In this 2-part tutorial you are learning how to create the look of an aged, hand-tinted photograph by using masks, fill and adjustment layers, blending modes and layer styles.

Download Tutorial Files

In Part 1, I showed you how to age the photograph using tools from the brushes palette, brighten the photo using layer masks and filters, and add an artificial water-damaged look using an alpha channel.

In Part 2, you will create the title and the kanji (Chinese character) to the left of it using the Type tool, Layer styles, and the Distort filter. Then you will add a few finishing touches with the Shape and painting tools.

Create the title treatment

STEP 1

Select the Horizontal Type tool. Choose a font you like. I chose Trajan Pro bold. Click on the Color Swatch in the options bar and move your cursor over the image. The cursor changes to the eyedropper tool. Sample a light warm gray from within the image. Click in the image window and type OKAYAMA. Make the initial cap about 84.5 points and the other letters about 60 points. Reduce the Layer opacity of the new Type layer to 74% and change the blending mode to Hard Light.

STEP 2

At the moment the type is a little too clean looking compared to the rest of the composition. Here’s a little trick that will quickly give the type a distressed look. Load the type as a selection by Command-clicking (Control-clicking on PC) on the T symbol in the Layers palette. Make a new layer. Name it stroke. Make your foreground color black. Go to Edit>Stroke and apply a 3px stroke to the outside of the selection. Deselect (Command-D on Mac, Control-D on PC).

STEP 3

Go to Filter>Distort>Ripple. Make the amount about -714 and select small from the Size drop-down menu and click OK. Hide the layer by clicking on the eyeball next to the layer in the Layers palette.

STEP 4

To distress the edge of the type, highlight the Type layer and add a Layer mask. Load the distorted stroke as a selection by Command-clicking (Control-clicking on the PC) on the stroke layer. With the Type layer mask highlighted, use black and soft round brush (about 65px) with a flow or opacity of 45% and begin masking the edges of the letters. Press Command-H (Control-H on the PC) to hide the marching ants so you can more easily see the results of the masking.

STEP 5

To fade the type in and out, deselect, increase the size of your brush to 125px. Uncheck Shape Dynamic in the Brushes palette (press F5 to open the Brushes palette). Lower the flow or brush opacity to about 7%. Randomly paint on the mask, decrease the opacity more in some areas by overlapping strokes.

STEP 6

To give the title a somewhat illustrated look duplicate the layer and, with the lower layer highlighted, click on the Add a layer style button (the circled f icon) at the bottom of the layers palette to access the Layers styles menu. Choose Stroke. Make the stroke 2px wide, 100% opaque black. Click OK. At the top of the layers palette just below Opacity is Fill. Reduce the fill of this layer to 0%. That will cause the type itself to disappear, but the stroke will remain visible. Make the Layer Opacity 35% and change the blending mode to Multiply.

STEP 7

Next you will separate the title somewhat from the background and accentuate the illuminated quality of the composition by adding highlights to the title. Make a new layer above OKAYAMA copy and name it “highlights”. Load OKAYAMA as a selection by Command-clicking (Control-clicking on the PC) on the T symbol in the OKAYAMA copy layer. Choose a large (100px) round soft brush with a flow or brush opacity setting of about 10%. Make the foreground color white and paint lightly the top and right portions of the selection, gradually adding highlights to the type.

STEP 8

Reduce the Layer opacity if needed and change the blending mode to Color Dodge.

Create the kanji (Chinese character) using a Solid Color fill layer

Kanji is the Japanese name for the Chinese characters that are an integral part of the Japanese writing system. Adding such a character to the composition will immediately tell the viewer this is Asia. The particular kanji you will be using in these steps means tranquil or calm. You will create the kanji much as you did the look of water-damage –by using an alpha channel selection.

STEP 1

Open the image Kanji.tif. Select All and Copy. Go back to Postcard.psd. Click on the small triangle in the upper right corner of the channels palette and choose New Channel. Name the channel “kanji” and under Color Indicates, choose Selected Area and click OK.

STEP 2

Load the kanji alpha channel as a selection. Make the RGB channel active and hide the kanji channel. In the Layers palette highlight the layer abstract texture then add a solid color fill layer from the fill and adjustment layer menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. Name the new fill layer kanji. When the Color Pick appears, move your cursor over the image and sample a medium warm grey from within the image and click OK.

STEP 3

Scale the kanji to about 57% and position it in the upper left corner slightly behind the O in OKAYAMA.

Add texture to the Kanji with a Pattern fill layer.

Pattern fill layers are a great way to add an organic quality to an otherwise flat looking object.

STEP 1

Command-click (Control-click on PC) on the thumbnail in the layer kanji to load it as a selection. Click on the Create a New Fill or Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the layers palette. Choose Pattern way up near the top of the menu. When the Pattern dialog appears, click on the Pattern Swatch. This will open the Pattern Presets palette. Click on the small triangle in the upper right corner and from the drop-down menu choose Artistic Surfaces. When asked if you want to replace current patterns, click Append. This will add the Artistic Surfaces collection of patterns to the Pattern presets. Then select Wax Crayon on Vellum and click OK.

The kanji now has texture and blends nicely with the rest of the composition.

Finishing touches

You will finish the composition by adding a black Shape at the bottom to give the composition structure, contrast, a place for the eyes to rest, and a non-busy background in which to put descriptive information.

STEP 1

Select the Rectangle Shape tool (just below the Type tool). In the options bar make sure Shape Layers is selected on the far left. Click on the Color Swatch in the options bar and pick black in the Color Picker. Make a rectangular shape at the bottom of the composition, approximately 0.65 inches high.

Note: Refer to Figure 23 below for the next three steps.

STEP 2

Select the Horizontal Type tool and a font you like, I chose Post Antiqua (Bold and Roman). Create separate Type layers for each of the following lines of copy and position them as shown below in Figure 23:
Images of (12 points, bold)
January 2006 (10 points. Roman)
A unique eye captures the seasons of Japan in the Land of Sunshine – Okayama (8 points, Roman)

STEP 3

Next, you will create a very narrow horizontal Rectangle Shape. The point of this shape is simply to create interest with an additional design element and place emphasis on Images of. Choose a light warm grey and, with the Rectangle Shape tool, make a shape about 0.020 inches high. It only needs to go from the left edge to just beyond the O. Position the shape so it appears just above “Images of” in the image window. In the Layers palette, put the Shape layer below the layer “Images of”. Add a layer mask. Make the foreground color black and use a brush or Linear Gradient to mask out the left and right sides of the shape, blending the shape into the background.

STEP 4

Finally, you will create the red stamp in the lower right. In addition to being reminiscent of the wax stamps the Japanese use as signatures, the red is a nice accent color. The symbols in the stamp represent the name Okayama written in kanji. Open Stamp.tif and follow the same procedure as used in making the kanji. Choose red for the Solid Color fill layer. Use Free Transform to rotate the stamp slightly. Add a layer mask and use a texture brush to distress the stamp and blend it with the background.

That concludes this tutorial. You now know some of my favorite Photoshop techniques. Have fun using them to add interest and depth to own Photoshop creations.

More images of Japan will soon be available at www.digitaldesignranch.com

In this tutorial you will learn how to create the look of an aged, hand-tinted photograph by using masks, fill and adjustment layers, blending modes and layer styles.

Download Tutorial Files

This composition is the first in a series I plan to create for a bound collection of postcards using the images of a talented photographer I know from Japan who happens to be my wife. She has kindly agreed to let you download the photo used in this composition so you can work through tutorial. Please remember the image is copyrighted and cannot be sold or reproduced without her permission.

Getting Started

If you have ever read any of my tutorials or books you know I am big on working nondestructively. That means working in a way that keeps your options open and allows you to make changes quickly and easily, without damaging your original image. To work nondestructively you need to use masks. The first thing you will do in this tutorial is use a layer mask to create the aged, distressed-looking outer border of the photograph. The main thing to remember when masking is white reveals and black conceals.

Photoshop comes with a large array of brush presets. You can access the brushes by selecting the Brush tool and opening the Brushes Presets picker on the left side of the options bar next to the word Brush or by opening the Brushes palette by pressing F5 or clicking on the Brushes palette icon near the right end of the options bar.

To create the distressed look of the border, you will be using brushes I refer to as texture/grunge brushes. Photoshop assigns these artistic names such as Chalk, Rolled Rag, Sponge, and so on. Some of these are available in Photoshop’s default set of brushes. For a wider range of brushes, click on the small triangle in the upper right of the Brushes Preset picker and choose Faux Finish Brushes from the drop-down menu. When the dialog appears, choose Append and click OK. You can also create your own grunge brushes and numerous web sites offer free brushes that you can load into Photoshop to greatly increase your brushes arsenal.

STEP 1

Open the image Bike.tif. Double-click on the background layer and rename it “bike”.

STEP 2

Add a layer mask by clicking on the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette. Make your foreground color black. (To create a good distressed border takes some practice and experimentation. Don’t get discouraged if yours doesn’t look like mine right off the bat.)

STEP 3

From the Brushes Presets choose the brush named Chalk. (It may help if you choose Large List from the drop down menu. This will provide you with the names of the brushes as well as the icons for the various brushes.)

STEP 4

Make the brush about 100px in diameter. You can use either the Standard or the Airbrush mode for this project. Out of habit I tend to use Airbrush most of the time. If you use Standard mode, reduce the brush opacity in the options bar to about 30%. If you use the Airbrush mode, reduce the flow to 30%. It’s easy if you stick to one or the other.

STEP 5

Be sure the foreground color is black (remember, black conceals). Use a series of strokes and scrubbing motions to mask the edge of the photo. Do not try to create the effect using only one brush or one size of a particular brush. Vary the brushes and sizes quite a bit to get an irregular, organic-looking edge. Some of the other brushes I used were Rolled Rag, Sponge, and Stencil Spray Wet. You may want to duplicate the layer several times (Command-J on Mac, Control-J on PC) and repeat the process several times until you get something you are happy with.

STEP 6

Add a solid color fill layer by clicking on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the layers palette. Choose Solid Color at the top of the menu.

STEP 7

When the Color Picker appears, choose a light to middle value warm grey and click OK. Move the fill layer below “bike” in the layers palette stack.

STEP 8

Save your document as Postcard.psd

Set the mood and focus attention

STEP 1

Add a levels adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels). Lighten the entire image by moving the right and middle sliders to the left until the Input Levels at the top of the dialog read approximately 0, 1.44, and 196

STEP 2

Go to Edit>Fill and choose Foreground Color if your foreground color is currently black, otherwise choose Black from the drop down menu. This will completely hide the effect you just created.

STEP 3

Change your foreground color to white (white reveals) and use one of the texture/grunge brushes (Chalk for example) to selectively reveal the effect. Concentrate mainly on the center of the image. Leave the edges dark. See image below: right now the image should look something like the one on the left, and the mask should look like the image on the right.

Note: You can view just the mask by pressing Option (Alt on the PC) and clicking on the thumbnail of the mask in the layers palette.

Add a hand-tinted look with a Solid Color fill layer and blending mode

STEP 1

Use the Create New Adjustment Layer icon to make a new solid color fill layer above the levels adjustment layer. Choose a turquoise color from the Color Picker (I used 86, 215, 243). Change the layer’s blending mode at the top of the Layers palette to Color and reduce the Opacity to 14%.

STEP 2

This next bit sounds a little confusing at first, but it’s a very useful technique that you need to learn. Highlight the layer mask on the new colored fill layer, then Command-click (Control-click on the PC) on the thumbnail of the level’s adjustment layer mask. That will create a selection based on the level’s mask.

STEP 3

Fill the selection on the fill layer’s mask with black. This will hide the turquoise in the center portion of the image and leave it around the edges. Soften the edges of the mask using one of the texture brushes with a diameter of about 80px on a Flow or Opacity setting of about 30%. If the turquoise appears in the center of the image rather than the around the outside, press Command-I (Control-I on PC) to invert the mask.

STEP 4

Next, give everything a warm, aged tone by adding a new adjustment layer. This time choose Photo Filter from the Adjustment Layer menu and select Warm Filter 85 from the filter’s drop down menu. Change the Layer opacity to 60%.

Use Channels and Curves to add the look of water-damage.

An important note about masking: When you make a selection then add a mask, the area inside the selection will be white (REVEALED) and the area outside the selection will be black (HIDDEN). In the next steps you will use this feature with an adjustment layer to add texture to the image, creating the appearance of water-damage. These steps will be easier if you undock the Layers and Channels palettes so that both can be seen at the same time.

STEP 1

Open Abstract.tiff and Select All (Command-A on Mac, Control-A on PC). Copy the selection (Command-C on Mac, Control-C on PC) then go back to Postcard.psd

STEP 2

Open the Channels palette. Click on the small triangle in the upper right corner of the palette and from the drop-down menu choose New Channel. Name the channel “abstract”. In the dialog under Color Indicates, choose Selected Area and click OK. You have just created an alpha channel.

STEP 3

When you click OK, the image window will be completely white. That’s because what you are seeing is the new channel, not the images in your Layers palette. Paste the image you copied from Abstract.tiff into the new channel (Command-V on Mac, Control-V on PC).

STEP 4

Use Free Transform (Command-T, Control-T on PC) to reduce the size and rotate the image to your liking. Click the box next to the RGB channel to turn on the eyeball. This will cause your alpha channel to appear red in the image window with the rest of the image visible below or behind it, allowing you to see how the alpha channel relates to the rest of the composition as you size it. I scaled the abstract texture to 57%. When you are happy with the way the texture relates to the photo of the bike, click the Check Mark in the Options bar.

STEP 5

Highlight the RGB composite channel. This should automatically hide the new alpha channel. If not, click the eyeball next to the alpha channel. Load the channel as a selection by Command-clicking (Control-clicking on PC) on the thumbnail of the new alpha channel in the Channels palette.

STEP 6

Go back to the Layers palette and add a curves adjustment layer. Name the layer “abstract texture”. Now here’s an important point – adjustment layers automatically come with layer masks and, as I said at the beginning of this section, when you have an active selection and add a mask, only the area inside the selection will be revealed. That means when the Curves adjustment layer is created it will have a mask based on the alpha channel selection you just made. As you modify the adjustment layer, only the area inside the selection will affect the image below. Click on the curve in the Curves interface to add a point and move the point toward the upper left corner. To increase the effect, add a second point and move it up and to the left. A texture will appear on the image.

STEP 7

For an even more dramatic effect, duplicate the Curves layer. Change the blending mode of the copy layer to Color Burn and reduce the layer opacity to 50%

That’s the end of Part 1. In Part 2 of this tutorial you will create the title and the kanji (Chinese character) to the left of it using the Type tool, Layer styles, and the Distort filter. Then you will add a few finishing touches with the Shape and Painting tools.

More images of Japan will soon be available at www.digitaldesignranch.com