Photo Effects Tutorials

Add Light Streaks To A Photo With Photoshop

Learn how to add colorful streaks of light to a photo by combining paths with Photoshop’s brushes and layer styles! Also learn how to simulate pen pressure with a brush even if you’re not using a pen tablet!

Casting Light Through Window Blinds In Photoshop

Learn how to create the illusion that light is being cast on to the subject of your photo through window blinds, using a displacement map to bend and wrap the shadows around your subject while a simple adjustment layer helps create a more natural light source.

Warm Golden Sunsets With Gradient Maps In Photoshop

Sunsets are one of the most commonly photographed aspects of nature, yet photos rarely manage to capture their intense beauty. Learn how to easily bring vivid, golden colors back to your sunsets with Photoshop’s Gradient Maps!

Easy Depth Of Field Effect In Photoshop

Learn how to bring focus and attention to a specific part of an image in Photoshop with an easy to create depth of field effect!

Creating Photo Borders With Displacement Maps In Photoshop

Learn a great way to create unique and interesting photo border effects in Photoshop using your own texture images as displacement maps!

Turn A New Photo Into An Old Photo With Photoshop

Learn how to do a little reverse photo restoration by taking a new or recent photo and making it look like it’s been around for a while, combining several separate effects to create the final result!

Placing An Image Inside Of Another With Photoshop

Learn how to easily recreate the same Photoshop effect seen every week in electronics store ads, where one image is placed inside of another!

Turn Any Photo Into A Background With Photoshop

Learn how to easily turn any photo into an interesting background in Photoshop using a couple of basic selection tools that seem to have no other purpose. Then learn how to combine the newly created background with the same photo it was created from!

Blend Photos With Apply Image In Photoshop

Learn how to combine photos in all sorts of interesting and creative ways using the Apply Image command, one of the most powerful, flexible and fun image blending tools in all of Photoshop!

Create A Wood Picture Frame In Photoshop

Learn how to create a simple wood picture frame in Photoshop using a layer mask, layer styles and one of Photoshop’s built-in patterns!

Creating Photo Borders In Photoshop With Masks And Filters

Learn how to easily create interesting photo border effects in Photoshop simply by applying a filter directly to a layer mask!

Giving A Photo Rounded Corners In Photoshop

If you’re creating a fun design or collage out of your photos, those sharp, right-angled corners may not be sending the message you want. Fortunately, Photoshop makes it incredibly easy to give your photos warm, friendly, rounded corners using a simple Shape tool and a vector mask!

Photoshop Watercolor Painting Effect

Learn how to easily turn a photo into a watercolor painting in Photoshop with just a few simple steps!

Create Photoshop Templates For Photo Effects

Learn how easy it is to create your photo effects as reuseable templates thanks to Smart Objects in Photoshop CS2 and Smart Filters in Photoshop CS3.

Cast Light From A Window With Photoshop

Give an ordinary photo a more focused and dramatic look to it by creating a light source that appears to be shining through a window onto your main subject.