Create and Apply Bokeh Overlays in Photoshop
Welcome back to another very exciting tutorial here at the PhotoshopTrainingChannel.com.
My name is Jesus Ramirez and you can find me on Instagram @JRfromPTC.
In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to create and apply bokeh overlays in Photoshop.
We're going to create these overlays by using photos that you wouldn't think would be good
for much.
We're going to use these bad photos so that you can see that you don't need high-quality
images to create good effects.
By the way, if you're new to the Photoshop Training Channel, don't forget to click on
that Subscribe button for more free tutorials.
Okay, let's get started.
We're going to use this Adobe Stock image, but feel free to follow along with your own
image.
The first thing that we're going to do is bring in the files that we're going to use
to create the bokeh overlays, so I'm going to go into File, Place Embedded and I have
these two files here.
We're going to start with the street.
By the way, you can download these images from my website PhotoshopTrainingChannel.com.
If you're on YouTube, you can look at the description for the link on this tutorial
for my website.
So I have this street image here.
I will select it, click on Place.
There it is.
I want to click and drag the handles to stretch the image out so that it matches the canvas.
Notice that this image is just a very bad photo of a street.
This image actually came off my cell phone and, as you can see, it's not very exciting,
but we're going to use this image to create the first bokeh overlay.
Also, notice that this is a smart object.
That means that we can apply filters and edit them.
So I'm going to go into Filter, Blur Gallery, Fill Blur.
Then I can increase the Fill Blur, so click and drag on this slider and you can see how
the image gets blurrier and I can start adding the Light bokeh, and I can also add some bokeh
color.
And I can adjust the light range, so click on the black point, click on the white point
and just make the adjustments that you make to make something that looks like this, then
press OK.
And you can see that this is a smart filter.
If I double click on Blur Gallery, it brings up the Blur Gallery again and I can make adjustments.
I'm not going to do that, but I just wanted to show you that you could if you wanted to,
so I'm going to cancel this.
Then I can click on this icon here to collapse that filter so that it's not on the way and
it's a little less confusing.
We're just looking at the two layers that we're working with and what I'm going to do
now is change the blending mode to Screen.
All the blending modes between this divider and this divider hide dark pixels and reveal
bright pixels, so watch what happens in this dark area here.
Screen—notice how that area is not really affected.
I want to bring it back to Normal, then I'm going to create a new Levels Adjustment Layer
and clip it to the layer below it, Ctrl Alt G, Command Option G on the Mac.
And then, I'm going to click the black point here and drag it to the right.
Now we only have these bright areas and the rest of the image is black.
Watch what happens when I select "street" and change it to screen.
The black pixels are invisible and we only see the bright ones.
So we can use this Levels Adjustment Layer to control how the bokeh overlay looks so
I can make some more adjustments; something like this.
So that's before and after, and I can also click on the street layer, create a layer
mask by clicking on this icon, selecting the Brush Tool and making sure that I have a Soft
Brush, so Hardness is set to zero, and maybe even a larger brush, maybe even larger than
that.
And I can start painting with black on the items that I want to hide, so I thought that
the highlight there was too bright and now I'm using the bracket keys in the keyboard
to increase the size of my brush, and I can keep hiding the pixels that I don't like,
so that's before and after.
I'm holding Shift.
If you Shift and click on the layer mask thumbnail, you hide the layer mask; that's what that
red X indicates, so, now, I can select this layer, hold Shift, click on the one on top,
press Ctrl G, Command G to put those into a group, and I can call this layer "Bokeh
1" and this is what we have so far; before and after.
Then I can go into File, Place Embed and bring in this burger file, again, it's a photo right
off my cell phone.
There's nothing very exciting about it.
In fact, it's not a great image.
It's just a burger.
It's out of focus, but this is going to work great to create a bokeh overlay.
So, I'm going to go into Filter, Blur Gallery, Fill Blur, and I can make similar adjustments
to create similar effects, so adjust the blur, then adjust the light bokeh, and maybe add
more color, so something like this, and I'm going to press OK.
Once again I'm going to collapse the filter just so we could see the layer that we're
working with and I'm going to change the Blend Mode to Screen, and I think it looks OK.
We need to make some adjustments.
I don't like this blue part here, maybe this part is a little too bright, so I'm going
to undo the blur.
So what I'm going to do instead is I'm going to copy the parts that I like and use that
for my bokeh.
So I'm going to select the Lasso Tool by using L on the keyboard or you could just select
the Lasso Tool from the Toolbar and this is the area that I like right here, not the blue
and I'm just going to duplicate it, Ctrl J, Command J on the Mac.
Notice that we've just duplicated that section there, so then, I can press V on the keyboard
and move this around, maybe place that here so it covers that part.
And I can also hold Alt, Option on the Mac, click and drag to duplicate that other piece
and hide whatever bright area I had up here.
So, now, I can select all three layers by holding Shift, clicking on the bottom one,
so now, those three are selected.
Then, I can press Ctrl E, Command E on the Mac, or I can go into Layer, Merge Layers,
so now it's one single layer.
And then, I can go into Filter, Blur Gallery, Fill Blur, or I can just simply press Ctrl
F since it was the last filter that I used, and there you go.
Now it looks much better.
I can, now, change the Blend Mode to Screen and this is the result that I get.
I can create a Layer Mask again and hide the pixels that I'm not happy with, so the bokeh
here covering her face, so I'm going to select the Brush Tool and paint with black in those
areas.
And I don't want pressure sensitivity, so I'm going to click on the Brush panel and
under Shape Dynamics, notice how I have Pen Pressure.
I'm just going to disable that, so, in this case, it looks better without the pen pressure;
so there it is, before and after.
I can also create a new Levels Adjustment Layer to do what we did with the other layer
or use something like Curves.
It doesn't really matter what adjustment layer you use as long as you adjust the luminosity
of the layer.
So, I'm going to make the darker pixels darker and make the brighter pixels brighter, essentially
creating an S Curve to add more contrast; so before and after.
And, maybe, I need to click and drag this point to the right here, and, of course, cut
the two layers below it.
I wasn't using the Clipping Mask so that's affecting the entire layer.
If I use a clipping mask it only affect the bokeh layer, so before and after.
I'm going to hold Shit and click on both layers, Ctrl G, Command G on the Mac, and this will
be "bokeh 2."
I can select that "bokeh 2" group and I can press Ctrl J, Command J to duplicate it, and
then, I can press Ctrl T, Command T on the Mac, right click and choose Flip Horizontal,
and then, I can move this around just so we can add bokeh on the other side, and I can
move it to whatever area that I like.
I can even rotate it a little bit if I need to.
I'm just finding the right spot when I move this just so you could see, so maybe right
about there.
And what I'm going to do is I'm going to hold Alt, Option on the Mac, and click on the Layer
Mask icon to hide everything, and I'm simply going to paint with white on the areas that
I want to reveal, so, maybe, some of that bokeh there; careful on those sharp edges,
so I'm going to paint with black to remove that sharp edge, so that's before and after.
And I'm just going to change the name to "bokeh 3."
Notice that it really didn't make a difference in this case, applying the layer mask to the
entire group or simply applying the layer mask to the actual bokeh overlay, so it's
up to you where you apply the layer mask.
What I'm going to do now is on the topmost layer, I'm going to select it and create a
new layer, and with white, I'm just going to paint right in the center, like so.
And this is going to be a sun flare that we're going to put on the top right.
Then, I'm going to press Ctrl T, Command T, to transform to get the transform handles.
I'm going to hold Shift Alt, Shift Option on the Mac, click and drag, and scale this
up.
Then, I'm going to press V on the keyboard to move this over to the top right, right
about here, and I'm going to double click on this side of the layer to bring up the
Layer Style panel, then I can go into the Blending Modes and choose Linear Dodge Add.
Watch what happens when I uncheck Transparency Shapes Layers.
See how it's brighter and hotter?
This is one of 8 blend modes that acts differently when you uncheck this Transparency Shapes
Layer.
Also, the Opacity and Fill react differently.
In this case, Fill will work better, so I'm going to click and drag the Fill down to right
about there; so it's still hot and bright.
Then I'm going to change the color by adding a Hue and Saturation Adjustment Layer.
Of course, I want to create a clipping mask Ctrl Alt G, Command Option G on the Mac, so
that I only affect this flare layer, and I'm going to click on Colorize.
Notice the bar here at the bottom.
That's the color that we're going to be applying.
If I click and drag the lightness to the left—make it darker—you'll see how the color is applied
here.
So that's before and after.
So let me make this more yellow with more saturation.
Something like that will work great, maybe even bring down the Fill a bit more on the
flare layer, or maybe even bring it up to see what looks better.
Yeah, maybe a little bit brighter.
So, this is all subjective, of course, so whatever looks better to your eye, so I'm
just going to select these two layers, put them into a group, Ctrl G, Command G on the
Mac.
There they are and I'm going to call this group "Flare."
What I'm going to do now is click on the model layer and we're going to add a little bit
of color to her, just so that it matches a little bit better.
I see a little bit of blue going on here and a hint of blue right up top here, so I want
to add some of that blue to the shadows on her face just so there's a little more interest.
So I'm going to create a Selective Color Adjustment Layer under Blacks, I'm going to add a little
bit of cyan and subtract yellow to get blue; something like that.
Just so you know, these are the colors that we can add or subtract.
If we subtract the color, we get the opposite color, so the opposite of cyan is red.
The opposite of magenta is green.
And the opposite of yellow is blue, which is why when we click and drag to the left
on the slider, we got blue.
So it's just a subtle effect, so that's before and that's after.
What I'm going to do now is sharpen the eyes a little bit more, so I'm going to create
a new layer and with the Sharpen Tool, I can sharpen the eyes.
Make sure that you have Sample All Layers checked and that you're in a new blank layer.
And watch what happens when I use this tool on her eyes to get really sharp, which is
what I want.
Unfortunately, that also adds some saturation to the eyes and I don't want that, so I'm
going to zoom in just so you could see what's going to happen.
So both eyes look the same but we're only going to focus on the left one, so that's
before and after.
Notice how the colors change.
I want the sharpness but not the color change, so I'm going to change the Blend Mode to Luminosity
and watch what happens with the color.
See that?
See how the color went down but we still have the sharpness?
So that's what I'm going to use.
I'm also going to bring the Opacity down to zero and just bring it up accordingly, so,
maybe 30% might be okay.
So let me fit that to screen so we could see.
That's before and that's after, and I think that's pretty good, so we'll keep it there.
I'm going to end the tutorial by adding some noise and the way that I'm going to do that
is by pressing Ctrl Alt Shift E, Command Option Shift E on the Mac, to create a layer on top
of everything that's a combination of all the layers below it, so, essentially, what
that keyboard shortcut does is it merges everything on to a new layer; so there it is.
Then, I'm going to go into Filter, Blur, Lens Blur, and we're going to use the Lens Blur
to add some noise and you got to make sure that the radius is set to zero so that we
don't have any blur.
You don't want to add any blur at this point so just make sure the radius is set to zero.
You can just simply type zero on there.
Then, I'm going to reduce the amount of noise and I'm also going to zoom in just so that
you could see what's going on here.
So look at the noise we have here.
We have Uniform, Gaussian, Monochromatic.
In this case, I'm going to uncheck Monochromatic and keep it at Gaussian.
I can click on this box and use the up and down arrow keys in the keyboard to add noise
or subtract noise.
So I'm going to subtract noise and I think right about two or three will be good.
I'll leave the amount set to 3 in this case, and I'm going to press OK; so that's before
and after.
I know you can't really see it so I'm going to zoom in—before and after.
Fit to Screen and I'm just going to rename my layers here.
It's a good idea to always rename your layers.
So this layer here was the eye sharpening so I'm just going to call it "eye sharpening"
and the layer above that is the "noise."
I'm going to click on the noise layer, hold Shift, click on the Selective Color Adjustment
Layer, and then, press Ctrl G, Command G on the Mac, to put that into a group.
I can call this "bokeh overlays, and this is before and after.
And that's it for this tutorial.
I hope that you enjoyed it and that you learned something new.
Make sure that you leave all your comments or questions down below.
If you create an image using this tutorial or any other of my tutorials, feel free to
share it on Instagram with the hashtag #ptcvids.
I often do a search for this hashtag to see what you're all up to.
If I find your image, I would leave you a comment.
Also, don't forget to subscribe and click on that Like button.
If you have a friend who you think will enjoy this tutorial, please share this link with
them now.
Thank you for watching and I'll talk to you again soon.