Adding Special Effects to an Image Using Photoshop

This tutorial will teach you how to add special effects to a colored image. This tutorial teaches you the basics of Blending Modes, and using Photo shop Filter Effects.

First, you will need to open up your Adobe Photo shop. Once you have that open, you will need to find a picture you would like to work with. I am using a picture of the lovely and talented, Jessica Simpson. I've opened up my image, and I resized it down to a size that would be easy to work with. You don't necessarily need to resize your image, it's all up to you, and what would be easier for you to work with.

Now you should have your image open. Next you will go to File-Sharpen and then select Sharpen from the drop down menu. Sharpen your image about one to two times, whatever you think looks best. If you are using an image of a person, after you sharpen you will need to take your Blur Tool and use it over the person's face. You will need to smooth out all the skin except the lips, nose, and eyes. You will start to notice that the skin looks a lot smoother, now.

Next you will take your dodge tool and you will use it over the person's lips to bring out the coloring of them. Duplicate your image so you'll have two copies on your layers palette. Set your layer to Multiply 100% then duplicate the image again, and set to Screen 100%. Next you will duplicate your layer once again, and set to Screen 70%. After you do that, you will need to go to Windows then Styles and select the Sepia style.

Now your image should be a lot brighter and also have a light tan coloring to it. Next you will go to Layer then New Fill Layer and select Solid Color from the drop down menu. A box will pop up on your screen and you will enter in the hex code: #795A35. After you have the new color filled layer you will go to your Blending Options and select Overlay and then set the Opacity to 70%.

From here I am going to add simple text to my image. Once you have your text on, you can add special effects to the text by right clicking your text layer on your layers palette and selecting Blending Options and you can play around with the different effects that are there.

Lastly, I added a 1 pixel border to my image. To add a border, you create a new layer on your layers palette and go to Edit then Stroke. Once the box pops up, you can change the color to any color that would match your image, and then select OK. Your final image should look like this .

Finally, you are all done with your effects. From here you can add any other types of things to your image, such as textures, and brushes. Play around and be creative!