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Design Effects

 

Corey shows how to use the luminosity of an image to create a cool design effect and spice up your simple photos.

Corey Barker

Corey Barker is Executive Producer of PlanetPhotoshop.com and is an Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Corey has also made numerous appearances on the highly rated podcast, PhotoshopUser TV, and is co-host of Layers TV.

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61 Comments

  1. Phillip Anthony Briles said on — May 23, 2008 @ 9:54 am

    Another winner!

    I have always liked the versatility of the Gradient tool but thought I had outgrown it. Man, was I wrong. I was not aware of the Noise feature of that tool. I should have known.

    Once again, you have opened another creative door for us.

    Thank you very much for the Ps enlightenment. Your tuts are always outstanding.

  2. David O'Hara said on — May 23, 2008 @ 10:09 am

    Another amazing tutorial! I really like the finished effect with this one. Looks really good. It’s something that say for example you saw on the back of a poster you would look at for a while. It really attracts the audience.

    Another great tutorial.

    Thanks a million :-)
    David ;-)

  3. sharpless... said on — May 23, 2008 @ 1:01 pm

    good tutorial.

    but what is the option key?

  4. Matt Tuley said on — May 23, 2008 @ 3:06 pm

    @sharpless Mac Option = Windows Alt. Usually.

  5. Jessie said on — May 24, 2008 @ 6:21 am

    cool totural how do i download it !!!

  6. Me said on — May 24, 2008 @ 10:04 am

    Hey there!

    Nice turtorial, only I don’t get one thing.
    On a certain moment you make a new channel, alpha 1.
    That’s a black page, you can only see your selection.
    I don’t get how you make that page coloured.
    The video sais that you have to press ctrl+BackSpace, but when I do that my selection gets white. Can somebody help me?

    P.S I hope my english isn’t too bad..

  7. Texas Cory Fan said on — May 24, 2008 @ 10:19 am

    Beautiful !! Cory’s tutorials are the best - always a 10 plus (scale of 1 to10).

  8. IsmetM said on — May 24, 2008 @ 5:28 pm

    Excellent technique. Thanks!

  9. Ash said on — May 24, 2008 @ 6:58 pm

    This site has taught me more than my college. lol

  10. Silent said on — May 24, 2008 @ 9:47 pm

    Great tutorials… easy to follow with and learn. Looking forward for the next ones.

    Thanks much.

  11. Gaby Bucur said on — May 25, 2008 @ 2:23 am

    great tutorial as always Corey…

    @sharpless… the ‘option key’ on MAC…is the ‘Alt key’ on the PC :)

  12. thuhientnk said on — May 25, 2008 @ 2:43 am

    thanks :-)

  13. Bob Murray said on — May 25, 2008 @ 8:15 am

    Sharpless, you must be on a PC. The option key on a Mac is the equivalent of your Alt key on the PC.

    p.s. - Rock on, Corey!

  14. Velimirius said on — May 25, 2008 @ 11:10 am

    awsome.THX

  15. John said on — May 25, 2008 @ 12:21 pm

    Excellent Tutuorial… Love this one…:)

  16. Lukas said on — May 26, 2008 @ 7:17 am

    Why do instructors still create a layer and fill with white instead of adding an adjustment layer with solid colour, white?
    Would have just loaded selection and created a solid colour or gradient layer… gives even more flexibility/editability even after saving.

  17. Riqfx said on — May 26, 2008 @ 10:07 pm

    This is absolutely slick and amazing! Good job CB.

  18. Arnel said on — May 27, 2008 @ 1:42 am

    thank you for this tutorial but please put some sentence or a paragraph for your explanation not only the video tutorial, however thank a lot

  19. Michèle said on — May 29, 2008 @ 11:01 am

    Hello
    I’m a French woman. Sorry I don’t speak English very well.
    Your tutorials are very interesting but I don’t understand
    when you speak (very quickly !)
    It’s difficult to me to realise this effect.
    is it possible to have your tutorials in pdf ?
    I learn English more easily
    Thank you

  20. Melanie said on — May 30, 2008 @ 1:35 pm

    Great tutorial, thank you for putting it together, though I must agree with Michelle that it would be nice to be able to download this to try it again sometime.

  21. Trell said on — May 30, 2008 @ 4:03 pm

    hey i like how u did them pictures its hard but im learning its gona take me awhile to get it

  22. NICKI said on — May 31, 2008 @ 10:34 am

    great tuts but way to fast and if you not using mac you get left behind veru frustrating. seems like you preaching to the converted

  23. Abhimanyu said on — June 2, 2008 @ 7:51 am

    Gr8 dude
    amazing ur da god of photoshop

  24. Márcio Guerra said on — June 3, 2008 @ 12:53 pm

    I am tired of saying good tutorial, but… it is!
    Keep rockin’…

    Márcio Guerra

  25. NAGUIB said on — June 3, 2008 @ 5:05 pm

    THIS IS REALLY VERY COOL AND USEFUL

  26. William Ogunsina said on — June 4, 2008 @ 9:48 am

    This Took Me Ages, But I Finally Did It, Im New To Photoshop, Ive Been Using PhotoImpact As You Can See From My Website, But Im Happy I Have PhotoShop, The Effect Are Brilliant, Thanks Corey

  27. Andre said on — June 5, 2008 @ 12:43 pm

    Thanks for the great tutorial. This is what I came up with messing around. You are always an inspiration Corey!

    http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g82/shootn3zz/AMG%20Productions/DSC02215.jpg

  28. robby said on — June 5, 2008 @ 1:02 pm

    wow man, great tutorial, I’m a total noob in PS but thanks to you I managed to get trough this tutorial.
    great effect btw

  29. Riya said on — June 5, 2008 @ 1:29 pm

    AWESOME!!! Another great tutorial as always. :)

  30. sjoerd said on — June 5, 2008 @ 2:46 pm

    hello,
    its great! I like to do it. but there is only one queastion.
    Where can I find that picture? so if I got that one I can try to get it as nice as you do it. Because i can’t find a picture like that one. If you coud tel me where I can find that one or one that are all most the same I would like that!.

    I allready thank you, and like your workshops verry much!

    Your faitfully,
    Sjoerd Blankhorst

  31. David said on — June 9, 2008 @ 12:20 pm

    Where can I find that image so I can copy what you are doing?

    Thanks

  32. Steve said on — June 11, 2008 @ 9:13 am

    sharpless, the option key is alt on a PC, where command is cntrl and delete is backspace.

  33. stephanie said on — June 12, 2008 @ 12:20 am

    I have a question, When I go to put the gradient on at the end on the locked layer it won’t allow me because it is locked, what do I do?

  34. Evan said on — June 14, 2008 @ 12:33 pm

    can this be done using photoshop elements

  35. srk said on — June 15, 2008 @ 6:55 pm

    Seriously, I’m deaf. I cannot understand this, and I really want to learn this thing. If it was in writing with pictures, then I would easily learn this.

  36. Naresh said on — July 19, 2008 @ 2:23 am

    I could not understand what did u do to the alpha channel which changed suddenly into the image & how did u get that darkness in that alpha channel

    please reply

  37. Jamie said on — July 19, 2008 @ 7:08 pm

    Brilliant tutorial again :D
    this is what i made with it
    http://www.bebo.com/PhotoAlbumBig.jsp?MemberId=4144047329&PhotoAlbumId=4567298055&PhotoId=8374063981
    if you rasterize the text layer at the end and then lock the transparity
    you can continue the gradient from the picture over to the text
    just an extra that i think looks kl :)

  38. Angel Oropeza said on — July 22, 2008 @ 10:22 am

    THAT WAS GOOD
    THANK YOU 4 SHARE YOUR WORK

  39. Karan said on — July 23, 2008 @ 4:54 pm

    You make the best tutorials so far you are the only person the I can understand!

  40. zriyan-rawanduzi said on — August 3, 2008 @ 10:31 am

    thank you

  41. Kenji said on — August 6, 2008 @ 7:30 pm

    I really love the tutorials here. Learn a lot a cool spanky stuff than the books I bought!
    Sometimes I am off the internet so a hardcopy will be fabulous.
    But is there a compilation of your tutorials like an e-book or book we can buy?

    Regards,
    Kenji K

  42. Kir said on — August 9, 2008 @ 1:37 am

    Very good site! I like it! Thanks! . [URL=http://my-test-doorway.myhost.com].[/URL]

  43. Ashley D said on — August 12, 2008 @ 10:20 am

    hey once i get the hang of this tutorial i will right one for windows of this verison

  44. Ashley D said on — August 12, 2008 @ 10:29 am

    help I am having trouble with the last step i can get the image on the blank layer

  45. Ashley D said on — August 12, 2008 @ 3:21 pm

    http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b276/limeslushie2010/?action=view&current=katy_08_imagecopy.jpg

  46. Justin said on — August 18, 2008 @ 10:17 pm

    Hey Corey i have been following ur tutorials, and i think im doin preaty good…. ur tutorials are awsome and easy to follow and have helped me do diffrent things

    http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/Moffeia/Briana3copy.jpg

    http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/Moffeia/Rachcopy.jpg

  47. AHMAD said on — September 26, 2008 @ 3:38 am

    I”m new in photoshop but I would like to say ur video tutorial is easy to follow . This is the one I”m looking for.

  48. =) said on — September 30, 2008 @ 7:57 am

    how come i cant do the gradient? it said there cannot edit it because the layer is locked? but it said in this tutorial to locked the layer. pls help me .. im using cs3 extended. tanx a lot

  49. Taslim Ahmed said on — October 7, 2008 @ 8:55 am

    Best tutorials so far I see, it’s grate, I did learn a lot and get some more ideas from it.
    Thank you
    - Taslim Ahmed

  50. Emanuel said on — October 7, 2008 @ 5:23 pm

    FANTASTIC !!!!

  51. Sma said on — October 12, 2008 @ 1:48 am

    Thank you for a great tutorial, I will have to have a look at your others now.
    I did get confused like the poster above, I locked all layers instead of the transparency but I realised my mistake after I backtracked and looked a little harder at your screen.

    I altered one of my own portraits for fun
    http://www.smatography.com/pics/uploads/1223793886208.jpg

    Very neat little trick, thanks!

  52. maneesh said on — October 14, 2008 @ 2:08 pm

    good class……….. thanks………

  53. celsius said on — October 17, 2008 @ 11:11 am

    gradient noise! damn, photoshop hides some sweetness deep inside.

  54. levi said on — October 20, 2008 @ 6:15 pm

    great!
    thanks!

  55. G$$ said on — October 23, 2008 @ 12:57 am

    Great tutorial!! For some reason when its time to use the paint brush to paint over the hair white, I can never do it. It barely lightens the hair and doesn’t color white like it does on the video. Am I doing something wrong?

  56. Creative eCommerce said on — October 31, 2008 @ 1:51 pm

    This simple tutorial has clued me in to some features I didn’t know about. I would like to use some of your content on one of my new sites with a link to your site. I am somewhat new to this blogging thing though.

  57. nxpimagine said on — November 1, 2008 @ 1:14 am

    Not very bad for beginners. I knew it all along but tried it out.

  58. Krishnendu said on — November 7, 2008 @ 3:26 am

    Just terrific. I respect your expertise. Hats off to you.

    Regards,

    Krish

  59. Qutub said on — November 7, 2008 @ 9:09 am

    Cool!

    May i add your link to resources section in http://www.vectorpeople.com

  60. nathan said on — November 12, 2008 @ 9:29 am

    WOW!!!!!!! thats a great tip i all ways wondered what to use the gradient noise for

  61. yokimashu said on — November 20, 2008 @ 8:41 am

    Very Nice! I learned so much from the tutorial!

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Reset a Dialog

If you are working with any dialog that has an OK and a Cancel option, you don’t always have to cancel out to get back to the original state of the effect. If you press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key when you are in a dialog, the Cancel button will turn into a Reset button. This will give you a chance to try the effect again without having to leave the dialog.

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