Thursday, December 2, 2010

Photo Effects: Create A Photo Within A Photo

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Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

With my original photo open inside Photoshop, I can see in my Layers palette that I currently have just one layer, the Background layer:

The Background layer in Photoshop's Layers palette. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Photoshop's Layers palette showing the Background layer containing my original image.

The first thing I need to do is duplicate the Background layer, so I'll use the quick keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). I now have my copy of the Background layer showing in the Layers palette, which Photoshop automatically names "Layer 1":

The Layers palette showing the Background layer with the copy of it above, named 'Layer 1'.  Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The Layers palette showing the Background layer with the copy of it above, named 'Layer 1'

To keep things easier to follow as we go along, and as a good habit to get into, I'm going to rename this layer to something more descriptive. Since "Layer 1" will eventually become the smaller, cropped version of the photo, I'm going to double-click on the name of the layer and change its name from "Layer 1" to "Smaller version":

Renaming a layer in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Double-click on the name "Layer 1" and change the layer's name to "Smaller version".

Step 2: Create A New Layer Below The 'Smaller Version' Layer

The next thing we need to do is create a new layer below the "Smaller version" layer, so it ends up between the two layers we currently have. What most people would do here is click on the Background layer to select it and then create a new layer, since by default, Photoshop always creates your new layer directly above the layer currently selected in the Layers palette.

Here's a neat trick I prefer to use instead, and if you don't know about it, once you do know it, you'll use it a lot. Rather than creating a new layer above the currently selected layer, you can tell Photoshop to create it below the currently selected layer by holding down the Ctrl key (Win) / Command key (Mac) while you click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, as I'll do here:

. The New Layer icon in the Layers palette in Photoshop.  Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Hold down 'Ctrl' (Win) / 'Command' (Mac) as you click the New Layer icon to create a new layer below the 'Smaller version' layer.

And now, thanks to that little trick, Photoshop has created a new blank layer for me directly below the "Smaller version" layer:

A new layer added in Photoshop.  Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The new layer, again named "Layer 1", created below the "Smaller version" layer.

Since I renamed the previous "Layer 1" to "Smaller version", Photoshop has gone and named this second new layer "Layer 1" in its place. I'm going to double-click the layer's name and rename it to "Clipping mask", since in a moment, we're going to be using this layer to "clip" the layer above it:

Renaming a layer in the Layers palette in Photoshop.  Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
So far in this tutorial, we started out with our original Background layer, duplicated it, renamed it "Smaller version", then used a little-known trick to create a new layer below it and renamed that layer to "Clipping mask". In this section, we'll be letting that layer live up to its name by using it to "clip" the layer above it into our smaller, cropped version of the photo. Before we can do that though, we need to define the shape of our smaller version, and for that, we'll use a vector shape. Why use a vector shape and not just drag out a selection with the Rectangular Marquee tool? Simple. By having our smaller photo drawn as a vector shape, we're free to resize and rotate it as much as we want without worrying about causing the edges to become soft or jagged, a definite possibility if we were using a pixel-based shape which is what the Marquee tools would create.

Step 3: Drag Out The Shape Of The Smaller Photo With The Rectangle Tool

With the "Clipping mask" layer selected in the Layers palette, select the Rectangle tool either from Photoshop's Tools palette or by pressing U on your keyboard:

The Rectangle Tool in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Select the Rectangle tool.

The Rectangle tool draws rectangular vector-based shapes, and with it selected, I'm going to drag out the approximate shape and location of my smaller, cropped photo. I want to bring focus and attention to the subject of the photo, which in this case is the guy in the kayak, so I'll drag out a rectangular shape around him:

Dragging out the shape of my smaller photo. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Drag out the approximate shape and location of the smaller version around your subject.

With the vector shape drawn, notice what's happened in the Layers palette. The "Clipping mask" layer, which was a normal, blank layer a moment ago, has now become a vector shape layer:

A Shape layer appears in the Layers palette in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The "Clipping mask" layer has become a shape layer.

Step 4: Use The Vector Shape To Create A Clipping Mask

Now that we have the shape of our smaller, cropped version of the photo drawn out, we can use this shape as a clipping mask, which will "clip" the layer above it to the dimensions of the shape. To do that, hold down the Alt key (Win) / Option key (Mac) and move your mouse cursor directly between the "Smaller version" and "Clipping mask" layers, until you see your cursor change into the clipping mask icon (circled in red below):

Creating a clipping mask in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and move your mouse directly between the two layers until your cursor changes to the clipping mask icon.

Once your clipping mask icon appears, simply click with your mouse to create the clipping mask. It won't seem like anything has happened yet in your image, but in the Layers palette, the "Smaller version" layer will indent to the right, indicating that it's now being clipped by the vector shape below it:

The clipping mask has been created in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Nothing much has happened yet to the image, but we're about to change that. We're going to create the appearance of our smaller, cropped photo around the subject by adding a couple of layer styles to the vector shape.

Step 5: Add A White Stroke To The Vector Shape To Create The Border Of The Smaller Photo

Make sure the "Clipping Mask" layer is still selected in the Layers palette (selected layers are highlighted in blue), then click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the palette and select Stroke from the list of layer styles that appears:

Photoshop Layer Styles. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Click on the vector shape layer to select it, then click the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

This brings up the rather massive Layer Style dialog box set to the Stroke options in the middle column:

The Layer Style dialog box in Photoshop Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com..
Photoshop Photo Effects: The Stroke options in the Layer Style dialog box.

There's three options we want to change here, and I've circled them in red in the screenshot above. I've set my Stroke Size to 12px to create a standard photo border around my smaller photo. Depending on the size of the photo you're working with, you may find that a different value works better. Below that, make sure Position is set to Inside. This means our stroke will appear inside the boundaries of the shape. By default, Position is set to "Outside", which causes the corners of the stroke to appear rounded. We want our corners nice and sharp, and "Inside" does that for us. Finally, by default, Photoshop sets the stroke color to red, which makes absolutely no sense, and obviously we don't want a red border around our image, so change the stroke Color to white by clicking on the color swatch and selecting white from Photoshop's Color Picker.

Here's what my image looks like so far with the 12px white stroke applied:

The image with the white stroke appearing around the smaller version of the photo. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The smaller photo is now visible with the white 10px stroke applied.

Don't exit out of the Layer Style dialog box just yet. We have one more layer style to apply.

Step 6: Apply A Drop Shadow

With the Layer Style dialog box still open, click on the very first layer style at the top of the list on the left, Drop Shadow. Make sure you click directly on the words "Drop Shadow" and don't simply click inside the check box to the left of them. We want to bring up the options for the drop shadow effect, and you need to click directly on the words themselves for that.

Selecting a Drop Shadow layer style in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Click directly on the words "Drop Shadow" at the top of the list of layer styles on the left.

This changes the options in the middle column of the the Layer Style dialog box from the Stroke options to the Drop Shadow options. Lower the Opacity of the drop shadow to around 50% so it doesn't appear so dark, then change the Angle of the shadow to 130°. Finally, set the Distance to around 10 pixels, although you may need to increase this amount if you're using a larger image than the one I'm using:

The Drop Shadow options in the Layer Style dialog box in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The Drop Shadow options in the Layer Style dialog box.

Here's my image now with both the white stroke and the drop shadow applied:

The drop shadow applied to the image. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.

Photoshop Photo Effects: The smaller photo now has the white stroke and the drop shadow applied.

Step 7: Use 'Free Transform' To Rotate And/Or Resize The Shape As Needed

If you need to rotate, resize or reposition your vector shape at this point, make sure the shape layer is selected in the Layers palette, then use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the smaller photo.

To move the shape, click anywhere inside the Free Transform box and drag the shape to a new location, or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to nudge it. To resize the shape, click and drag any of the Free Transform handles. To simply make the shape larger or smaller while keeping the same proportions for width and height, hold down the Shift key as you drag any of the corner handles. Holding down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) as you drag will cause the shape to resize from the center rather than from the side or corner opposite from where you're dragging. Finally, to rotate the shape, click and drag your mouse anywhere outside of the Free Transform box:

Rotate, reposition and resize the shape as needed with the Free Transform command in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Resize, reposition and/or rotate the shape of the smaller photo as needed using "Free Transform".

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation. Rotating the shape adds a bit more excitement to the image. I've also made slight changes to the size and position of my shape. And with that, our smaller cropped photo around the subject is now complete! We'll finish the effect off by colorizing and blurring the original image in the background next.

We're almost done. All of the work on creating the illusion of the smaller, cropped photo inside the main image is complete, and all that's left to do now is some work on the original image in the background. There's all sorts of things you could do with it. You could technically leave it alone and be happy with what you have at this point, but now that we've increased the focus on the main subject, the idea is to lessen the focus on the rest of the image that's in the background. You could desaturate it and make it black and white. You could add a simple Gaussian Blur filter to blur out the background. You could use Levels or Curves to lighten the background and give it a "washed out" appearance. There's plenty of options, and you certainly don't have to do what I'm about to do here, which is to colorize it and add a Radial Blur effect, but if you do want the same look for your background, here's how you do it.

Step 8: Use The Eyedropper Tool To Sample A Color From Inside The Smaller Photo Area

Select the Eyedropper Tool from the Tools palette, or press I on your keyboard to select it. I'm going to use the Eyedropper to sample a color from inside the smaller photo area and then use that color to colorize the original image in the background:

The Eyedropper Tool in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Select the Eyedropper tool to sample a color from inside the smaller photo area.

With the Eyedropper selected, I'm going to click somewhere on the helmet of the guy to sample that blue color:

Sampling a color from a photo in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Sampling a color from the helmet.

Notice that my foreground color in the Tools palette has now changed to that blue color I just sampled. I can now use this color to colorize the original photo in the background, using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer:

The Foreground color swatch in the Tools palette in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The foreground color in the Tools palette has changed to the blue color sampled from the helmet.

Step 9: Colorize The Background With A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer

Click on the Background layer in the Layers palette to select it. Then click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the palette and select Hue/Saturation from the list:

Selecting a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Click on the "New Adjustment Layer" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and select "Hue/Saturation".

This brings up the Hue/Saturation dialog box, which I'm going to use to colorize my background. No need to start dragging sliders around to select a color here. I've already sampled my color from the image, so all I need to do is click the Colorize option in the bottom right corner of the dialog box:

The Colorize option in the Hue/Saturation dialog box in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Select the "Colorize" option in the Hue/Saturation dialog box.

Click OK to exit out of the Hue/Saturation dialog box. Photoshop uses the sampled color to colorize my original image in the background:

The background is now colorized with the sampled color. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The original image in the background is now colorized with the sampled color.

One last thing to do, and that's apply a Radial Blur to the background.

Step 10: Duplicate The Background Layer Once Again

Before we go applying our Radial Blur, let's duplicate the Background layer one more time so that we have a separate layer on which to apply the filter, since we never want to touch the original pixel information of our image on the Background layer. Select the Background layer in the Layers palette, then press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate it. Double-click on the new layer's name and rename it "Radial Blur:

Duplicate the Background layer once again and name it 'Radial Blur'. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Duplicate the Background layer once again and rename it "Radial Blur".

Step 11: Apply The Radial Blur Filter To The New Layer

With the new "Radial Blur" layer selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Blur, and then select Radial Blur, which brings up the Radial Blur dialog box. First, set the Blur Method to Zoom, then set the Quality to Best. The Amount option at the top determines how much of a blur effect you'll get. I'm going to set mine to 40, but you may want to to use a different value. The Blur Center option in the bottom right of the dialog box determines where the blur will originate from in your image. Try to position the blur center close to where the subject in your photo is by clicking at that approximate location in the Blur Center box. It's not the most accurate thing in the world and it make take you a couple of tries before you get it right, so don't be afraid to undo the filter with Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac) and try again if at first you don't succeed:

The Radial Blur dialog box in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Filter > Blur > Radial Blur to bring up the Radial Blur dialog box. Change the options circled in red.

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box and apply the radial blur to the image:

The Radial Blur filter applied to the image in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The image with the Radial Blur filter applied.

Step 12: Lower The Opacity Of The Radial Blur Layer

This last step is optional, but I think my radial blur is too intense. I want it to blend in more with the original image on the Background layer, and I can do that simply by going up to the Opacity option at the top of the Layers palette and lowering the opacity to around 60%, which I think works nicely:

Lowering the opacity of the Radial Blur layer in Photoshop. Image  © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: If needed, lower the opacity of the Radial Blur layer to blend the effect in with the original image on the Background layer below it.

For comparison, here's my original image once again:

The original image once again. Image licensed from iStockphoto.com by Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The original image once again.

And here, after lowering the opacity of my Radial Blur layer, is my final "photo within a photo" result:

The final 'photo in photo' effect. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The final "photo within a photo" result.

And there we have it!

Photoshop Snow Effect - Add Falling Snow To A Winter Photo

The final Photoshop snow effect. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.

Step 1: Add A New Blank Layer

To begin, let's add a new blank layer above our photo. If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that our photo is sitting on the Background layer, which is currently the only layer we have. Click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. It's the icon second from the right, beside the Trash Bin:

The New Layer icon in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Nothing will seem to have happened in the document window since the layer we just added has nothing on it yet, but if we look again in the Layers palette, we can see that we now have a new blank layer, which Photoshop has automatically named "Layer 1" for us, sitting directly above the Background layer:

The Layers palette in Photoshop showing the new blank layer. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The new layer appears above the Background layer.

Step 2: Fill The New Layer With Black

Now that we have our new layer, let's fill it with black. Normally, to do anything to a specific layer, we first have to select the layer in the Layers palette, but in this case, Photoshop has automatically selected our new layer for us, so we're good to go. We can tell that "Layer 1" is selected because it's highlighted in blue. To fill the layer with black, we'll use Photoshop's Fill command. Go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choose Fill:

Selecting the Fill command from the Edit menu in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Go to Edit > Fill.

This brings up the Fill command dialog box. At the top of the dialog box is the Contents section. This is where we tell Photoshop which color we want to use to fill the layer with. Choose Black from the list, then click OK to exit out of the dialog box:

The Fill command dialog box in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Select "Black" in the Contents section at the top of the dialog box.

Since "Layer 1" is sitting above our photo on the Background layer, filling "Layer 1" with black blocks our photo from view. The entire document window now becomes filled with black:

The document is now filled with black in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The document window is now filled with black.

Step 3: Add Some Noise

Let's add some noise to this layer, which in just a few short steps will become our falling snowflakes. When most people hear the word "Noise", they immediately think of whatever music those darn teenagers are listening to these days, but in Photoshop, noise is actually nothing more than a whole bunch of little dots. Photoshop has a filter built specifically for adding noise to an image, and by sheer coincidence, it happens to be called the Add Noise filter. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Noise, and then choose Add Noise:

Selecting the Add Noise filter in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise.

This brings up the Add Noise filter dialog box. Use the Amount slider in the middle of the dialog box to adjust the amount of noise that's being added. There's no specific amount to add for this effect, we just need a lot of noise. Dragging the slider to a value of around 150% or so should do the trick. At the bottom of the dialog box, select the Gaussian option, and way down at the very bottom, select the Monochromatic option, which will give us little black and white dots for our noise instead of the default red, green and blue dots:

The Add Noise filter in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The Add Noise filter dialog box in Photoshop.

Click OK when you're done and you'll see your document window fill with noise:

The document window filled with noise in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.

Step 4: Apply Some Blurring To The Noise

Let's soften our noise up a little bit by applying some blurring to it. This will also help to clump some of the little dots together, creating different sizes and shapes for our snowflakes! The most popular way to blur something in Photoshop is with the Gaussian Blur filter because it's very simple to use and yet still gives us control over the amount of blurring being applied, but for this effect, we can use something even simpler. Go up to the Filter menu, choose Blur, and then choose Blur More:

Selecting the Blur More command in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Go to Filter > Blur > Blur More.

The Blur and Blur More commands have been around since forever in Photoshop and both give us a quick, no-hassle way of blurring an image. Blur offers a subtle amount of blurring, and Blur More offers a slightly stronger amount. Problem is, as you may have noticed when you applied the Blur More command, there's no dialog box associated with them, which means we have no control over the amount of blurring that's applied. Normally, that's a bad thing, and it's a good reason to stick with the Gaussian Blur filter or one of the other more advanced blurring filters in Photoshop. For this effect though, all we needed was a subtle amount of blurring to apply to our noise, so this was a rare case where the Blur More command worked just fine.

Step 5: Reduce The Amount Of Noise With The Levels Command

At this point, our document is filled with lots of noise. Too much noise, in fact. We need to get rid of some of it so our noise looks more like snowflakes and less like, well, noise. For that, we'll use Photoshop's Levels command. Go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen, choose Adjustments, and then choose Levels:

Selecting the Levels command in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels.

This brings up the Levels dialog box. In the center of the dialog box is a graph known as a histogram which gives us a visual representation of the tonal, or brightness, range of our image. In other words, it shows us how many pixels in the image, if any, are pure black, how many, if any, are pure white, and where the rest of the pixels fall along the brightness scale between black and white. Directly below the histogram are three little sliders - a black one on the far left, a white one on the far right, and a gray one in the middle. We're going to use these sliders to not only remove much of the noise but also to brighten the noise so that our snowflakes appear white and not some dull gray color.

First, to brighten the noise, click on the white slider below the histogram and drag it to the left until it's just past the point where the right side of the histogram slope begins. You'll see the noise in your image become brighter. Then, to remove much of the noise, click on the black slider and drag it to the right. As you drag the black slider, you'll see large areas of the noise getting progressively darker and eventually disappearing into pure black:

Photoshop Levels command. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Drag the white slider to the left to brighten the noise, then drag the black slider to the right to remove much of the noise.

Continue dragging the black slider towards the right until you've removed enough noise so that what remains looks less like noise and more like snow, then click OK to exit out of the Levels dialog box. Your image should now look something like this:

The image after applying the Levels command. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The image after reducing the amount of noise with the Levels command.

Step 6: Change The Blend Mode Of The Layer To "Screen"

Things are starting to look a bit more wintry, but we do have one small problem. We've created all these nice white specks to use as snowflakes in our photo, but we can't actually see our photo! It's still being blocked from view. We need to hide all the black areas on the layer while keeping the white specks visible. Fortunately, Photoshop makes this incredibly easy thanks to layer blend modes! Blend modes give us all kinds of interesting ways to blend layers together, and one of them in particular will do exactly what we're looking for. With "Layer 1" still selected, go up to the Blend Mode option at the top of the Layers palette. It doesn't actually say "Blend Mode" anywhere, but you'll see a drop-down box that by default is set to "Normal". This is the Blend Mode option. Select the Screen blend mode from the list:

The Screen layer blend mode in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Change the blend mode of "Layer 1" to Screen.

With the blend mode of "Layer 1" set to Screen, any areas on the layer that are pure black will completely disappear from view, revealing our photo on the Background layer behind it, while our white snowflakes will remain visible! If we look at our image in the document window, we can see that sure enough, our photo is now visible behind the snowflakes:

The photo on the Background layer is now visible. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.

Step 7: Apply The "Motion Blur" Filter

Our snowflakes are still looking a little harsh, and they also look like they're just stuck on the photo rather than falling from the sky. Let's give them some motion using Photoshop's Motion Blur filter. Go up to the Filter menu, choose Blur, and then choose Motion Blur:

Selecting the Motion Blur filter in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur.

This brings up the Motion Blur dialog box. At the bottom of the dialog box are the two controls for the filter. The first one is Angle, where we can set the direction we want our snowflakes to be falling from. Set it to around -65°. Below that is the Distance option where we decide how much of a motion trail we want an object to have. Let's give our snowflakes just a hint of motion, not too much. I'm going to set mine to around 8 pixels:

The Motion Blur filter in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Add motion to the snowflakes by adjusting the Angle and Distance options in the Motion Blur dialog box.

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box, and your falling snowflakes should now look more realistic:

The falling snow after applying the Motion Blur filter. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The snow now appears to be falling at a slight angle.

Step 8: Duplicate The Layer

Now that we have one layer of falling snow, let's use it to create a second layer, this time with bigger snowflakes, to give the snow a sense of depth. First, let's duplicate "Layer 1". Go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choose New, and then choose Layer via Copy. Or, for a much faster way, simply press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). Either way duplicates "Layer 1" and if we look in the Layers palette, we can see that we now have a new layer named "Layer 1 copy" sitting above "Layer 1":

Duplicating 'Layer 1' in the Layers palette in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The Layers palette now shows a copy of "Layer 1" sitting above the original.

Step 9: Rotate The New Layer 180°

Let's try to cover up the fact that we're using a copy of the exact same snowflakes by rotating the new layer 180°. With "Layer 1 copy" selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen, choose Transform, then choose Rotate 180°:

Rotating the new layer 180 degrees. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Go to Edit > Transform > Rotate 180°.

This way, the snowflakes on the new layer will still appear to be falling at the same angle as the originals on "Layer 1" but they'll be spaced out differently. In fact, it will now look like you have twice as much snow falling in your image, when all we've done is made a copy of our original snowflakes layer and rotated it.

Step 10: Apply The "Crystallize" Filter

We need to convert our small snowflakes into bigger ones, and for this effect, Photoshop's Crystallize filter works nicely. Go up to the Filter menu, choose Pixelate, and then choose Crystallize:

Selecting the Crystallize filter in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Go to Filter > Pixelate > Crystallize.

This brings up the Crystallize filter dialog box. The Crystallize filter breaks an image into little sections, or "cells", of color, and you can adjust the size of the cells with the Cell Size option at the bottom of the dialog box. The default value of 10 usually works well for this effect. If you look in the preview area of the dialog box, you'll see that our snowflakes have increased in size. They don't exactly look like snowflakes at the moment, but we'll fix that in a moment:

The Crystalize filter in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Create larger snowflakes with the Crystallize filter.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box. The photo now has a nice mix of small snowflakes and larger, well, white shapes that will look more like snowflakes once we give them some motion:

The image after applying the Crystallize filter. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.

Step 11: Apply The "Motion Blur" Filter

We need to give our larger snowflakes some motion so they look more realistic in the photo. Go up to the Filter menu, choose Blur, and then choose Motion Blur once again. When the Motion Blur dialog box appears, leave the Angle set to -65° so the larger snowflakes appear to be falling at the same angle as the smaller ones. Since these flakes are larger than the original ones we created, we'll need to increase the length of the motion blur a little bit. Set your Distance option to around 16 pixels:

The Motion Blur filter in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Add motion to the larger snowflakes with the Motion Blur filter.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box. And with that, our main "falling snow" effect is complete:

The falling snow effect is complete. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The main "falling snow" effect is now complete.

At this point, if you're happy with the results, you can stop here. If you find that your falling snow is a little hard to see in the image and you want to brighten it up a bit, follow along with the next couple of steps.

Step 12: Merge The Two Snow Layers Together

With the top "Layer 1 copy" layer still selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Layer menu and choose Merge Down:

Selecting Merge Down to merge layers in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Go to Layer > Merge Down.

This will merge the top two layers together, and we can see in the Layers palette that our two snowflakes layers have been merged into "Layer 1":

The Layers palette showing the top two layers merged into a single layer. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The two snowflakes layers have now been merged into a single layer.

Step 13: Duplicate "Layer 1"

Now that all of our snowflakes are on a single layer, let's duplicate the layer. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to quickly duplicate it. Our Layers palette shows that we're back to having two snowflakes layers, except this time, each layer contains all of our snowflakes:

Duplicating the layer in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The Layers palette once again shows "Layer 1 copy" sitting above "Layer 1" after duplicating the layer.

With both layers now containing the exact same snowflakes and both layers set to the Screen blend mode, if we look at our image in the document window, we can see that we've doubled the brightness of the falling snow:

The falling snow is now brighter in the image. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The falling snow is now much brighter in the photo.

Step 14: Lower The Opacity Of The Top Layer

If you find that your falling snow is now too bright, simply lower the opacity of the top layer until you're happy with the results. You'll find the Opacity option directly across from the Blend Mode option at the top of the Layers palette. I'm going to lower mine all the way down to about 35%:

The Layer Opacity option in Photoshop. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: Lower the opacity of the top layer to adjust the brightness of the falling snow.

Once you've adjusted the brightness of the snow with the Opacity option, you're done! Here's my final result:

Photoshop snow effect. Image © 2008 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Photoshop Photo Effects: The final "falling snow" effect.

And there we have it!