Photoshop Layer Styles

Adding creativity to an image.

1. EASY AND QUICK TUTORIALS
Photoshop
Presented by Mike Soliday

2. Tutorial 1- Taking an
image and have an
object pop out of
the image
•I have see this effect in a
variety of print
advertisements, and if
you are a photographer, it
is a great way to add
creativity to a shot!

3. Open any image.
•Most of the time this will work well with images of
people or products.
•Lets select the entire image. Cmd/Ctrl + A
(If you are on a Mac, use the CMD key, if you are on Windows, use the Ctrl
key)
•We are going to cut the image from the background,
and add it to its own layer. To do so, a quick shortcut
will work. Press: Shift+CMD+J(Mac)
Shift + Ctrl + J(PC)

4. Select the object within the image
You can utilize any selection tool to select the object within the image. Once the
object has been selected, you will want to add the selection of the object to its
own layer via a copy.
1.To do so, press: Command + J ( Mac) Control + J (PC) This will copy the
selected object, and place it on its own layer.
2.Click back on layer 1 to make it active. Please note that the entire image is still
placed on layer 1.

5. Take the Rectangular Marquee
1.Press the letter “M”. This
will select the Rectangular
Marquee. Drag a selection
around the area that you
want to maintain visibility.
2.Select the Select menu,
and choose Inverse.
3.Press the Delete Key

6. Add Layer Styles
1.Add a layer style, Stroke. Change the size to 11, color white, and
position it inside.
2.Add a drop shadow layer style. Make sure the color is black, and
change the size to 10px.
3.Duplicate the Drop Shadow Layer style, and apply it to the object layer.
To do so, hold down your Alt/Option key and drag the layer style from
layer 1 to the new layer. It will copy the layer style for you.

7. Drop Shadows
•The drop shadow is added to the object. We do not want the
shadow to be added to anywhere in the image, just outside of it.
•Make sure to select the top layer.
•When you apply a layer style, you can convert certain styles to a
layer, so you can edit it. It really comes in handy with drop shadows.
•Select the Layer menu, and choose Layer Styles, and click Create
Layer. This will create a separate layer with the just the drop
shadow. It will be placed right below the layer. Look at the layer,
and now you can edit it just like any layer in Photoshop.

8. Drop Shadows
•Click on the Drop Shadow layer.
•Now lets add a selection. Make sure to stay on the drop shadow
layer. Hold down Ctrl/CMD key, and click on the thumbnail for Layer
1. When you click on the thumbnail, it will automatically select
what is on that layer, but does not make that layer active.
•Press the delete key. This will delete the shadows around the bride
and groom within the photo area.

9. Snapshot Focus Effect
•This next tutorial is great effect to be used on
vacation photos or those of groups. It is very similar
to the previous tutorial. Once you find one way to
do something, I always encourage you to try to
experiment. Most of the time, the steps are the
same, but you just make one modification, and it
looks different.

10. Open any image.
•This should work on any
type of image.
•Press M, to select the
Rectangular Marquee. You
want to select an area that
you want to maintain the
focus within the image.
•Now open up the Free
Transform Selection. Select
the Select Menu, and
choose Transform Selection.
•Bring your mouse outside
of the bounding box, and
rotate the selection. This
will not affect the image,
just the selection.
•Press Return to accept
rotation.

11. Adding Style
•First, lets create a copy of this selection and place it on its own
layer. Command + J (Mac) Ctrl + J (PC)
•Add a stroke layer style. Change the size to 9, position it to outside,
and change color to red.
•I do not like how the corners are rounded. Red is not looking good.
•Lets change the position from outside to inside. Now change the
color to White.
•The key is to always experiment, and if something does not work,
change it. When you work with layer styles, you are not affecting
the image, and can always get back to the original.

12. Adding Style
•Lets add a drop shadow. Just like the first tutorial,
but lets experiment with the settings.
–Increase opacity to 90%
–Change Angle to 118*
–Change distance to 12
–Change size to 12

13. Lets bring in more focus of that
selected area by adjusting the
background.
•First, select the background layer.
•One way, we can just darken the background.
Cmd/Ctrl + L will bring up the Levels command.
–Drag the white output slider to the left.
–If you want to lighten it instead, just do the opposite, and
use the black output slider.

14. Other Ways
•I have seen this before
with other ads. Lets
apply a zoom blur.
Select the Filter
menu, and choose
Blur, Radial Blur.
–Choose Zoom
–Change amount to
35.

15. Questions?
•[email protected]
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