Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create the look of authentic, woodcut prints on paper from photos.
You'll also be able to replace your photos with others without having to redo most of the effects.
Open a photo you'd like to use for this project. downloaded this one from Shutterstock. We want
to make sure that your document's resolution is the same as mine, so that your results will look
the same. Go to Image and Image Size. Either the width or the height should be between 1500 to 2500
pixels and its resolution should be 150 pixels per inch. If they're not, you'll have to adjust the
setting amounts of some of the filters to achieve the same results. I provided this paper texture
that you can download. Its link is in my video's description or project files. This type of paper
is often used for woodcuts and wood engravings due to its thinness, high strength, and texture.
Before we begin, if you want to know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials, smash that
"Subscribe" button and please remember to click "Like" if you like this video. We'll make this
texture into a pattern, which will allow our document to be filled with this texture no matter
what size or shape our document is. Go to Edit and "Define Pattern". Then, click OK. That's it!
If you want your woodcut print to just be your subject and not include its background, we'll
need to separate our subject from its background. There are a few ways to do this depending
on the version of Photoshop you're using. For CC 2020 and later, unlock your photo and
open the Properties panel. If you don't see it, go to Window and Properties. Scroll
down and click "Remove Background". Photoshop automatically analyzes the photo and
creates a layer mask of the subject's shape, thereby masking out the background. If you're
using CC 2018 or 2019, open your Quick Selection Tool and click the "Select Subject" button,
which creates a selection around the subject. To remove areas of the selection, press and
hold Alt or Option as you drag over those areas. Click the Layer mask icon to make a layer mask
next to it. On earlier versions, drag the Quick Selection Tool over your subject. Then, make
a layer mask. Whatever version you're using, make a new layer below the subject and its layer
mask by Ctrl or Cmd-clicking the New Layer icon. We'll fill the empty layer with white, but before we do, check your foreground and background colors.
If they aren't black and white respectively, press "D" on your keyboard. Since the background
color is white, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete. We'll convert our visible image into a Smart
Object, so we can modify it non-destructively, as well as allow us to replace it with a different
photo without having to redo most of the effects. To do this, Shift-click the top layer to make it
active as well, and click the icon at the upper, right. Click "Convert to Smart Object".
Go to Filter, Stylize, and Oil Paint. Drag the Stylization and Cleanliness all the way
to the right. The Scale and Bristle Detail are irrelevant, since they're associated with Lighting
and since Lighting is unchecked, these filters are non-functional. We'll repeat the Oil Paint
filter numerous times to dramatically increase the oil paint effect. Press Ctrl, Alt + F on
Windows or Cmd + Ctrl + F on a Mac 7 or 8 times. Go to Image, Adjustments, and Threshold. This
filter converts our image into high-contrast, black-and-white. The default level is 128.
The more we drag the slider to the left, the more the pixels are converted to white.
Conversely, the more we drag it to the right, the more the pixels are converted to black. For now, I'll set the level to 126 for shadows, which is slightly darker than the default amount. We'll create tow different
Threshold layers. One for shadows and the other for highlights. To save some space in the
Layers panel, let's collapse the smart filters. Make a copy of the layer by pressing Ctrl or Cmd
+ J. Open the copy's smart filters and go back to Image, Adjustments and "Shadows/Highlights".
Drag the shadows all the way to the right. We won't see any changes to our image until we
drag the Shadow/Highlights just below Threshold. Now, the Shadows/Highlights is affecting the
Threshold, which is bringing out more detail in the shadows. We can adjust the amount of detail by
double-clicking Threshold to open it and dragging the slider. Once we re happy with the amount of
detail in the shadows, click OK. Next, I ll show you how to reveal back the shadows in some areas,
but first, let s collapse the Smart Filters. Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask and
open your Pencil Tool. Open the Pencil Picker and pick a hard, round tip. We'll adjust its size in a
moment. Make its Hardness and Opacity both 100%. To make the pencil point bigger or smaller, make sure the Caps Lock key is off and press the right of left bracket key on your keyboard. Draw over the areas you want to reveal back. We'll place the two layers into a folder by Shift-clicking the bottom layer to make it
active as well and pressing Ctrl or Cmd + G. Change its Blend Mode to Multiply. Doing this will
make our subject appear over the paper texture. Create a new layer below it. We're going to fill
it with the paper pattern texture, but to do that, we need to temporarily fill it with a color.
I'll fill it with the background color. Double-click the layer to open its Layer Style window. Click "Pattern Overlay". If the paper pattern
doesn't automatically fill the background, open the Pattern list, and scroll to the
bottom. Click the last thumbnail image. Feel free to adjust its scale. Next, we'll mask out unwanted black areas and
spots. Make a new layer and Shift-click the pattern layer to make it active as well. Merge
the two layers by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + E. Make the folder active and click the Layer mask icon to
make a layer mask next to it. Draw over unwanted black areas to mask them out. Next, we'll add
a slight color cast to our subject, which will warm up the black color. To do this, click the
Adjustment Layer icon and click "Gradient Map". Click the gradient bar to open the Gradient
Editor. Click the "Black, White" gradient preset and the lower, left Stop. Click the color box and in the hexadecimal field, type in 160D02. Presently, the gradient adjustment
layer is affecting our background, as well. This is because adjustment layers affect all
the layers below them in the Layers panel. Since we want it to affect just our subject
and not the background, we'll need to make the adjustment layer into a clipping mask. To do this,
click the Clipping Mask icon or go to Layer and Create Clipping Mask. Lastly, we'll show some the
paper texture through our subject. empty area of the folder's layer to open its Layer
Style window. We ll use the "Blend If" filter, which uses the luminosity of layers to blend
them together. "This Layer" represents the active layer, which in our case is the subject folder.
The "Underlying Layer" represents the paper texture. Dragging the Underlying Layer sliders
will cause areas of the paper texture to punch through the subject. We can soften its transition
by Alt or Option-clicking the middle of the slider, which splits it in two. The inside half
of each slider is where the blending reaches 100%, while the outside half of each slider is where
the blending begins. Play with the sliders until your image has just the right combination. One
last thing. In CC 2022 and later, Adobe added 3 interpolations or methods to the Gradient Map
filter. Frankly, I don't see much of a difference, however, upon trying each one, I noticed that the
Linear method shows slightly more of the highlight details than the other methods do. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!
