Create a Worn Photo Look with Water Overlays

A simple mix of water splash and human faces can create an unusual collage style for some of your older photos.  These mixes can create something quite unique and because this is fairly simple to achieve, almost anyone can do this using this simple tutorial for photo-collage.

Open the image you want to use - here, I've used an image converted into black and white, but you can leave your images in colour, convert them to black and white or use an image toned with any colour you choose. The base image you use can be in any style you like - you'll just need to be sure the image you use to overlay the base image is a good blend in terms of colour.

I found a photo of water splashing up behind a boat (in fact, I took a bunch just to use for this - later this week most of these will be available on Free-3D-Textures.com in the Stock photo & water textures sections if you need some to use).

Next, I cropped out the parts of the water splash that I wanted to use. Then copied that to a new layer on top of the photo. To do that, with the water image active, choose "select", then "all" from the menu in photoshop. Then, select "edit" and "copy" from the menu. Minimize the water image and make the people photo the active one. Now, select "edit" and "paste" from the menu to paste the water image onto the background (people) photo.

Depending on which method you selected as the layer blending mode, you'll get different results. The method you select will depend on the background photo you've chosen.

The blending method for this photo was "multipy". You'll notice there is still some blue showing in mine - that's because I decided not convert the water photo to black and white, but you can convert it and get different results.

To get this smoother, ink-stained effect with texture, the water splash (layer 1) layer is  set to multiply. A second watersplash layer is added on top of it (layer 2) and then: select edit, transform, flip horizontal, blending mode overlay, with advanced blending styles. The advanced layer styles should have a deep knockout and adjust the amount until you get a look you like. To add the texture, select the layer styles palette (double click on the blue part of the layer label to open the layer styles, select the texture option and choose a texture pattern to cover the photo with. When happy with the result, flatten the layer and adjust the curves.

To get this "damaged photo from a slide" look, I converted the watersplash photo to brown and used the layer blending mode "color burn".

2011 Calendar Template for Photoshop

Update: You can find our 2011 MONTHLY Calendar Template on a later post, here.

Whew! Well I've been working away trying to get my calendar template for 2011 finished. This year's (well, technically it's next year's but it's released now so you can make your own for gifts at Christmas) template is a fairly plain, but business-like design. You can use it to promote your own business, or remove the business references and use it with family photos for cool gifts.

This calendar is designed to print at 20" X 36" (300dpi) so if you want to print it smaller, just reduce the size in your editing program.

I have this file available in Adobe Photoshop PSD format (created in PS3) and it's a big one. This calendar is totally customizable, you can customize the coloured boxes behind the month headers, move the numbers around and/or make them smaller, change the headings and text, and you may in fact end up with a change of text.

The text font I used for this file is titled "Cambria Math", which I didn't realize wasn't available freely - it's apparently a purchased font, or it came with one of my programs. If you don't have this font on your computer, when you open the PSD in photoshop, it will replace the font with one you have. If you don't like what it uses, you can change that because all the text layers are separate. I have also included in this release a .png format that is only customizable to the extent that because it has a transparent background, you can place images under months and dates. The .png file is only suitable for anyone who has a program that will handle layers and transparency. If you open the .png file in a program that doesn't have this capability, it will simply open it onto a coloured background, and you can save it as a .jpg file.

The template does not have holidays on it. Because I have an international readership, there would be way too many holidays to include in the file, but you can find a listing of National Holidays by country on Wikipedia.

Spent a little time doing a sample customization using the PSD file so you can see just how different you can make your own calendar using this template. I  placed my calendar on a black background, changed the way the text at the top of the calendar reads, and added some of my own abstract fractal backgrounds to each of the months. The result is very different from the basic sample calendar you see above. Anyone who wants the full size of this sample (.jpg) can grab it at the end of the article - there'll be a link to download the large .jpg file.

By the way - almost all of the fractals used in this sample image will be available for free download later this week over on Free-3D-Textures.com in the Abstract Texture section (just in case anyone wants to use some of them).

Okay, are you ready for the template links? Please remember this is quit a large file if you are downloading the PSD format - it could take a rather long time on slower connections.

The easiest way to download these larger files is to right click on the link, and select "save as".

2011 Calendar Template - Customizable PSD Format

2011 Calendar - PNG Format with Transparent Background

2011 Calendar - Black with Abstract Fractal Backgrounds (full size)

Please remember - these are copyright designs. You may use them to create your own calendars and have them printed, but you may not upload my designs or templates to other websites for redistribution, nor may you sell any of the templates or my completed designs.

New 2011 Calendar Templates for Photoshop can be found on these related posts:

More 2011 Calendar Templates

A Pair of 2011 Pocket Calendar Templates

2011 Photoshop Calendar Template

Monthly 2011 Calendar Template

MOST OF OUR TEMPLATES CAN ALSO BE DOWNLOADED FROM FREE-3D-TEXTURES.COM  (see the templates section)

Super Simple Curves Adjustment & Some Free Photo Frames

I'm trying something a little different here today, though I'm not entirely sure I like it. Perhaps when I get a little more adept with the software for creating it, the results will be better.

The "tutorial" is in a flash movie file, which might be better for those who learn by sight, as opposed to written instruction. In it's smaller size, the text boxes won't be as readable as they are in it's normal format.

To view the file (movie) in it's original size, you can right click on the following link: Super Simple Curves Adjustment



This is probably one of the quickest adjustments you can make using the curves function in Photoshop. It is probably quicker to complete than it is to watch the tutorial, and while it may not work for every image, for beginners who just want to boost the colour and add some punch to an image, this is often all the image needs.

This tutorial began with the darker image below, and in three clicks finished up with the second image - that's all that was done to create that bit of colour punch you see.

Maybe next time, I'll try an actual video :)

For any of you who use the free Photo Frames, there's some new ones to be had over on Free-3D-Textures.com this week too...well, they've been up for about a week, but I forgot to mention it.

You can grab these frames on the Frames and Edges page.