied to the highlights
of the image.
A bright yellow of #ffd956 naturally flows from red.
Then a really bright off-white of #f4ffc6 will just creep into the brightest areas of
the image.
Each of these handles can now be moved within the gradient spectrum to apply them to different
portions of the image.
This allows you to balance between the different hues to make certain colours more prominent
than others, or to brighten or darken the overall effect.
Next, go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt Shift.
This tool makes it easy to blur some part of the image, but preserve others.
Adjust the interface so the centre lines outline the face.
Increase the blur amount to suit and decrease the Distortion value to -100%.
There are a number of ways to add grainy effects in Photoshop, I show 5 of them in my video
‘5 Ways To Create Film Grain Effects in Adobe Photoshop’.
One of my favourites is using the Camera Raw Filter because of the control it gives you
over the size and roughness.
In the Camera Raw Tool, under Effects, max out the Grain and Size settings, then bring
up the Roughness value to fine tune the result.
The addition of grain adds some nice texturing, especially on those blurry areas.
Let's finish off this grainy heatmap effect with a couple of textures to really enhance
the retro vibe.
Download and open one of my free Film Dust Textures from Spoon Graphics.
Go to Select > All, followed by Edit > Copy.
Close this texture image to return to the main document and go to Edit > Paste.
Go to Edit > Free Transform and scale, rotate and position the texture to fill the canvas,
then change the blending mode to Screen to leave just the white details.
Download my free Plastic Wrap textures and open one in Photoshop.
This time incorporate some shortcuts to speed up the workflow.
CMD+A for Select All, CMD+C for Copy, CMD+W for close, CMD+V for Paste and CMD+T for Transform.
Change this layer to Screen too, but reduce the Fill value to around 30%.
These extra textures really help to give the graphic an old album cover or poster look.
Since we created the effect within a Smart Object, we can alter the colours and photo
to quickly regenerate the effect in a different style.
Right click and choose New Smart Object Via Copy so we can save this one.
Double click the layer thumbnail of the new Smart Object to edit its contents.
Paste in a new photograph, this one is by Alexander Jawfox, also from Unsplash.com.
Save and close this smart object document to see the same grainy heatmap effect has
been automatically applied to this new image.
It looks pretty cool, but the blur effect needs adjusting to suit this particular image.
Double click it in the layers panel.
Move the blur interface so the subject's face is within the two solid centre lines, then
allow some portions to be blurred by moving the dashed lines.
This gradient map colour scheme works just fine, but let's experiment with some different
colours.
I removed a couple of the colours to create a slightly more abstract transition between
a dark blue to purple, that then blends into a contrasting bright green.
The extra cyan blue colour is positioned so it's just applied to the sunglasses for a
cool effect.
The intense blurring of the edge of the face looks really cool on this example, giving
it a bit of a retro sci-fi poster look.
Create another Smart Object copy and replace the contents with another image.
This one is by Kyle Cleveland on Unsplash.com.
You'll notice all the images are portraits against dark backgrounds.
Tweak the blur gallery settings for this image, then adjust the gradient map.
This colour scheme transitions through a bright blue, yellow and green, then the addition
of another dark colour right at the end adds some contrasting effects on the highlights.
You can get quite surreal by adding dark colours for the highlights and light colours for
the shadows.