Advanced' Photo Effects Tutorials

This tutorial will show you how to turn the image on the left into the image on the right:



Since there are tutorials here at W2K that cover masking and such, I'll assume you already know the basics of Photoshopping, such as finding source images, masking, cloning, and everything else that will allow you to get to our starting point:

The first thing we need to do is lay the foundation for the snow. Nothing Mother Nature does is orderly and snowfall is about as random as it gets. The quickest and easiest way to make something look random is to use a noise filter, so...

1. Create a layer set above our starting point and name it "Snow".
   
2. Activate the Snow layer set and add a new layer in it. Fill the new layer with 50% Gray.
   
3. Now lets generate the noise: Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise... 50%, Gaussian Distribution, Monochromatic
   
4. Blur it a bit to give it nice, soft edges. Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur... Radius 4.0 pixels

You should have something like this:



Doesn't look like much like snow, does it?

Next we'll use the magic of a Curves adjustment layer to increase the contrast and create our snowflakes.

1. Add a Curves adjustment layer above the noise layer. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Curves... Group With Previous Layer
   
2. You'll see the Curves Adjustment Window. Make the "curve" look something like this:

so your noise will look like this:



Note: You can play around with the Curves Adjustment to increase or decrease the number and size of the flakes.

White specks on a black background don't look like much at first. That's where blending comes in handy.



Activate the Snow layer set and change the blending mode to Screen and the opacity to 90%. You should now have something similar to this:

In real life, a snowstorm has depth. It engulfs things. We can simulate this by adding several layers, increasing or decreasing the scale of each to make it look closer or farther away. I used five layers of snow. You can have more or less, but five was fine for this image. There may be (probably is) a better/quicker/easier way to do this, but I'm going to stick with what worked for me:

1. Duplicate the Snow Layer Set. The default name of Snow Copy is fine for our use. Activate the new layer set.
   
2. Open the set, ungroup the Curves Adjustment Layer from the layer of "snow", and select the layer of "snow".
   
3. Edit -> Transform -> Scale and set the scale to 50% using the boxes at the top of the screen. Make sure you click on the little link icon between the width and height boxes.
   
   
   
   
4. Align the shrunken layer with top-left of the image:
   a) Select -> All
   b) Layer -> Align to Selection -> Top Edges
   c) Layer -> Align to Selection -> Left Edges
   
   
   
   
5. Duplicate the shrunken layer and use Layer -> Align to Selection -> Right Edges to align it with the right side of the image.
   
   
   
   
6. Merge the two shrunken snow layers: Layer -> Merge Down
   
7. Duplicate the merged layer and align it with the bottom of the screen: Layer -> Align to Selection -> Bottom Edges
   
   
   
   
8. Layer -> Merge Down. Group the Curves adjustment layer with this newly filled layer to complete the filling.
   
   
   
   
9. Next Look for vertical and horizontal lines caused by replication. Use a large soft eraser brush with an opacity of 50% or so to clean it up.
   
   
   
   You should now have something similar to this:
   
   
   
   Repeat this set of steps using this newly created layer set as the basis. Itll add another level of depth in the distance. You can do this as many times as you want, but a total of twice should be sufficient, producing something like this:
   
   

Now let's add flakes closer to us. We'll do something similar to the previous step, but it'll be quicker and easier.

1. Activate the layer set named Snow and make a duplicate of it. Again, the default name of Snow Copy 3 is fine. Change the order, moving the Snow Copy 3 layer set below the Snow layer set.
   
   
   
   
2. Open the new layer set and ungroup the curve adjustment layer. Activate the layer with the snowflakes.
   
3. Make the flakes look closer to us by doubling the scale: Edit -> Transform -> Scale and set the scale to 200% using the boxes at the top of the screen. Again, make sure you click on the little link icon between the width and height boxes.
   
4. Regroup the Curves adjustment layer with this layer and youve something like this:
   
   
   
   Repeat this set of steps using this newly created layer set as the basis. Itll add another level of depth closer to the viewer. You can do this as many times as you want, but a total of twice should be sufficient, producing something similar to this:
   
   
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If you followed this tutorial to the letter, you'll have five snow layer sets named (in order of farthest to closest):
- Snow copy 2
- Snow copy
- Snow
- Snow copy 3
- Snow copy 4

Use Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur on the snow content layers within each layer set to increase the suggestion of movement and to better integrate the snow into the image. Using larger distance values for motion blur makes a layer more transparent. Since the flakes in the far layers are smaller, youll want to blur them less so they wont disappear. Youll also want to use different Motion Blur angles for each layer to add to the random appearance. These are the only rules of thumb for using Motion Blur on the snow. Below are the values I used. Play around with them until you find something you like.
- Snow copy 2, Angle: -70 degrees, Distance: 1 pixels
- Snow copy, Angle: 70 degrees, Distance: 5 pixels
- Snow, Angle: 90 degrees, Distance: 10 pixels
- Snow copy 3, Angle: 80 degrees, Distance: 30 pixels
- Snow copy 4, Angle: -80 degrees, Distance: 60 pixels

Using these values produce an image that looks like this:

The pictures still too bright and cheerful. Snowfall usually sucks the colors right out of the day. We can do the same here in two steps.

First use a Curves adjustment layer to flatten the highlights:

1. Activate the layer immediately below the Snow copy 4 layer set.
   
2. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Curves.
   
   
   
   Adjust the curve so it looks kind of like this:
   
   
   
   The picture should look like this:
   
   

Finally, desaturate the picture a bit with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

1. Activate the topmost layer or layer let. It should be the Snow copy 2 layer set if youve followed this tutorial exactly.
   
2. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Hue/Saturation.
   
   
   
   Change the saturation level to 20:
   
   
   
   The (final) picture should look similar to this:
   
   
   
   I hope this tutorial was helpful. If you have trouble following it, send me an e-mail and Ill try to help you out.
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