Hey, this is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I m going to show you how to create the look of watercolor silhouettes.
I provided four images that you can download two black and white silhouettes, this photo
of a sunset, and a watercolor paper texture.
Their links are in my video s description or project files.
Before we begin, if you d like to be notified as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials,
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For this video, I ll be using the feather silhouette graphic.
Feel free to use any black and white silhouette image you like.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + J to make a copy of the layer so we always have the original intact.
Hide the original.
We'll make sure our image is pure black and pure white by going to Image, Adjustments,
and Threshold.
This filter converts grayscale or color images into high-contrast, black-and-white images.
The default level is 128.
Open the Channels panel.
If you don't see it, go to Windows and Channels.
Ctrl or Cmd-click the thumbnail of any of the channels to select its shape.
Open back the Layers panel and press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete the white area
surrounding the selection.
Deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D.
We'll make a new layer below the active layer by Ctrl or Cmd-clicking the New Layer icon.
We'll fill it 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 white is our background color, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete.
Make the top layer active.
Open the sunset photo I provided or any other color photo you like.
If your Move Tool isn't active, press "v" on your keyboard.
Drag the photo onto the tab of the black and white image.
Without releasing your mouse or pen, drag it down and release.
We'll resize and reposition our photo, but before we do, reduce its opacity so we can
see the black and white image under it.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + T to open the Transform Tool.
At the top, make sure the chain-link icon is active.
This links the Transform's width and height.
Place your cursor over the "W" or the "H".
When it changes into a scrubby slider, click and drag it to the right or left to increase
or decrease the size of the photo.
To reposition it, just drag it.
If want to adjust its size some more, go to a corner and drag it in or out.
Continue to finesse its position and size until you like the way it looks inside the
black and white graphic.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Increase its opacity back to 100%.
We'll convert our photo into a Smart Object, so we can modify it non-destructively and
replace it with a different photo if we want to without re-doing the effects.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, left and click, "Convert to Smart Object".
Next, we ll clip or restrict our photo to the inside of our black and white graphic.
There are two ways to do this.
The fastest way is to make our photo into a clipping mask by going to Layer and Create
Clipping Mask , however, let me show you another way which is to Ctrl or Cmd-click the thumbnail
of the black and white image to select its shape.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to our photo.
The reason we're seeing the photo inside our silhouette image is because it's being revealed
through the white area of the layer mask, while the rest of our photo is being masked
out by the black area of the layer mask.
Make the photo active and go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Open the Artistic folder and click, "Watercolor".
The Brush Detail is 7, the Shadow Intensity is 0, and the Texture is 2.
Double-click an empty area of this layer to open the Layer Style window.
Click Inner Glow.
If the color box isn't black, click it and when the Color Picker opens, pick black.
The Blend Mode is Linear Light, the Opacity is 40%,and the Noise is 0%.
The Technique is Softer, the Source is Edge, the Choke is 0, and the Size is 15 pixels.
The Contour is Linear, and the Range is 50%.
Open the watercolor paper pattern and go to Edit and "Define Pattern".
Click OK.
Open back your watercolor silhouette document and make a new layer.
Fill it with any color.
The color is irrelevant.
Double-click an empty area of the layer to open the Layer Style window.
Double-click the layer to open the Layer Style window and click "Pattern Overlay".
Open the pattern list of presets and scroll to the bottom.
Click the watercolor paper pattern.
The Blend Mode is Normal, the Opacity is 100%, the Angle is 0 degrees, and the Scale is 30%.
Make a new layer and Shift-click the pattern layer to make it active as well.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + E to merge them together.
Doing this allows us to change the pattern's blend mode.
Another way to do this is to convert the pattern layer into a Smart Object.
Name the layer, "Paper texture" and change the Blend Mode to "Multiply".
Notice our watercolor painting now has a texture of watercolor paper.
Next, we'll brighten the darkest tones of our painting.
Make the watercolor layer active and go to Image, Adjustments, and "Shadows/Highlights".
If you don't see all the settings, check "Show More Options".
For this example, we'll just be adjusting the shadows, however, feel free to experiment
with the other settings since every photo has its own unique characteristics.
I'll keep the default Shadows amount: 35%.
Next, we'll increase the color vibrancy and saturation.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Vibrance".
Make the Vibrance 100 and the Saturation: 25.
If you want to adjust the size and/ or position of your painting inside the silhouette, make
the painting layer active and click the chain-link icon between the layer and the layer mask
to unlink them.
Now, we can adjust the size and position of either of them independently of the other.
With the painting layer active, open your Transform Tool.
If you see this message, it's just letting us know that the smart filters will be temporarily
turned off while we use the Transform Tool.
Just click OK.
Place your cursor over the "W" or the "H" and click and drag it to the right or left.
Drag it into position and press Enter or Return.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!