Photo Effects

Quick Tip - Apply Pro Photo Effects with Photoshop CS6's Color Lookup Adjustment

By Denny Tang Apr 26, 2012

Did you know you can apply photo effects in seconds with Photoshop CS6? The new Color Lookup adjustment is a great way to quickly add professional photo effects without actions or other adjustment layers. This Photoshop quick tip will show you how you can manipulate this tool to apply awesome film effects to your photos.

How to Make Your Photos Look Hipster with Photoshop

By Denny Tang Jul 11, 2011

Turn your mainstream photos into retro coolness. This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to apply a retro/lomo photo effect using professional non-destructive editing techniques. You’ll need Photoshop CS3 or newer to follow this tutorial.

How to Use Light and Shadow to Create a Dramatic Photo Effect with Photoshop

By Jarka Hrnčárková Jul 04, 2011

In this tutorial you'll learn how you can change light scene in your photography or photo manipulation to get dramatic atmosphere. I'll also show you how you can use Channels to easily change sky, how you can use different filters to create dreamy effect and give you several tips on color adjustments. Let's get started!

Fashion Watercolor Artwork

By Carine Ma May 07, 2010

First we'll look at the importance of choosing the right imagery and watercolor textures. Then we'll go through some basic but powerful techniques for our design composition: background image extraction, layer masks and adjustment layers.

Urban Ink Photo Effect

By Denny Tang Sep 08, 2009

Learn how to create this photo effect with just two layers by using all blending options instead of layer masks. This photo effect works great on photos with a simple background. Example Photoshop documents included.

Vintage Photo Effect

By Denny Tang Jun 10, 2009

Give your photos a soft and memorable feeling. This easy Photoshop tutorial is suitable for beginners and will show you how to use four adjustment layers to create this photo effect. A Photoshop action is also included at the end of this Photoshop tutorial.

Half Sepia 2

By Denny Tang Sep 27, 2008

This is a new version of our previous half sepia tutorial. This version of the half sepia photo effect has higher contrast and works better for more photos.

Surprisingly Easy Rainbow Light Painting Effect

By Denny Tang Sep 10, 2008

Give your photos a unique look with this retro effect that's super easy and fun. You will learn how to create this effect with just one layer and three colors.

High Clarity

By Denny Tang Jul 15, 2008

Vintage Clouds

By Denny Tang Jun 09, 2008

Learn how to make ordinary blue skies look dramatic with a simple and easy color and contrast adjustment.

Photorealistic Puddles

By Denny Tang May 28, 2008

Learn how to make photos more dramatic with calm puddles. In this Photoshop tutorial, you will learn how to work with layers, transform tools, and layer masks to create photorealistic puddles.

Masked Overlay Diffusion

By Denny Tang May 28, 2008

Overlay diffusion is one of the most popular photo effects used. It makes photos look dreamy and vivid but it can also hide details in the shadows and highlights. In this Photoshop tutorial, you will learn how to apply overlay diffusion without losing details.

Old Printouts

By Denny Tang May 18, 2008

Make your photos look like old printouts with washed out colors and stained paper. This photo effect is a great way to add a unique twist to your photos. Click to find out how to apply this photo effect with Photoshop.

Fashion Lomo

By Denny Tang May 02, 2008

You may have noticed that many clothing stores use images with the same photo effect that looks somewhat like Lomography. In this Photoshop tutorial, we'll show you how to add the washed out Lomo effect to your photos using all adjustment layers.

Silhouettes and Gradients

By Chad Neuman Apr 27, 2008

Sometimes a print or online project needs an outline-type silhouette instead of an actual photo, in order to illustrate a project. By using the Threshold tool and the Gradient tool, we can make a few unique effects to complement a print of online design.

Floating Clothes

By Chad Neuman Apr 08, 2008

fun way to learn the Clone Stamp tool (as well as adding a virtual drop shadow) is to create an invisible man or woman. We can transform an ordinary portrait or action shot to make the person disappear, leaving floating clothes around a space. Adding shadowed wrinkles also adds realism.