layered look in photoshop [creativepro]

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ate the Layered Look in Photoshop | CreativePro.com http://www.creativepro.com/article/create-the-layered-look-in-photoshop

8 10/03/2008 13:23

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Create the Layered Look in Photoshop

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Written by Chad Neuman on June 20, 2007

Categories:Graphics, Graphics Image Editing, Illustration, Photo Image Editing, How-Tos

Tutorial compliments of"Layers" magazine

Using the Threshold command in Adobe Photoshop,

you can create a neat one-color effect and turn a

full-color photo into a black outline. The technique

involves applying a different shade of color to four

different layers, all increasing levels of threshold. The

result is a "layered threshold" look.

Step 1

Open a photo in Photoshop. To use the photo that is

Figure 1, just click on it, save it to your computer,

and then open it in Photoshop.

Figure 1

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Step 2

With a simple background like the one in this image, use the Magic Wand tool to select

just the background. In the Options Bar, turn on the Contiguous option and adjust the

Tolerance level as needed. Shift-click to add additional areas to the selection. Once the

background is selected, choose Select> Inverse to select the subject. Press

Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the selection to a new layer. Remove the visibility of the

Background layer by clicking its Eye icon in the Layers panel (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Step 3

Press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) four times to create four copies of the

transparent-background layer (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Step 4

In the Layers palette, click on the top layer. Go to Image> Adjustments> Threshold. In


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the Threshold dialog, drag the slider under the histogram to a Threshold Level of about

30, and click OK (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Step 5

Remove the visibility of the top layer by clicking its Eye icon in the Layers panel. Select

the second-to-top layer, and go to Image> Adjustments> Threshold again. Move the

slider to a higher amount than you used in the previous step (about 60 in Figure 5).

Figure 5

Step 6

Repeat this process for the third layer from the top and move the slider to an even

higher Threshold Level (90 in Figure 6).

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Figure 6

Step 7

Repeat this process one last time for the fourth layer from the top and move the slider

even higher (195 in Figure 7).

Figure 7

Step 8

Next, we'll change the color of the black in each layer: The higher layers will have darker

shades of the same color that we're using. But first, we'll need to remove the white from

each layer. Make the top layer the only visible layer and make it active. Select the Magic

Wand tool, change its Tolerance to 0, and turn off the Contiguous option. Click on a

white area in the image to select all the white (Figure 8), then press Delete (PC:

Backspace) to remove the white. Repeat this for each layer.

A Service of


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Figure 8

Step 9

Make the top layer visible and active. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on the top layer's

thumbnail in the Layers panel to select all the pixels in the layer (Figure 9).

Figure 9

Change the Background color by clicking on its swatch in the Toolbox and selecting a

dark orange in the Color Picker. Press Command-Delete (PC: Ctrl-Backspace) to fill the

layer with the new Background color.

Step 10

Repeat the same process for the next layer, but with a slightly lighter orange color.

Remove the visibility of the other layers except for the two layers already changed to

see the effect so far (Figure 10).


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Figure 10

Step 11

Use this technique for the last two layers so that the four layers are each a varying

shade of orange. The darker the color, the higher up the layer should be in the Layer

palette's stacking order (Figure 11a).

Figure 11a

The effect should result in the darker colors showing the details and the background

layers being lighter (Figure 11b). This image looks like vector art but it's still technically

a raster image.


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Figure 11b

You can, of course, place it into Adobe Illustrator if you like and trace it. You can alsomerge all the colored layers and apply a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to change the

colors (Figure 11c).

Figure 11c

Layers Magazine Copyright 2007 Layers Magazine.

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layered look in photoshop [creativepro]

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