Textured photo blends seem to be all the rage lately in
creative digital photography. And...so, so easy with our
Photo Art Blends, which we've been creating since 2008. Our Photo Art
Blends were developed to help you replicate the look of handmade photo
transfers without the mess, chemicals, or time! Photo Art Blends 2 also
includes unique blends mimicking folded notebook paper, wood grain, and other
distressed textures.
Fyi...All of our products are for personal use, but
we offer a
Limited Professional Use License
Option for photographers/scrappers-for-hire to use our products
in their business. Simply
select the Professional Use License Option
for each product on its product page when
ordering (license is an additional $4-$10 one-time fee for each download pak). Note that this license is not available for digital designers
to use our products in their designs for resale.
Instructions for using Photo
Art Blends 1
Follow these simple steps
with your image editor (one that has layer blend modes - Photoshop,
Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro):
Open Adobe Photoshop Elements
![](images/tut_phobl_8.jpg)
Open photo (File>Open>browse system for
photo>Open)
![](images/tut_phobl_9.jpg)
Open Naturals Paper or Photo Art Blend. Sample
used was 08 PhotoBlend1 from
Nature's Sketchbook Photo Art Blends 1
Rotate to correct orientation, if needed
(Image>Rotate)
![](images/tut_phobl_10.jpg)
Drag Photo Art Blend (or paper) on top of photo layer.
Re-size image or photo art blend to desired size. In my case, image was larger than
the 8x10 Photo Art Blend so I cropped to the size of the 8x10 by selecting
that layer and choosing Image>Crop. Note...Because the blends
are textures and do not have fine details, it is OK to increase their size
by up to 50% and still have great print quality.
Adjust layer blend mode of paper layer to get
desired effect. Overlay or soft light are usually my favorite to give a
pop in color and texture. In this sample to achieve a cross processed
effect I used Overlay.
Select soft eraser brush at about 30% percent
opacity and gently erase paper texture over skin or other areas you don't
want as much (or any) texture. In Photoshop, I recommend using a layer
mask on the photo art blend and paint black over areas where you want less
texture. This is the same as erasing, however is non-destructible (as you
undo by painting white over the black).
![](images/tut_phobl_6.jpg)
I also used the included Photo Mask for this
piece to retain the watercolor paper texture edges. See our
tutorial on our blog for details on how to use them.
Save as layered PSD if you want to retain layer for
future editing. Save as full-size JPG to use on layout or to print at
photo lab.
![](images/tut_phobl_7.jpg)
Voila! Instant gorgeous photo transfer without the
time, mess, or cost.
![](images/12-PhotoBlend1-8x10-2layers.jpg)
![](images/12-PhotoBlend1-8x10-3.jpg)
Another alternative is to place the photo
layer above the textured paper layer, as in the sample above. You can
experiment with duplicate layers of the photo, each having their own layer
blend mode and adjust the opacity of each until you get the effect you're
going for. For this particular example, I used 12 PhotoBlend1 and then set
the first photo layer to Overlay at 100% and the top photo layer to Normal
at 20% opacity. Adding this extra layer at Normal brings back more of the
image and lessens the canvas texture. Too fun!!!
Also notice that I simply erased some of the
photo edges rather than use the included clipping mask since the photo was
on top of the blend instead of beneath it.
More samples using
Nature's Sketchbook Photo Art Blends 1
![](images/before-after-friend2.jpg)
Using 01 PhotoBlend1 with Soft Light Layer Blend
Mode at 66% opacity.
![](images/before-after-friend1.jpg)
Notice also in the Layer Palette that I did a quick selection of the Photo Blend's edge and pasted it (Ctrl J or Cmd J on
a Mac) above the original photo blend layer to allow more of the awesome
photo transfer edge to show (76% opacity),
as Soft Light blend mode takes away some of the color. I then added some
fun Scrap.Words, playing with the color and blend modes as well. Too fun!
![](images/12PhotoBlend1-Overlay500.jpg)
Using 12 PhotoBlend1 with Overlay Layer Blend
Mode. Use '10 11 12 Clipping Mask' to preserve photo transfer edges, by
clipping photo to mask shape. See our Clipping Mask tutorial
here.
Photo Blend was also re-colored, adjusting Hue to -55 and Saturation to
-40 (Ctrl U or Cmd U on a Mac for Hue/Saturation dialog).
In this piece, as well, I did a selection of the edge and pasted it (Ctrl J or Cmd J on
a Mac) on the top layer to allow more of the edge texture to show through,
as Overlay blend mode takes away some of the texture on white. The bottom
layer is a duplicate of the original Photo Blend, picking up the warm
browns when combined with the plum.
Simply Love 2 Scrap.Words add a finishing
touch. There are so many ways to play!
![](images/photoblend_poppy.jpg)
Using 05 PhotoBlend1 with Soft Light Layer Blend
Mode. Use '05 06 Clipping Mask' to preserve photo transfer edges, by
clipping photo to mask shape. See our Clipping Mask tutorial
here.
![](images/photoblend1-15-layers.jpg)
Using 15 PhotoBlend1 with Multiply Layer Blend
Mode. Use '14 15 Clipping Mask' to preserve photo transfer edges, by
clipping photo to mask shape. See our Clipping Mask tutorial
here.
Erase texture over skin.
![](images/photoblend1-15-multiply.jpg)
![](images/07-PhotoBlend1-HardLight82.jpg)
Similarly, using 07 PhotoBlend1 with
Hard Light Layer Blend
Mode at 82% opacity. Duplicate photo art blend and erase center, leaving
edge. Keep set to Normal Blend Mode. Use '07 08 09 Clipping Mask' to preserve photo transfer edges, by
clipping photo to mask shape. See our Clipping Mask tutorial
here.
![](images/tut_phobl_11.jpg)
Using 01 PhotoBlend1 with Soft Light Layer Blend
Mode
![](images/05-PhotoBlend1-8x10-softlig.jpg)
Using 05 PhotoBlend1 with Soft Light Layer Blend
Mode (also transformed to 4x6 aspect ratio)
![](images/tut_phobl_12.jpg)
Using 04 PhotoBlend1 with Soft Light Layer Blend
Mode
![](images/photoblend1-11-layers.jpg)
Using 11 PhotoBlend1 (rotated 90
degrees right) with Hard Light Light Layer Blend Mode
![](images/photoblend1-11.jpg)
I hope you'll agree that playing with these is
quite addictive! Experiment with different blends at different settings on
an image to see which you like best for that particular shot!
See our
Blog and
Newsletter for more tutorials and inspiration.
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