Trying to replicate a cool image effect I saw...

[BobT]

Greetings all. I'm new to this forum, and I come humbly seeking the wisdom of my Photoshop betters!

I work for a small non-profit and we don't have the resources to use the sort of freelance designers I would love to use, so I have to do a lot in-house. Recently I saw an effect that I would like to replicate.



It's a small image but you can see that it's a picture that's been blended with a cool blue effect. I would like to do this, but am not sure how to get there. I would appreciate any tips, instructions, etc.

Thanks!

 

[NemesisWorks]

Hi, It's a combination of Layer Masking , opacity and Distortion.. I could help more perhaps if you could upload a high resolution image.

 

[BobT]

Thanks for taking the time to help. Here's a higher-res version.

 

[OhioGuy]

That should be relatively easy to do.

1.) Start with a large canvas, make the dimensions something much bigger than the width of your site (you can always crop it down or shrink it later). Set the background color to whatever you want.

2.) The image you want to use for the effect above should be wider than the width of your site. Choose something at a high resolution if possible.

3.) Open the image you want to use and desaturate it. (Image > Adjustments > Desaturate). You may also want to bump up the contrast a bit so the image is still distinguishable when you complete the following steps. You can do this manually, or just go to Image > Auto Tone (or Auto Contrast).

4) Select the image with Control + A (Or under the menu, Select > All). Then copy it with Control + C (Or Edit > Copy). Go over to the canvas you created and paste it with Control + V (Or Edit > Paste). If you need to resize it to fit within the canvas, that's fine. But just keep in mind we're going to be trimming some of the edges off with a fade effect. In the example above, it's still a little wider than the site itself.

5.) Next, choose the Elliptical Marquee tool. Set the feather on it to something like 100px. Drag an oval around the image, leaving some space along the sides. Choose Select > Inverse to invert your selection, and hit the Delete key. This should delete the edges of the image and leave a 100px fade around it. If you still see remnants of the hard edge of the image, just Step Backward a few times and re-try it until you get it how you want it.

6.) Lastly, from the Layers palette, choose "Screen" as the blending mode (drop down menu), and set the Opacity to something like 25% (you can adjust this to your liking).

That should be it!

 

[BobT]

Thank you, sir! I will give this a try.