Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create a unique, letter portrait design effect quickly and easily.
Open a photo of a person that you'd like to use for this project.
I download this one and the others from Shutterstock.
Before we begin, if you're not already a subscriber to Blue Lightning TV, hit that small "Subscribe"
button to let you know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials.
The first step is to create a new document.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + N or go to File and New.
I'll make the Width and Height 1000 pixels each and the Resolution 150 pixels per inch,
however, you can make its size and resolution any amount you want.
The color mode is RGB and 8 bits per channel.
If the background isn't white, click the box and pick white.
Next, we'll give it a soft, radial gradient.
Click off the lock icon and double-click the layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Gradient Overlay".
Click the gradient bar and click the "Black, White" box.
The Blend Mode is Normal and the Opacity is 50%.
Check, "Reverse" and make the Style: "Radial".
The Angle is 30 degrees and the Scale is 100%.
Next, we'll add a letter of the alphabet.
I'll use the first letter of the name of my subject.
Open your Horizontal Type Tool.
If your foreground and background colors aren't black and white, press "d" on your keyboard.
We want our foreground color to be white, so in my case, I'll invert my colors by either
clicking this icon or by pressing "x" on my keyboard.
Open your list of fonts and pick one that has wide areas within the characters.
I'm using "Elephant Regular".
If you'd like to use it, I provided its link, as well.
I'll make its size 454 points so as to comfortably fit within my document.
You can always adjust the font's size later if you need to.
Make its aliasing "Sharp" and center alignment.
Click on your document and type out the character.
To move it, open your Move Tool.
Before we move it, in order to make sure it doesn't try to snap as you move it,
go to View and if "Snap" is checked, click it to de-activate it.
Then, position your character to a bit above center in order to leave room for your subject's name below it.
Double-click an empty area of the text layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Stroke".
If the color isn't white, click it and pick white.
I'll make the Size: 4 pixels, but feel free to adjust the amount.
The position is "Outside", the Blend Mode is "Normal" and the Opacity is 50%.
Open your subject.
We’ll make a selection around it, so we can isolated from its background.
There are many ways to do this, but this example, let's use the Quick Selection Tool.
Starting in CC 2018, you can automatically select the main subject or subjects by clicking
the "Select Subject" button.
If you're using an earlier version, drag your tool inside the subject to select it.
To remove areas of the selection, press and hold Alt or Option as you drag over those areas.
To refine soft or feathery areas like hair, go to Select.
If you're using a version earlier than CC 2015.5, click "Refine Edge".
If you're using a later version, click "Select and Mask".
If you prefer to use Refine Edge, Shift-click "Select and Mask".
I did in-depth tutorials on both of these filters, so if you'd like to watch them,
I provided their links in my video's description below.
Check Smart Radius.
This detects smooth and hard edges.
To increase or decrease the size of your tool, make sure your CapsLock key is off and press
the right or left bracket key on your keyboard.
I'll brush over the edge of my subject's hair.
Output it to a "Layer Mask".
To place our subject with its layer mask onto our letter document, press "v" to open your
Move Tool and drag it onto the tab of your letter document.
Without releasing your mouse or pen, drag it down and release.
Let's reduce its opacity, so we can see our letter under it.
To resize it, open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T. Go to a corner.
If you're using a version earlier than CC 2019, press and hold Alt or Option + Shift
as you drag it in or out.
If you're using CC 2019 or later, just press Alt or Option as you drag it.
Size and position it, so your subject's face or other parts comfortably jut outside your letter.
Then, press Enter or Return or click the check-mark at the top.
Then, increase its opacity back to 100%.
Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J.
Click off the chain-link between the layer and its layer mask
and drag the layer mask to the trash can.
If you see this message, click "Delete".
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the large "T" of the text layer to make a selection of the letter's shape.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection.
Hide the layer under it
and Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the layer mask of the shape of the subject to make a selection of it.
Open your Pencil Tool and Pencil Picker.
Pick a Hard Round Brush.
I'll make its size 45 pixels, but feel free to adjust this amount.
Make its Hardness and Opacity both 100%.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Brush inside the selection of your subject that you'd like to see jutting outside your letter.
Then, deselect it.
Next, we'll add text under our letter portrait.
Make the top layer active and temporarily hide the text layer.
We're hiding it because it'll be easier to set our smaller text under our portrait.
Open your Horizontal Type Tool again and for its size, I'll type in 16 points, but again,
feel free to adjust this amount.
Click the white box and pick a color for the text below your letter portrait.
If you like, you can click on your subject to pick up the specific color you clicked on.
I already know the color I want, so I'll type it into the hexadecimal field.
Click on your document and type out your text.
To adjust the space between all the characters, highlight the line of text and press and hold
Alt or Option and the right or left arrow key on your keyboard.
To reposition it, open back your Move Tool and move it.
Lastly, we'll add back the stroke around our letter by scrolling down to your text layer
and making it visible again.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!