How to Create a 3D Pop-Up Effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial, we will learn how to create a 3D pop-up effect in Photoshop, where the main subjects of your image will appear as if they are popping out of a flat picture. I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS6, but you can use any other recent version too.

Step 1
Open your picture in Photoshop. I will be using this stock picture.

  

Duplicate it two times by pressing Command+J (for Mac) / Ctrl+J (for Windows) twice. Name the first duplicate “flat” and the second one “pop up”.

 

Hide the two duplicates for now by pressing the layer visibility icon (the eye) in the Layers palette.

 

Step 2
We will first use the background layer to create the background for our effect. Select the background layer and click on the New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

 

Select Gradient from the list and click on the gradient preview bar to change the gradient.

 

Select the Black, White gradient.

 

We will change the black color to something lighter. Double-click on the black slider at the left present in the bottom half of the Gradient Editor.

Let’s select a light gray color for now. We can change this color afterwards.

 

This is how the gradient will look now.

 

Step 3
Now, we will create the flat part of our image. Turn on the visibility of the flat layer by pressing the layer visibility icon (the eye) in the Layers palette.

 

 

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and make a selection around the area that will become the flat part of our image. You don’t have to select the exact part right now.

 

We will now give our selection a 3D perspective. Go to Select > Transform Selection, control-click (for Mac) / right-click (for Windows) inside the selection and select Perspective. Now, drag the top-left corner of the selection inwards and the top-right corner will automatically follow.

  

Then, drag the bottom-left corner of the selection outwards and the bottom-right corner will automatically follow.

  

Now, control-click (for Mac) / right-click (for Windows) inside the selection and select Scale. Drag the top handle downwards and bottom handle upwards.

  

  

Continue switching between the Perspective and Scale modes and reshaping the outline until you get a selection that looks like it’s fading into the distance.

  

Step 4
Now, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

 

 

We will now add a border to our flat image. Click on the Layer Style icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

 

Select Stroke from the list and change the color to white by clicking on the color swatch and selecting white.

 

 

Also, make these changes to Stroke.

 

 

 

Step 5
Finally, we will create the pop-up effect. Turn on the visibility of the pop up layer by pressing the layer visibility icon (the eye) in the Layers palette.

 

Using a selection tool (Pen Tool, Quick Selection Tool, Lasso Tool etc.), select the main subjects of your image. Try to make the selection that will “pop up” from the flat image as accurate as possible.

  

Now, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

 

Step 6
Now, we will curl the corners of the image and add a shadow. Select the flat layer and then command-click (for Mac) / ctrl-click (for Windows) on the flat layer’s mask thumbnail.

 

 

Next, command-click (for Mac) / ctrl-click (for Windows) on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

 

Name the new layer “shadow”, go to Edit > Fill and use the settings shown below to fill it with black color.

 

Step 7
We will come back to the shadow layer after curling the corners. Click on the flat layer’s mask thumbnail and then on the link icon between the mask and preview thumbnail.

 

Go to Edit > Transform > Warp and drag all four corner handles upward.

 

Let’s finish the effect by softening the shadow. Select the shadow layer, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and drag the Radius slider to the right. The higher the Radius value, the softer the shadow.

  

 

We will also lower the opacity of the shadow layer to 60%.

Let’s clean the shadow a bit to make it look like it is right below the photo. Go to Edit > Free Transform and drag the bottom and side sliders inward to line up the shadow below the edges of the picture.

  

 

Step 8
If you want, you could change the background gradient now to something more suitable. Double-click on the gradient layer’s thumbnail.

 

Click on the gradient preview bar and double-click on the gray slider present in the lower-left of the Gradient Editor. Now, I will choose the light blue color of the snow in the picture by clicking on it.

 

And we’re all done!