Photograph on a Purely White Background


Final product image
What You'll Be Creating

Create a Purely White Background

Photographing your product on a purely white background will help you create great looking catalogs and promotional photographs for magazines. The technique you'll learn below demonstrates how you can create a light-box for photographing objects on top of an illuminated surface, which makes the objects appear to be floating weightlessly in a white space.
  • Plexiglas or Glass
  • White Paper such as craft paper
  • Tape
The first thing is to set up a pair of tables that are the same height. The tables should be placed close enough together that you will be able to rest your piece of glass on top of them and not worry about the glass falling. Leave yourself room behind the tables so you can move around to set up and adjust the positioning of items.
My piece of glass in 16 inches so my tables are 14 inches apart to keep them from falling if, or more likely when, I bump the table.
When you have your tables in position, place a light down low facing up. This light will shine upward to illuminate the backdrop from below and behind. It is a good idea to clamp the light in place or brace it with other items. Be careful when placing the light so that you don't stress the light's cord too much to damage it. Once the tables and bottom light are in place, set your glass across the span between them.

Placing a light down low facing up
My light stand would not get low enough so I carefully placed a light on the floor and clamped it in place. 

Next we will create a seamless backdrop using white paper, such as craft paper, that will allow some light to pass through it. Start by taping the paper down at the front and unroll it toward the back wall creating a nice, smooth arc. Then cut the paper from the roll and tape it in place.

Creating a seamless sweep from white paper
An evenly positioned sweep will become a smooth white space in the final image.

Go ahead and switch on your bottom light. You now have a light box that has a seamless sweep behind it. Adjust the positioning of the light to maximize the illumination of the sweep, making sure the lighting is even.
If you are photographing items that are flat or less three-dimensional, you can skip making the sweep and photograph from overhead on to a flat light table.
Now that you have the background in place and lit up, it is time to light the subject. Go ahead and place your object onto the sweep. This is also a great time to set up your camera and compose the image. This way you will be able to look through the viewfinder and create test images as you adjust the lighting.
Place a light above and in front of the subject. This light will keep the front of your subject brightly lit. It helps to position it while the bottom light is turned off. Look for the subject to be evenly illuminated on the areas that the camera will see. Once the top light is situated, turn on both lights.

Lighting the subject from above

Now we have to balance the levels of illumination so that the image has smooth tones and accurate details. If the bottom light is too intense, the edges of the object will start to disappear. If you have too much top light, the subject can cast an unwanted shadow or the background will start to appear less bright.
To perform this balancing act, you have to change the intensity of one or both lights. I am using continuous fluorescent lights that have only two settings, off or on, so I accomplish this by placing a sheet of paper between the top light and subject. The paper reduces the amount of light that passes through it so less light reaches the subject. If you are using strobes or lights that have dimmers, it is possible to adjust the lights in small increments

Ready to take a test exposure

It is important to have your color balance set accurately. Here I will use my camera's custom white balance. To set the custom white balance, select that option in your camera's menu and use a gray card to adjust the white balance. 
Exposure is always tricky when your subject is back lit and the illuminated surface can frequently fool a camera's built-in light meter. I prefer to use the manual mode (M) and my light meter reading. If you don't have a light meter, use a gray card and your camera's internal meter to get a good exposure setting.
For more information on using a gray card, here is a great tutorial on using a gray card.
You are finally ready to take your photos. Your background should appear white and the edges should not be gray. Your subject should appear to be floating and not cast a shadow. If the images don't look quite right, check over the settings and repeat the previous steps. Once everything is dialed in, you can photograph as many objects on your light-box as you need to without changing the setup.
Once the photo session is over, there are a few simple corrections and adjustments in Adobe Photoshop that can be done to make your photographs even more compelling.
The first tool we will use is the Color Sampler tool. This tool will help us watch the color of the background so we can ensure that it is purely white. Select the Color Samplertool which is found in the fly-out menu under the Eyedropper tool. Then click in the image to drop sampling points to watch. The areas at the top and bottom of the image will need to be checked to make sure the light has not fallen off that area.

Finding the Color Sample tool

Place a Color Sampler in each corner and top and bottom center. For each Color Sampler point, you will see in the Information window three rows with values for red, green and blue (R,G,B) and for each row you will see two numbers something like 235/245. These correspond to the values for each channel and differing values make different colors. The color we are looking for is white which equals 255 on each R,G,Bchannel.

Placing Color Sampler Areas
The number after the slash shows the value after the adjustment has been made.

The first adjustment we will make is to the Levels. Find the Adjustment panel and click on the Levels button. This will adjust the tones in the image to look more like the original item. The levels adjustment shows a histogram that has three sliders under it.
We will begin by adjusting the slider for the light areas of the image. Take the slider found on the left side and slide it to the right until it meets the histogram graph. This will darken the darker areas of the image.
Next, take the slider on the right side and slide it to the left until it meets the histogram graph. This will brighten the light areas of the image. Here is where you watch the Color Sample values and adjust until the sampled areas are white and read 255 in each of the R,G,B channels

Adjusting the levels in Adobe Photoshop

The third slider lies under the center of the histogram and adjusts the overall brightness of the image. If your image looks too light or dark, try adjusting the center slider slightly left or right.
The second adjustment we will make is to sharpen the image using the Smart Sharpen filter. Zoom in to 100% on the image. Then, go up the Filter menu in Photoshop and find the Sharpen option. Select the Smart Sharpen option in the sub-menu. I usually set the overall amount to somewhere around 180% or to where the surface texture becomes enhanced. I will set the radius at 2.5 pixels (or thereabouts) to further enhance detail. The goal with with this adjustment is to enhance the details and make the image look more pleasing. 

Sharpening the final image in Adobe Photoshop

That's it! You just made an image on a purely white backdrop by creating your own light-box. You now have a photograph you can submit to a magazine or blog for a feature. Here is a look at my final image.

The final image after all image adjustments

The beauty of this setup is that it's flexible, repeatable, and produces a clear and clean image with minimal fuss. Here are the key steps again:
  1. Create the background
  2. Light the background from above
  3. Set white balance and exposure
  4. Take your photos
  5. Adjust photos in Adobe Photoshop
And that's it!
The lit-from-below background isn't suitable for every product. Sometimes you'd like to show the shadow, or maybe you don't have two suitable lights to use. The previous tutorial in this series shows how to photograph a 3D object, like a ceramic mug, on a white background using one light.

Harness the Elements: Paint Frozen Water in All Its Forms


Final product image
What You'll Be Creating

Water is a complicated structure. It is transparent, and despite it being so clear, we can see it somehow. And even in its most "normal" state, liquid, water has many forms, so different from each other. Although water looks so simple—and is simple in its construction—you can't learn how to paint it once and for all. It's because you don't really paint water, but the effect it has on the world seen through it.
In this tutorial I'll show you how to manage the most popular forms of frozen water: icicles, falling and lying snow, frost, ice, and hail. We're going to use a whole range of Photoshop tools to make the process of creation fast and easily repeatable. Layer Styles, custom brushes, Blending Modes, Filters, Patterns, and the Mixer Brush Tool will all feature. Even if you're not interested in frozen water, check it out just to see how creatively these tools can be used to give you the effect you want.
Get yourself a nice background, like this. Transparent things can't exist without a background! Create a New Layer and use the Lasso Tool (L) to draw the outline of an icicle. You can easily do it with a mouse, because it should be a bit rugged anyway.

paint icicle photoshop layer style 1

Fill the selection with any color using the Paint Bucket Tool (G).

paint icicle photoshop layer style 2

Duplicate (Control-J) the background and put it over the icicle. Clip it with the Clipping Mask (Control-Alt-G).

paint icicle photoshop layer style 3

Click the original background layer and apply Gaussian Blur (Filter > Gaussian Blur) to it to separate the background from the icicle.

paint icicle photoshop layer style 4

Click the copied background and use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to shrink it inside the icicle. It will simulate the lens effect going on in the ice. In some cases it's good to flip the image, too.

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Press Control-M to open the Curves editor. Pull the curve down a bit to make the icicle darker.

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Duplicate the icicle and drag the layer to the top. This is the layer we'll create the style on.

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Double-click the layer. Drag the Fill Opacity to 0 to make the icicle transparent. Remember: the exact values we'll use here may depend on the size of your object, so instead of copying what I used, try to understand why I did it and modify the effect to your needs.

paint icicle photoshop layer style 9

Check Inner Glow—it will define the edges of the icicle.
  • Use Overlay Mode to make the edges bright (1).
  • Set white as the color (4).
  • Play with the Size to place the glow right on the edges (5).
  • Add a bit of Noise to imitate the bubbles of air trapped inside the icicle (3).
  • Change the Opacity to strengthen or weaken the effect (2).

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Check Inner Shadow—it will add more volume to the icicle. 
  • Set Overlay as the Blend Mode (1).
  • Change the Contour to Cone - Inverted (4).
  • Play with the settings to place the shadow nicely in the center (3).
  • Add a bit of Noise (5).
  • Change the Opacity to soften the effect (2).

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Check Gradient Overlay—it will add a frosting effect to the base of the icicle.
  • Select Screen as the Blend Mode (1).
  • Click the Gradient, select the white marker, and drag its rhombus to the right, which will drag the whiteness up (3).
  • Change the Opacity if you want a subtler effect (2).

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Check Pattern Overlay to add a texture to the icicle.
  • Set the Blend Mode to Soft Light (1).
  • Use the Satin pattern (of the set Patterns) (3).
  • Scale the texture to avoid a flat, repeatable look (3).
  • Change the Opacity if you want to modify the strength of the effect (2).

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Check the Texture of Bevel & Emboss—it will add a final gloss to the icicle.
  • Select the same Pattern as before (1).
  • Scale it to roughly fit the previous one (2).

paint icicle photoshop layer style 14

In the main settings of Bevel & Emboss:
  • Select Ring as the Gloss Contour (2).
  • Set the Shadow's Opacity to 0 (4).
  • Play with the Size to get the perfect shape of the highlights (1).
  • Change the Highlight's Opacity if you want to adjust the effect (3).

paint icicle photoshop layer style 15

If you want, you can easily add some shine using the default Outer Glow from theLayer Style.

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If you create a new Style based on what we've just done, you'll be able to reuse it as many times as you wish. Remember to create a new layer for every icicle!

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paint icicle photoshop layer style 18

Let's create a brush for heavy snow. Create a New File and use the Soft Round brush to paint four to seven fluffy dots. Make them variable in size, with big distance in between. Then go to Edit > Define Brush Preset.

photoshop digital paint snow brush 1

Now open the Brush Settings (F5). First, make the Spacing bigger to avoid jamming. The exact value will depend on the size of your brush.

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Check Shape Dynamics. Give the brush a small Minimum Diameter (the strokes will be variable in size) and big Angle Jitter (every cluster of the brush will be rotated for randomness).

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Check Scattering and choose a value that fits you. Don't make it too big or you'll lose control over the stroke.

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Check Transfer to make the brush variable in opacity.

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Test the brush in a new file. It should work like a spray. If there's something not right about it, play with the settings. Then Save the brush by clicking the white card icon at the bottom of the F5 window.

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We can use the same method to create a light snow. Create a New File and paint three dots with the Soft Round brush. Give them a big distance in between. Define Brush Preset as before.

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Give the brush a big Spacing.

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Add the Angle Jitter.

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Make the brush heavily scattered.

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Check Transfer.

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Test the brush and change the settings if necessary. Then save the brush.

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Creating the brush is relatively easy, but even the most professional brush will not give you the effect you want unless you know what effect you want exactly.

photoshop digital paint snow 1
That's certainly a scene with a falling snow, but is it what we want?

Perspective plays a big role in perceiving falling snow. Covering the whole scene with white dots isn't the way—it will make it flat and unrealistic. To make it more natural, we need to divide the scene into five areas:
  1. The background: all the layers of the snow are so thick that together they make a light wall, blending into a cloudy sky. To imitate this effect, simply cover the background with heavy mist.
  2. A bit closer to us, single snowflakes are visible. They're very thick and small, like a spray of white dots.
  3. The closer they are to us, the bigger the snowflakes appear. Because of perspective they also seem to move faster. A little bit of Motion Blur will help you imitate this effect.
  4. As we get closer, the snowflakes become very big, and not too dense, otherwise they would cover important parts of the picture. Their speed seems to be even greater, and so is the blur.
  5. This is the area right before your eyes, where one or two snowflakes are able to cover your whole vision. Use them sparingly, with very strong blur; you can also use the bokeh effect here, to pretend that some of the snowflakes have landed on the lens of the camera.

photoshop digital paint snow 2
More or less stages can also be distinguished, depending on the perspective you use

Let's create a simple scene to present the effect on. It doesn't need to be anything perfect, but just make sure that it has at least basic perspective, with the background, the foreground, and all the steps in-between. 

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Create a New Layer and paint a big white stroke with the Soft Round brush.

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Lower its Opacity so that the background is whitish rather than blue.

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Apply the Layer Mask and paint over the columns with black, so that they aren't affected by the whitening effect.

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Create a New Layer and cover the scene with dense, small snowflakes.

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Again, use the Layer Mask to cut the columns out of its influence.

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Create a New Layer and paint another layer of snow, this time bigger and less dense.

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With the layer selected, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Use a small Distance and an Angle adjusted to the strength of wind in your scene.photoshop digital paint snow 12

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Create a New Layer and paint another layer of snow, again bigger and less dense.

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Again use Motion Blur to give a sense of speed. Use a bigger Distance, and you can also change the Angle a bit to give more dynamism to the scene.

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Create a New Layer and add the last layer of snow. It's not obligatory and sometimes it covers crucial elements of the picture, so experiment with it and check if you need it.

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This layer should have the strongest blur, since it's totally out of focus. You can even add a bit of Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to strengthen this effect.

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To stress the fact that the other column is farther from us, we can add a bit of aerial perspective here caused by heavy snow. Create a New Layer and paint a big stroke with the Soft Round brush.

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Use the Layer Mask to reveal the front column.

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Lower the Opacity of the layer to give the other column a hazy look.

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You can use the same method to create a light snow, much friendlier to the actual content of your picture.

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Notice the difference between the most intuitive use of the snow brush and slightly more sophisticated methods. But doesn't this last picture look a bit odd? Such heavy snow in the air and none of it on the ground? Well, let's work on it!

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Create a New Layer above your scene. Select the ground area and Fill it with bluish gray (#d6d8e3).

paint lying snow brush quickly 1

Use the Layer Mask (or the Eraser Tool, if you're feeling lazy) to reveal the columns, defining the snow-only area.

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Fix the edges around the columns to make them more gentle.

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Now we're going to use a neat trick, available for CS5 and higher. Create a New Layerand use the Ellipse Tool (U) when holding Shift to draw a circle.

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Create a New Layer and fill it with grayish blue (#6d85ad). Use Control-Alt-G to clip it to the circle.

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Use the Soft Round brush and a brighter version of the previous color (#e5e4ec) to shade the circle and make it ball-like.

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Grab the Mixer Brush Tool (you can find it just where the Pencil tool) and change it toDry, Heavy Load. Make sure that Sample All Layers is unchecked.

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Select all the layers of the ball and Merge (Control-E) them. With the Mixer Brush Tool active, take the Soft Round brush and change its Spacing to a very low (2–4%) value. Make the stroke big enought to fit the ball inside, and then hold Alt and click firmly in the center.

paint lying snow brush quickly 8 mixer brush

Test it! If it's too slow, reduce the image's resolution or the Spacing of the brush.

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Create a New Layer. Using our new 3D brush to paint small "waves" in the background.

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Use a slightly bigger stroke for another layer...

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... and bigger for another...

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... and even bigger as we go farther...

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... until we reach the foreground.

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Clip (Control-Alt-G) the "waves" to the snow area. Reset the Mixer Brush Tool by selecting Reset Tool in its settings. Now you can use the same tool to blur the stripes left by applying a big Spacing.

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Create a New Layer and Fill it with with blue picked (I) from the sky in our scene. We're going to use it to give a more fitting color to the shadows in the snow.

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Double-click it and go to the Blend If section. We want to have the bluish shade only in dark areas, so hold Alt, grab the white marker, and drag it to the left side.

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Change the Blending Mode to Soft Light to make the bright areas brighter.

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With distance the contrast is decreasing, so we need to cover the shadows in the background with something bright. Create a New LayerFill it with any color, and then double-click it to add Gradient Overlay. Make it a white-white gradient, and make the part that's closer to us fully transparent.

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paint lying snow brush quickly 22

Pick the color of the sky, create a New Layer and paint the columns' shadows. Adjust the shape of the shadows to the 3D form of the snow.

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Change the Blending Mode to Multiply to reveal the snow beneath. Play with theOpacity, if it's too dark.

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Create a New Layer. Grab the Light Snow brush we've made before, and sprinkle the snow with tiny strokes.

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This glow of tiny crystals shouldn't be visible in the shadow, so use Blend If to fix it.

paint lying snow brush quickly 26
paint lying snow brush quickly 27

White strongly reflects every light, so a visible reflected light is going to be visible at the back of the columns. Create a New Layer and paint a slight bluish glow with the Soft Round brush.

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Use Blend If to remove the glow from the dark crevices. If the glow is too bright, change the Blending Mode to Screen and lower the Opacity.

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Create a New Layer and paint snow on the top of the columns using the Hard Roundbrush with opacity. Pick the colors from the ground.

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The sky is a bit too clear, so create a New Layer right above the background and paint a big, white stroke with the Soft Round brush.

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Lower the Opacity of this layer until the sky fits the lighting.

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You can now add falling snow to make the scene complete.

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paint lying snow brush quickly 36

Frost consists of many little ice crystals stuck together. To create a brush that imitates this effect, we'll start with a single snowflake-like structure. Create a New FileFill the background with black, add a New Layer, and draw this little star using any hard brush you like.

photoshop digital pain frost brush 1

Set the Opacity to 20%.

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Create a New Layer and sprinkle the star with white dots.

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Merge all the layers, then Invert the colors (Control-I). Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset to save it.

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Go to the Brush Settings (F5). Check Shape Dynamics and add a big Size Jitterand a bit of Angle Jitter.

photoshop digital pain frost brush 5

Add a little bit of Scattering.

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You can check Transfer, though it's not obligatory.

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Use the brush to outline the object you want to cover with frost. The bigger the object, the smaller the stroke.

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The outline isn't enough—we need the bottom layer, too! Create a New File and again fill it with black. Create a New Layer and draw these little scales:

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Change the Opacity to 40%.

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Add a New Layer and draw tiny dots to make it sparkle. Save it as we've done before.

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Give this brush a big Spacing to keep the "scales" separate.

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Check Shape Dynamics and give it similar values as before.

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Check Transfer.

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Use this brush on the body of the object.

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Start by defining the level of water according to perspective.

photoshop digital pain ice frozen lake 1

Create a New Layer, draw a rectangle with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to select the water area, and fill it with any color.

photoshop digital pain ice frozen lake 2

Use the Layer Mask or the Eraser Tool (E) to cut out the columns above the water level. It will be our Clipping Mask for the future layers.

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Duplicate (Control-J) the background, put it above the clipping mask, and clip (Control-Alt-G) it. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur—it will make the ice layer look thicker.

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The ice will have a reflection on it, and while it's very easy to reflect the background, more work is needed for the columns. Their reflection must follow the perspective! To achieve this effect, select one side with the Pen Tool (P), make a selection of it (Control-Shift-Enter), and Copy (Control-Shift-C) the content. Paste the side andEdit > Transform > Flip Vertical, and then place it on the bottom.

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Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to adjust the side to the perspective of our scene. Grab the corners while holding Control to manage them individually.

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Do the same with all the sides.

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Duplicate the background once again, clip it to the rest, and Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Place it so that it looks like a reflection of the sky, and merge (Control-E) it with the reflection of the columns.

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Go to Filter > Filter Gallery and select the Distort > Glass filter. It will give a nice texture to the surface—ice is rarely perfectly smooth!

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Select the Gradient Tool (G). Add the Layer Mask to the the reflection, and in this mode draw a black-white gradient vertically from top to bottom. It will make the area closer to us less reflective—it's a matter of the angle, and it's known as Fresnel effect.

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Change the Blending Mode of the layer to Screen and play with the Opacity if necessary.

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Use the mask of the layer to paint the columns' shadows—shadows can't reflect anything.

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Create a New Layer (still clipped) and Fill it with any color. Double-click it and give it a Pattern Overlay, with the Wrinkles pattern.

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Right-click the layer and select Rasterize Layer Style. Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) and Control-drag the corners to adjust the pattern to perspective.

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Apply Filter > Noise > Add Noise with a very small amount of noise. Add the Layer Mask and use the trick with the Gradient Tool, this time drawing it vertically from bottom to top.

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Change the Blending Mode to Soft Light and lower the Opacity.

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Create a New Layer and paint scratches.

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Double-click the layer and set Bevel & Emboss for it. Set the Fill to 0% and lower theOpacity.

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photoshop digital pain ice frozen lake water 24

You can use the method of drawing icicles to paint the border between the columns and the ice. Notice I've played with the Opacity of the style to adjust it to this lighting.

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Now we're going to use the Mixer Brush Tool again for a nice trick. Use theRectangle Tool (U) to draw a rectangle, then double-click it and apply the style below. You can also paint it manually—the goal is to have a bright top, then a bit of half-transparent white ending in a blurry way.

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photoshop digital pain ice frozen lake water 27

Use the Free Transform Tool to make the rectangle narrower. Then select it as a sample for the Mixer Brush Tool as we've done with the snow, and paint cracks in the ice. It normally occurs in deep containers, with a thick layer of ice, but it will look cool here too.

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photoshop digital pain ice frozen lake water 29

There are often air bubbles trapped in ice. Create a New File and paint a single bubble.

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Duplicate and resize the bubble to create a few of them.

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Invert (Control-I) the colors, then Edit > Define Brush Preset.

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Apply the settings as below:

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Test the brush—it should work like magic!

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Paint small bubbles here and there.

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Create a New Layer under the pattern. Fill it with light, unsaturated blue (#788c9f).

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Change the Blending Mode to Multiply. Now the water looks darker, since less light reaches the bottom.

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Our ice is done! Just look:

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This one is going to be easy:
  • Create a New File.
  • Draw three white dots on the black background; give them a big distance in-between.
  • Invert (Control-I) the colors.
  • Edit > Define Brush Preset.

photoshop digital paint hail brush 1

Give the brush a big spacing...

photoshop digital paint hail brush 2

... no Size Jitter, and a lot of Angle Jitter...

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... and a bit of Scattering. Save the brush.

photoshop digital paint hail brush 4

We can use this brush just like snow. Start with a brighter sky...

photoshop digital paint hail brush 5

... then add the farthest and smallest layer...

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... then a closer and bigger one, with a bit of blur. Remember: the direction should be almost vertical, since hail is heavy and not so easily pushed by wind.

photoshop digital paint hail brush 7

Closer, bigger, more blur...

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... and even closer, bigger, more blurry.

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We need to put some of the hail on the ground. Create a New Layer and paint a lot of hail here.

photoshop digital paint hail brush 10

Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T). Control-drag the corners to adjust the shape to perspective.

photoshop digital paint hail brush 11

Add a smaller, denser layer in the background.

photoshop digital paint hail brush 12

Clean up the columns.

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Play with the Opacity to make the balls less striking.

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You can add a few bigger balls here and there in the air.

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I hope this lesson showed you how useful Photoshop can be in automating the process of painting, and how little is needed to create a stunning effect from scratch. In the next part of this tutorial we'll take care of liquid water, and later in the series we'll move on to other elements, to draw things like lava and clouds. Stay tuned!

 

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