Realistic Watercolor Effect in Photoshop

Creating a watercolor effect of a photo isn't that hard as you think. With Photoshop, you can easily make one in just a few steps (about 2 to 5 minutes) with convincing results. What we are about to do here looks more like a watercolor photo painting where we use a few of the filters and blending modes. Colorful images with good contrast works perfectly with this tutorial.

PREVIEW

Here is our before and after image which we will show how to achieve in this tutorial.

Bring in your photo, duplicate it three times (3x). The duplicate layers, namely: Layer 1, Layer 1 copy, and Layer 1 copy 2 would then be created and visible in your layers palette.

* Don't be bothered with the Hue/Saturation layer above the background layer. I've just inserted it ahead with the next step where it should appear. It's your preference if you want to follow like this or create it later in the next step. There's no problem here.

The above photo can be downloaded here.

Before we go on with the editing process for the created layers, let's make a bit of adjustment to our background image. To do so, select Hue/Saturation and set the following values below. This will add more colour and warmth to the image.

Now, let's get started with the editing work... Turn off the two (2) top layers, then activate Layer 1. Apply Cutout filter (Filter>Artistic>Cutout...) with the following settings:

Set Blend Mode to Luminosity.

Turn on and activate Layer 1 copy. Apply Drybrush filter (Filter>Artistic>Drybrush...) with the following settings below. Set Blend Mode to Screen, afterwards.

Activate the topmost layer now and, this time, apply Median filter (Filter>Noise>Median...) and apply the following settings:

Set Blend Mode to Soft Light.

Once more, let's take a look at our final image...

Done!

Pop Art Effect in Photoshop

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States.Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising, news, etc. In Pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated, and/or combined with unrelated material. The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it. Some of the most notable pop artists are Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns.

(You can read more of pop art history here.)

1. Color Separation

First off, we will remove all visible shades from the image to convert it into some kind of solid color shapes. Following are the steps how to do it:

• Open a photo you would like to edit. Resize it to your preferred size. Medium size would be okay.

• Duplicate it, then set the blend mode of the duplicate layer to Luminosity.

• Invert it (Image>Adjustments>Invert...), then set the Opacity to 50%.

• Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to create a new layer (Layer 2). Delete Layer 1, we don't need it anymore.

2. Image Posterization

After we've eliminated the shades of the image above, this time, we will increase the saturation to achieve a posterize image of solid color effect.

• Activate the Background layer and duplicate it. Move this new layer to the top.

• Set the blend mode to Multiply.

• Select the top layer, then apply Threshold (Image>Adjustments>Threshold...). Just click Ok for the default value settings.

3. Increasing the Saturation
• Select the middle layer, then go to Hue/Saturation (Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation...). Set Saturation to optimum to the right or, if you prefer to, check the box in Colorize.

Final Result

• If you prefer your image colorized with different color, just adjust the Hue slider to the left or right. You can also adjust the Saturation if you want to while adjusting the Hue. It's a matter of preference really.