Jelly Remake

A new way…. MY way to make everything “jelly” ~ Enjoy and have fun.

Realistic photo print

Author: Edvard Erlandsson
Categories: Photo effects, Design
By using just a few simple effects you can turn your digital images into realistic photo prints.

This tutorial is an adoption of Photo-Realistic Fireworks tutorial from SixThings.

Step 1:

First we create the thin border of the photograph.
Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a rectangle the shape of a photo.
Create a new layer and call it frame, fill the selection with a gradient going from white to beige (#F7F2E7) like in the picture bellow.

Step 2:

Create a new layer and call it mask, with the selection still active shrink the selection by 4px (Alt + S + M + C).
Fill the selection with whatever color you like, we will use this layer as a layer mask for our real picture in the next step.

Step 3:

Insert the image you want to use to create this realistic photo, make sure the image is in a layer above the mask layer.
Hold down the Alt button and position the mouse between the mask layer and the picture layer, the mouse pointer should look like the on in the picture to the left, now left click.

Your image should now only be visible inside the rectangle you created in the mask layer.
Now you can resize and move the image as you like inside this rectangle.

Step 4:

Create a new layer and call it white gradient, set the foreground color to white, select the gradient tool and open the gradient editor.
Select the gradient called "Foreground to Transparent" which should be in your presets list.
Click the left Opacity stop and set the opacity to 50% as demonstrated in the picture bellow.

Step 5:

Draw a gradient from the bottom right corner towards the upper left corner as demonstrated in the image bellow.
Change the foreground color to black and create a new layer and call it black gradient now create the same gradient but in the opposite corner.

Step 6:

Select all layers except the bottom layer by ctrl clicking all the layers and press ctrl + T.
Now you can rotate the photo a bit by dragging the corner handles in any direction.

Step 7:

Instead of applying a basic drop shadow we will create a more realistic shadow.
Start by creating a new layer called shadow and place the shadow layer bellow the frame layer, ctrl click the frame layer preview.
Right click the selection and select Make work path, set the tolerance to 10.

Step 8:

Select the Path selection tool and add an anchor point on the right and bottom side of the path, to add an anchor point you simply right click the path and select Add anchor point.
Move the anchor points so that your path looks something like the one bellow.

Step 9:

Right click the path and select Make selection to transform it back to a selection.
Fill the selection with black and deselect by hitting ctrl + D, set the layer opacity to 50% and apply a gaussian blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur) with about 6px in radius.

The result:

Creating a page curl in Photoshop

Today’s tutorial was a request by Kirk from Smallest Photo. As you all know, the way I do or show it isn’t the ‘only’ way, it’s just my way and I’m open for any other tips or suggestions. As always I had fun doing this and I’m always happy to share stuff like this. So here it goes…

Step 1 - Selecting the corner and warp transform it to a curl

Select the Rectangle Selection tool from the Toolbox and drag a squared selection starting from the bottom right corner of the image (holding down shift) going diagonally left, till you have a big part selected of the bottom right corner of your image. Go to the Edit menu and select Transform > Warp. Drag the bottom right point of the mesh up left till you get some curly effect. Drag the bezier handles to get the right curl effect and hit the return key if you're pleased with the result.

Step 2 - Create the curl

Since this curl doesn't show the back of our photo, it doesn't really look realistic. The only way I'm aware of to achieve this effect is that we draw it ourself. Select the Pen tool from the Toolbox and draw a path on top of the picture. Follow the borders of the curl you just transformed as guidance. Fill the Shape layer with a white color (double click the layer icon).

Step 3 - Add shading effect to the curl

Double click on the right of the Shape layer to active the Layer Styles. Check the Gradient Overlay option. Set the Angle of the gradient to 152° and click in the gradient to adjust the colors. Drag the stop swatches to the position shown in the image above and choose a grey for the left stop swatch (click once on the stop swatch and then once in the Color field). You can play around with the effect till you get the result you want. These numbers and info are just as a guidance and what I've used to achieve my result.

Step 4 - Add shading effect to the image

To achieve an even more realistic effect, we add a depth/shading effect on the picture itself as well. Double click on the right of the layer that holds your picture to get to the Layer Styles options. Again, check the Gradient Overlay option. Set the Angle of the gradient to 152°, choose Multiply as Blend Mode (to filter out all the white) and click in the gradient to adjust the colors. Drag the stop swatches again as before to the position shown in the image above. As an extra you can check the Drop Shadow effect in the Layers Styles options as sort of realistic finishing touch.

Creating patterns in Photoshop CS2

Have you ever wondered how you create a seamless pattern in Photoshop? It’s easy and it’s fun. Let me show you how…

Step 1 - Create a Color Fill

First of all create a vector illustration in Illustrator CS2. It might be just a simple dot or circle. Copy this object. Go to Photoshop and create a new document of 300 by 300 pixels. Select the Rectangle Selection Tool from the Toolbox and drag a squared selection (hold down shift) in the center of the document. Leave enough space around the square. Click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer in the Layer's Palette and select Solid Color. Select a color you like and click OK.

Step 2 - Paste your Illustrator object

Paste your Illustrator object. Select Smart Object in the Paste options. In the View menu, make sure that Smart Guides are active (Show > Smart Guides). Snap and Snap to Layers should also be checked.

Step 3 - Place your object over the border

Drag your object over the border of the Color Fill. If you see the Smart Guide and feel the object 'snapping', release the object.

Step 4 - Drag a 2nd object on the other side of the border

Duplicate the layer (drag the layer in the Layer's Palette onto the Create New Layer icon). Now drag the object over the bottom border of the Color Fill holding down the shift key. Again, when you feel the Snap effect release your mouse.

Step 5 - Drag other objects on the other side of Color Fill borders

Repeat step 3 and 4 for the left and right side of the Color Fill.

Step 6 - Fill up the 4 borders of the Color Fill

Make sure the border of the color fill is nicely filled. Play around with the shape by transforming it (command/control + t) and using different Layer transparency values. Just make sure that each shape on either side is still the same, so that in the end the pattern will match seamlessly.

Step 7 - Fill up the middle of the Color Fill

Now fill up the middle of the Color Fill. Make sure you have enough variation. You might need to turn off Snap and Smart Guides. Once you're finished, click on the Layer Mask of the Color Fill Layer in the Layer's Palette holding down the command/control key. The Color Fill is now selected. Go to the Edit menu, select Define Pattern and give your pattern a name. If the option is greyed out, you just need to select another layer. Now do the test by creating a new document (make sure it's big enough to see the effect), hit command/control + a and go to Edit > Fill and select your pattern.

Step 8 - Play around and experiment

As you can see, my example with the flower is rather flashy. Because we've used Smart Objects, we can change the pattern in a rather quick way. Double click the Smart Object icon on one of the Layers. This will open the object in Illustrator. Now change the shape into something else, use other colors etc. Save it and close the document. Go back to Photoshop and you'll see that all Smart Objects will change to the new one. Change the color of the Color Fill. Go to Edit > Define Pattern and save your new pattern. Create as much patterns as you like, all in a rather fast and smart way :)

See? This is fun. Still, make sure to use patterns like the one I made here with caution, don't overload your design, make sure there is enough breathing space. Otherwise it could be too flashy and playful... unless that's exactly what you are looking for of course.

Adding Reflections To Sunglasses

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we're going learn how to add reflections, or at least, different reflections, to sunglasses.

This is a popular Photoshop effect and opens up a world of creative and artistic possibilities depending on who is wearing the sunglasses and who or what you have them looking at.

Here's the image I'll be using for this Photoshop tutorial:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The original image.

If we look closely, we can see that there already is a faint reflection in her sunglasses, and it looks like she's standing on the side of a road if I'm not mistaken. To me, she could just as easily be standing on a tropical beach, so we're going to give her more mirror-like reflective lenses and have her looking towards the water instead by using this photo:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: A photo of a tropical beach.

as the reflection in her sunglasses:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The final result.

Let's get started.

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Step 1: Select One Of The Lenses

We need to work on one lens at a time, so let's begin with the lens on the left (our left, her right). To complete the work on the other lens, all we'll need to do is repeat the same steps we're about to do. First, we need to select the lens, so select around the outside of it using the selection tool of your choice (Lasso Tool, Pen Tool, etc.):

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Select around the outside of the lens on the left using the Photoshop selection tool of your choice.

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Step 2: Create A New Blank Layer

With the lens selected, click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to add a new blank layer above the original Background layer, which is the layer that contains our original image:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Add a new layer by clicking on the "New Layer" icon.

Photoshop adds a new layer above the Background layer and automatically names it "Layer 1". Double-click directly on the layer's name in the Layers palette and rename it to "left lens" to make it easier for us to keep track of what we're doing (it's always a good idea to name your layers):

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: A new layer is added above the Background layer. Rename the layer "left lens".

Step 3: Fill The Selection With Black On The New Layer

With the "left lens" layer selected (the currently selected layer is highlighted in blue in the Layers palette), press the letter D on your keyboard to reset your Foreground and Background colors if necessary so black becomes your Foreground color (white becomes your Background color), then use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Backspace (Win) / Option+Delete (Mac) to fill the selection we made with black:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The left lens now appears filled with solid black.

Press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) when you're done to deselect the selection.

It looks like we've filled the left lens with black, but since we're using layers and we've filled the selection on a layer above the Background layer, our original image isn't affected at all. The black filled selection area and the original photo are completely separate from each other.

At this point, we need to bring in the image we're going to be using as the reflection in the sunglasses, so open your second image in Photoshop if it's not open already and have both images displaying in their own separate document windows on the screen (you can cycle through the various screen modes for each document by pressing the letter F on your keyboard). Press V to quickly select Photoshop's Move Tool, then simply click anywhere inside the second image and drag it into the sunglasses document:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Use the Move Tool to drag the second image into the main sunglasses document.

If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that the second image has been added on a new layer above the "left lens" layer. Double-click on the layer's name and rename it to "left reflection":

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The second image has been added on a new layer at the top of the Layers palette. Rename the new layer "left reflection".

Step 5: Create A Clipping Mask

Currently, the image on the "left reflection" layer is blocking much of the sunglasses image from view. What we want is for it to appear only inside the left lens, and we can do that easily by using the "left lens" layer as a clipping mask for the "left reflection" layer above it. What this means is, the only area of the tropical beach photo that will remain visible is the area sitting above the black-filled area on the layer below it. Any areas of the tropical beach photo that are sitting above any transparent areas on the "left lens" layer below it will be hidden from view.

To create the clipping mask, with the "left reflection" layer selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and choose Create Clipping Mask, or use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+G (Win) / Option+Command+G (Mac). Either way turns the "left lens" layer into a clipping mask for the "left reflection" layer above it, and the tropical beach photo (or whatever photo you happen to be using) is now sitting nicely inside the left lens:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The tropical beach photo now appears inside the left lens.

If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that the "left reflection" layer now appears indented to the right, with a small arrow pointed down towards the "left lens" layer below it, which indicates that the "left reflection" layer is now being clipped by the "left lens" layer:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Photoshop's Layers palette showing the "left reflection" layer being clipped by the "left lens" layer below it.

Step 6: Resize And Reposition The Image With Free Transform

Now that our reflection image is inside the left lens, let's resize it and reposition it. We can do both of those things at once using Photoshop's Free Transform command, so press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up the Free Transform box and handles around the second image. Even though we can only see the part of the image that's inside the lens, Photoshop places the Free Transform box and handles around the actual dimensions of the image. If you can't see some of the handles because they're outside of the viewable area inside the document window, press F on your keyboard to switch your view mode to Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar, which will allow you to see all of the Free Transform handles (press F a couple more times when you're done with Free Transform if you want to switch back to the document window view mode). Then simply drag any of the corner handles inward to resize the image. Hold down Shift as you're dragging to constrain the proportions of the image, and hold down Alt as you drag if you want Photoshop to resize the image from its center:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Resize the image by dragging any of the corner handles. Hold "Shift" to constrain the image proportions and "Alt" (Win) / "Option" (Mac) to resize the image from its center.

If you need to rotate the image, move your mouse outside any of the corner handles. You'll see your mouse cursor change to a curved line with a small arrow on each end. Simply click and drag with your mouse to rotate the image.

To move the image, click anywhere inside the Free Transform box and move the image around with your mouse. Just don't click on the small target icon in the center, otherwise you'll move the target icon, not the image. Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation. Here's my image after moving and resizing my tropical beach photo inside the lens:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The image serving as the reflection has now been moved and resized.
Let's add a bit of a shadow to the reflected image so it looks like it's part of the lens and not just sitting on top of it. Click back on the "left lens" layer in the Layers palette to select it, then click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Click on the "left lens" layer to select it, then click on the "Layer Styles" icon.

Select Inner Shadow from the list of Layer Styles that appears:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Select "Inner Shadow" from the list.

This brings up Photoshop's Layer Style" dialog box set to the Inner Shadow options in the middle column. I want my shadow to appear mainly in the top right corner of the lens so I'm going to set my Angle to 65°. You may want to set yours to a different angle. Set the Distance option to 1 px and lower the Size option down to about 3 px:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Change the Inner Shadow options circled in red above.

Here's my lens after applying the Inner Shadow:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The left lens now has a subtle shadow appearing from the top right corner.

Step 8: Apply The "Spherize" Filter

Right now, the image we're using for our reflection is completely flat, but most lenses have a slight curve to them, so let's add that slight curve to our reflection image. Click on the "left reflection" layer in the Layers palette to select it. Then hold down Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) and click directly on the thumbnail for the "left lens" layer in the Layers palette:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Select the "left reflection" layer, then "Ctrl-click" (Win) / "Command+click" (Mac) directly on the "left lens" thumbnail in the Layers palette.

This will load a selection around the lens back into the document:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: A selection around the left lens now appears back in the document.

We're going to be applying the Spherize filter to the "left reflection" layer, and by loading this selection first, this allows us to apply the filter only to the area inside the selection, rather than applying it to the entire layer.

Now that we've loaded the selection, go up to the Filter option at the top of the screen, choose Distort, and then choose Spherize. When the Spherize filter dialog box appears, select Horizontal Only for the Mode option at the bottom, then use the slider to raise the Amount to around 25-30%. I'm going to raise mine to 30% since her lenses seem to have quite a bit of curve to them:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Photoshop's Spherize filter dialog box.

Click OK when you're done to apply the filter and exit out of the dialog box. Press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) when you're done to deselect the selection. Here's my image after applying the Spherize filter to the image inside the left lens. The difference is subtle, but it's usually the small things that make the difference between something that looks realistic and something that doesn't:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The image after applying the Spherize filter to the photo inside the left lens.
With the "left reflection" layer still selected, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate the layer. A copy of the layer, which Photoshop names "left reflection copy", appears above it in the Layers palette. Click on the new layer's name and rename it to "multiply" (you'll see why in a moment):

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Duplicate the "left reflection" layer and rename it "multiply".

Step 10: Set The New "Multiply" Layer To Be Clipped By The "Left Lens" Layer

When we duplicated the "left reflection" layer, Photoshop created a copy of it for us but left us with a small problem. The original "left reflection" layer is being clipped by the "left lens" layer below it, but the copy we just created is not being clipped, which means it's not being confined to the inside of the lens and is currently just sitting there on top of the original image. All we need to do to fix that is do the same thing we did with the original "left reflection" layer. Either go up to the Layer menu and choose Create Clipping Mask or use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+G (Win) / Option+Command+G (Mac) to clip the "multiply" layer to the "left lens" layer so the only part remaining visible is the area inside the lens. We can now see in the Layers palette that both the original "lens reflection" layer and the "multiply" layer are being clipped by the "left lens" layer below them:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The Layers palette showing the "left reflection" and "multiply" layers being clipped by the "left lens" layer below them.

Step 11: Change The Layer Blend Mode To "Multiply"

The reason we renamed the new layer to "multiply" is because we're going to change it's layer blend mode to Multiply, which is going to enable us to darken the image inside the lens so it's not so bright. To do that, simply go up to the blend mode option in the top left corner of the Layers palette, click on the down-pointing arrow to the right of the word "Normal" and select "Multiply" from the list:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Change the blend mode of the top layer to "Multiply".

As soon as you change the blend mode, the image inside the lens appears much darker:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The image inside the lens now appears darker after changing the blend mode.

If you find the image inside the lens now appears too dark, simply go up to the Opacity option in the top right corner of the Layers palette and lower the opacity of the "multiply" layer until you've brightened the image back up to the point where you're happy with the results. Or, if you want to make the image even darker, click on the "left reflection" layer to select it and lower it's opacity value. By lowering the opacity of the "left reflection" layer, you begin to mix in some of the solid black from the "left lens" layer below it (which is why we filled our lens selection with black earlier in the tutorial). Here I've lowered the opacity of the "left reflection" layer to 80% to mix in just a hint of the black from the "left lens" layer:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Lower the opacity of the "multiply" layer to brighten the reflected image back up, or lower the opacity of the "left reflection" layer to darken it even further.

My reflected image now appears even darker, giving the lens a tinted look to it:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The reflected image inside the lens is slightly darker, giving the lens a tinted appearance.

It's entirely a judgment call on your part how dark to make the reflection, if you even want to darken it at all.

To finish off our work on the left lens and give it a bit more of a three dimensional, curved appearance, let's add a highlight to it, as if the sun is reflecting off of it. I'm going to add it in the top right corner of the lens. To do that, we need the Gradient Tool, so select it from the Tools palette or press G to select it with the keyboard shortcut:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Select the Gradient Tool.

We want to add a white-to-transparent gradient, so press the letter X on your keyboard to swap your Foreground and Background colors, making white your Foreground color. Then with the Gradient Tool selected, right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) anywhere inside the document to bring up the Gradient Picker and select the gradient second from the left, top row:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Choose the white-to-transparent gradient from the Gradient Picker.

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Step 13: Load A Selection Once Again Around The Lens

Hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click directly on the thumbnail for the "left lens" layer in the Layers palette to once again load a selection around the lens:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: "Ctrl-click" (Win) / "Command-click" (Mac) directly on the "left lens" thumbnail to again load a selection around the lens in the document.

Step 14: Add A New Layer At The Top Of The Layers Palette

Make sure the top layer (the "multiply" layer) is currently selected in the Layers palette, then click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to add a new blank layer above all the others. Rename the new layer "highlight":

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Add a new blank layer at the top of the Layers palette and rename it "highlight".

Step 15: Drag Out A White-To-Transparent Gradient On The "Highlight" Layer

To add the highlight, I'm simply going to drag out a white-to-transparent gradient on the "highlight" layer, starting from the top right corner of the lens and extending downward diagonally towards the center:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: Dragging out a gradient from the top right corner of the right lens down towards the center.

Release the mouse button and Photoshop draws the white-to-transparent gradient, adding the highlight to the lens. Since we had a selection around the lens, the gradient is confined to the area inside the lens. Press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) to deselect the selection. Here's my image after adding my highlight in the top right corner of the lens:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The highlight added to the left lens.

Step 16: Repeat The Same Steps For The Other Lens

We've completed work on the left lens. Now we just need to add the reflection to the right lens, and to do that, we simply repeat all the steps we've just done for the other lens:

1. Select the right lens
2. Add a new layer and name it "right lens"
3. Fill the selection with black
4. Drag the second image into the sunglasses document and rename its layer "right reflection"
5. Create a clipping mask to clip the "right reflection" layer to the "right lens" layer below it
6. Use Free Transform to resize and reposition the image inside the lens
7. Add an "Inner Shadow" layer style to the "right lens" layer
8. Apply the "Spherize" filter to the "right reflection" layer
9. Duplicate the "right reflection" layer and rename it "multiply"
10. Change the blend mode of the duplicate layer to "Multiply"
11. Lower the opacity of the new "multiply" layer to brighten the image back up or lower the opacity of the "right reflection" layer to make it even darker.
12. Add a highlight in the top right corner of the right lens with the Gradient Tool and a white-to-transparent gradient

Keep in mind as you're repositioning the image in the right lens with the Free Transform command that the reflection in the right lens should be coming from a slightly different angle than the reflection in the left lens, so to make things look more realistic, adjust the position of the right reflection so it appears a bit off center from the left one. Once you've repeated all the steps for the right lens, you're done!

Here, for comparison, is my original image once again with the original reflection in the sunglasses:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The original image once again.

And here, after repeating all the steps for the right lens, is my final result. When repeating the steps for the right lens, I only lowered the opacity of the "right reflection" layer to 90% rather than the 80% I lowered the "left reflection" layer to, and the reason for it is that her face seems to be tilted away slightly from the direction of the sun so I made the reflection in the lens closest to the sun appear slightly brighter, again just to add a touch more realism:

Adobe Photoshop tutorial: The final result.

And there we have it!

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