Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I'm going to show you
how to create a stunning, retro-style tourism poster. This is an update of a
tutorial I did many years ago on a much earlier version of Photoshop.
Before we begin, if you're not already a subscriber to Blue Lightning TV, smash that
"Subscribe" button to let you know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials. I upload a new one
every week. Open a photo that you'd like to make into a poster. To ensure that your result will
look similar to mine, go to Image and Image Size. Make its resolution: 300 pixels per inch. I made
its size 12 by 16 inches, but you can make yours any size you want. First, we'll auto correct its
overall brightness and contrast by clicking the Adjustment Layer icon and clicking "Curves".
Click the "Auto" button and tick "Enhance Brightness and Contrast".
Next, we'll increase the color vibrancy. Click the Adjustment layer again and click "Vibrance".
Increase it 100. In this poster, I'll be placing light colored text at the bottom, so to make the
text pop a bit more, I'll darken the bottom of the photo. If you want to do something similar
in your poster, click the New Layer icon to make a new layer and open your Gradient Tool. If your
foreground and background colors aren t black and white, respectively, press D on your keyboard.
Open your Gradient list and click the black to transparent preset.
Make the Linear gradient is active. I'll place my cursor below the poster and press and hold the
Shift key as I drag it up approximately this much. Pressing Shift kept the tool perfectly vertical.
Change the gradient's Blend Mode to Soft Light. We'll convert our image into a Smart Object,
so we an modify it non-destructively. To do this, Shift-click your photo to make
all the layers active and click the icon at the upper, right. Click "Convert to Smart Object".
Go to Filter and Filter Gallery. If you want to see all or most of your
poster in the Preview window, press Ctrl or Cmd and the minus key on your keyboard.
Open the Artistic folder and click Cutout. Make the number of levels: 8, the Edge Simplicity: 6,
and the Edge Fidelity: 2. To simplify the look of our poster a bit more, go to Filter, Blur, and Surface Blur.
Make the Radius: 50 pixels and the Threshold:
10 levels. If you click the preview window on and off, you can see the before and after.
Double-click an empty area of the poster layer to open its Layer Style window. Click Inner Glow.
The color is white. Its Blend Mode is Normal and the Opacity is 100%. The Source is Edge,
the Choke is 100% and the Size is 80 pixels. The Contour is Linear and the Range is 50.
Next, I'll add a yellow circular shape to represent the sun. If you want to add a sun
to your poster, click the New Layer icon to make a new layer and open the Ellipse Tool. At the top,
choose "Shape". Click the Fill box and click the custom color box. Pick a rich, yellow color.
Click the Stroke box and make sure the "Null" icon is active. This indicates that there's no stroke.
Click the gear icon and tick "Proportional" and check "From Center".
Drag out the shape to a size you like. To hide the bounding box, press Ctrl or Cmd + H.
Open your Type Tool and pick a font. I'll pick a font called, "Rockwell Condensed Regular".
If you'd like to use it, as well, I provided its link in the video's description or project files.
Click on your poster and type in a size. I'll make mine 210 points, but feel free to adjust its size
based on the font you pick and the number of characters in your text. Make its Aliasing:
Sharp and I'll make its alignment centered. Click the color box. and pick a color for your text.
Since I want it to match the color of the sun, I'll click the sun to pick up its color.
Type out your text. To adjust the spacing between the characters, known as tracking, highlight
your text and press Alt or Option as you press the left or right arrow key on your keyboard.
Open your Move Tool and drag it into position. To set text below it, click below it. If you want to
use a different font for this line of text, open the Type Picker and pick another font. I'm using a font called,
"CarlMarx Regular". I also provided its link for you. I'll type in 78 points
and click the color box. I already know the color I want for this line of text, so I'll type it into the hexadecimal field.
Type out your text. To adjust its tracking, repeat what you did for your other text.
Open your Move Tool and drag it into position. To center both lines vertically,
Shift-click your other text layer to make it active, as well and press Ctrl or Cmd + A to
select your entire document. Then, click the "Align Vertical Centers" icon and deselect it.
If you want to move the lines up or down, just press the Up or Down arrow on your keyboard.
Lastly, we'll add a slight drop shadow to our text. Press Ctrl or Cmd + G to place our text
into a folder and double-click an empty area on the layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Drop Shadow" and the color box. Pick a color. I'll pick up a color from my poster
and click OK. I'll make the angle: 129 degrees and the Distance: 14 pixels.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!
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