Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I'm going to you show you how to make your
color photos more engaging, fun and personal. You can apply these techniques to virtually any photo.
Open a color image you'd like to use. I downloaded this one from Shutterstock.com.
The first step is to convert it into a Smart Object, so we can make adjustments to it non-destructively.
It'll also allow us to replace the photo with a different one without having to redo all
the effects. To do this, click the icon at the upper, right of the Layers panel and click
"Convert to Smart Object".
Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J.
Click off the eyeball next to the copy to hide the layer
and click the thumbnail of the bottom layer to make it active.
Go to Filter and Filter Gallery. Open the Texture folder and click
"Grain". Make the Intensity: 20, the Contrast: 50 and the Grain Type: Clumped. Then, click OK.
Go back to Filter and Lens Correction.
Click the Custom tab
and drag the Vignette Amount all the way to the left.
Then, click OK.
Click the Adjustment layer icon and click Hue/Saturation.
Drag the Saturation all the way to the left to remove all the color.
We want to make new layer below the adjustment layer. To do this, Ctrl-click or Cmd-click
on the New Layer icon.
Open your Rectangular Marquee Tool
and drag a rectangle over the general area you'd like to revert back to color.
Go to Edit and Stroke.
I'll make the Stroke: 30 pixels, however,
depending on the resolution of your photo, you may want to
use a different amount. Make the Location: Inside and click the color box. Pick white.
Then, click OK on both windows.
To deselect it, press Ctrl or Cmd + D. To angle your frame,
open the Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.
Go to a corner and when you see a curved, double-arrow,
rotate it to angle you like. To reposition it over the area, go inside
the Transform and drag the frame. Then, press Enter or Return.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click on the thumbnail of the frame to make a selection of its shape.
Press "Q" to make it into a quick mask.
Open your Paint Bucket Tool.
Make sure your foreground color is white and "Contiguous" is checked.
Click outside the frame to delete the quickmask, leaving just the quick mask
inside of the frame intact. Press "Q" again to revert it back into a selection. Invert
the selection by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + I.
Make the top layer active. Keep in mind,
the photo in this layer is in color because it doesn't have an adjustment layer above
it that desaturates its color.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to it.
Make the layer visible.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click on the thumbnail of the frame layer again to make a selection of its shape.
Press "Q" to make it into a quick mask and
click the Paint Bucket Tool inside the frame to delete the quick mask. Press "Q" to revert
into a selection. Make the frame layer active, fill the selection with white and deselect it.
Because we filled the selection with white, this layer is no longer a frame; it's a white
box. Double-click on it to open its Layer Style window.
Click Drop Shadow. Make the opacity: 40% and uncheck Global Light.
Make the Angle: 138 degrees, the Distance: 50 pixels
and the Size: 20 pixels. Then, click OK.
Next, we'll enlarge the color photo. To do this,
Shift-click on the top layer to highlight the top 3 layers and open your Transform Tool.
Zoom out by pressing Ctrl or Cmd and the minus sign on your keyboard. Go to a corner
and when you see a diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold Alt or Option + Shift and drag it
out to a size you like. Then, reposition it
and press Enter or Return.
To fit it back onto your canvas,
press Ctrl or Cmd +0. We're ready to add text.
Open your Horizontal Type Tool. Choose a font.
I using a handwritten-style font called, "MT Matto Script Normal". If
you'd like to use it, as well, I provided its link in the video description or project
files. I'll make the size 70 points, Sharp and Left Alignment. Click the color box
and click a color on your photo that you think would work well for your text. You can always
change it later. Then, click OK.
Click on your document and type your text.
Double-click on an empty area of your text layer to open the Layer Style window.
Click "Outer Glow"
and change the Blend Mode to Normal. Click the color box and pick black or white or a
grey tone that will make your text pop more depending on the background behind the text.
For this example, I'll pick black and click OK.
Make the Size 50 pixels and click OK.
Open your Transform Tool to rotate, position and resize it. Then, press Enter or Return.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!