We take you step by step in our tutorial for making a moon in Photoshop to fit neatly into a night’s sky. This could be part of a photo composite, for example, when turning day into night.

Step 1 – Form an oval selection

Open a blank document using square dimensions of 20 x 20cm and set Resolution to 250 pixels/inch. Start a new layer and use the Elliptical Marquee tool to create a circular selection in the centre of your canvas.

Step 2 – Apply Clouds filter

Make sure your Foreground swatch is black and your Background swatch is white. With the selection active, go to Filter>Render>Clouds. This mixes white and black together in a random but soft pattern.

Step 3 – Adjust Brightness/Contrast

Head to the Image menu and down to Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. Boost the Contrast slider up to around 80 and the Brightness slider to just over 20. This will increase the strength of the highlights and shadows in the Clouds filter.

Step 4 – Spherize

Now go into the Filter menu and under Distort select Spherize. This makes the moon appear rounded. Set the Mode to Normal and Amount to around 70%.

Step 5 – Layer Style 1

At this point it’s worth selecting the Background and pressing Ctrl/Cmd+I to turn it to black. Double-click on the moon’s layer to open the Layer Styles dialog. Apply the Outer Glow style set to white and give it a Normal blend mode. Set Opacity to 60% and boost Size to 200px to create a soft, gradual glow from the moon’s surface.

Step 6 – Layer Style 2

Staying inside the Layer Style menu, add the Inner Glow option. Set its colour to black and lower Opacity to 50%. Set Technique: Softer, Choke to 0% and Size to 130px. Mode needs to be set to Normal. Hit OK to apply these two layer styles.

Step 7 – Paint white clouds

Create a new blank layer and then Ctrl/Cmd-click on the thumbnail of the moon’s layer to reselect its outline. Select the Brush tool and set Hardness to 0%, Opacity to 70%, its colour to white and Diameter to 300px. Paint over the surface of the moon to increase the size of the white areas as well as reducing the black spots to grey. When you’re done, select all your layers and go to Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Object. Now you can drag and drop this into a composition, while being able to re-edit the moon whenever you need to.

Apply Image can produce variations of contrast that other adjustments just aren’t able to offer. This particular method may not be the most commonly practised one, but it certainly shouldn’t be dismissed.

Apply Image uses the Channels in an image to alter which colours are affected. Just like many effects performed in Photoshop, we need to start with a duplicated Background layer. The Apply Image option can’t be applied as an adjustment layer, so creating a duplicate Background layer lets us remove the effect later on. Drag the Background layer onto the Create New Layer button.

Move to the Image menu and down to Apply Image. Inside the pop-up options there is a list of Channels and a separate one of Blending Options. Set the blending mode to Soft Light, and then flick through the three Red, Green and Blue Channels to see the image take on different moods.

There are quite a few techniques you can call upon when it comes to converting an image to monochrome. One of our favourite methods includes using the Channel Mixer adjustment layer. This is especially useful if the Black & White adjustment isn’t part of your inventory.

The Channel Mixer gives control over the individual RGB values, allowing for the finest tweaks to certain areas of the image for emphasis.

Step 1 – Load adjustment

We want to be able to edit the adjustment over and over again, so load the Channel Mixer as an adjustment layer. You can do this from the Layer menu via New Adjustment Layer, or by using the small circle button in the Layers palette.

Step 2 – Remove colour

Initially the Channel Mixer is designed to alter colour in the image. If you’re working with a greyscale image, this option won’t actually be available. To kick start the conversion process, tick the Monochrome box. The Output Channel now reads Gray.

Step 3 – Tweak channels

The auto black and white effect made by pressing Monochrome is an improvement from using the Image>Adjustments>Desaturate method. By tweaking each Channel only slightly, we were able achieve a good black and white conversion with stronger details in the car and greenery.

One rule when using the adjustment is that the Total value must end up at 100%, but for monochrome this isn’t the case. It just so happened that after creating the effect, our Total ended up at 120%.

There are many ways to hoick up the colour in your images but one of the easiest methods is using the Sponge tool.

Found in the Toolbar, co-habiting with the Dodge and Burn tools, and it enables you to increase or decrease the saturation of an image. The benefit of using the Sponge tool is that you literally brush the edit on. This gives you great control and is brilliant for images with lots of little areas that need some saturation help here and there, but which don’t warrant a full-on Hue/Saturation command.

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Open up your image and go to Layer>Duplicate. Click the Sponge tool from the toolbar, scoot up to the Options bar and click the Brush icon. Pick a large, soft brush (we went for 800px), make sure Saturate is selected from the Mode menu and set Flow to 100%. Brush over the entire image in one go.

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Things are already looking better, but we can do more. Pick the Magic Wand and set the Tolerance to 67. Click in the sky – all of it should be selected (if not, hold down Shift and click the missing areas to add). Click back on the Sponge tool and set Flow to 50%. Brush over the selected sky in one go.

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Go to Select>Inverse to select the buildings and water, then set the Flow to 20%. Brush over this area to brighten it a touch. The more times you go over an area, the more intense the saturation is.

Everyone has images that need some help in the colour or contrast department. Usually Levels or Curves would be the tools of choice but the next time you need to edit a tonally-challanged image, try the Photo Filter command instead.

See how it works below.

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It might be that you want to apply one of the filters to the entire image, in which case just open up the command, pick a colour and press OK. We want to be a bit more selective, though. Go to Layer>Duplicate Layer and name this layer Copy.

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Time to start carving up the image. Pick the selection tool of your choice (we chose Magnetic Lasso) and select an area (in our case, the sky). Go to Edit>Copy and then Edit>Paste and call the new layer Sky.

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Repeat the selection process for the other areas (ours were the sea, the grass areas and the brickwork of the lighthouse). Before making a selection, make sure you click on the Copy layer.

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Click on a layer and then go to Image>Adjustments>Photo Filter (Photoshop) or Filter>Adjustments>Photo Filter (Elements). We clicked the Sky layer to increase the blue.

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Make sure that the Filter circle is selected in the dialog and then pick Cyan from the drop-down menu. The Preserve Luminosity option is usually best left checked, as it keeps the highlight information, but we are unchecking it as we have white areas. Move the Denisty slider to set the intensity of the colour.

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We settled on a Density setting for the sky. Click OK to exit the Photo Filter dialog and then click on another layer. We picked our grass area. Open the Photo Filter as before. This time we picked Green and kept Preserve Luminosity checked. A setting of 50% was enough.

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Now onto the body of the lighthouse. When making the colour edits, try to enhance what is already there. In the case of our brickwork, we went for the Deep Red filter, at 29%.

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We have concentrated on the supplied colours but if you click on Color instead of Filter and then click the coloured square, you will see a picker. Simply click on the colour you want to use  as your filter. We applied this to the Sea layer.

Focal points are essential in any successful photo. If you haven’t got somewhere for the viewer’s eye to hook on, they just end up looking all round before looking away.

However, there are forces that conspire against this dream of a strong focal point. These might be background distractions, awkward colours or poor composition – anything that fights with your focal point to be the centre of attention. You could deal with these by employing some heavy Clone Stamp tool justice, or selecting your focal point and using a new background. Or you could follow these easy steps for nearly instant results.

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Open your image and duplicate it. Select the Custom Shape tool, ensure the Shape Layers icon is selected in the Options bar and click the down arrow next to where it says Shape to open the Custom Shape Picker. Select the Square Thin Shape and draw around your focal point.

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Press Ctrl/Cmd+T to alter the size/angle of the frame or just double-click its layer to bring up the Layer Styles. Select Drop Shadow and stick to the default settings. Click OK. Click the eye icon to turn off the top two layers, click your original photo layer and open Hue/Saturation. Drag the Saturation slider to the left to darken.

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When you have dulled the layer down, click the eye icons to make all layers visible. Ctrl/Cmd-click in the frame’s Vector Mask thumbnail to select it. Go to Select>Inverse. Click on the duplicate layer and then select the Eraser tool. Set the brush to a suitable size and erase around the edges of the frame. Your focal point will be lovely and colourful, with any distractions dealt with.

How annoying is it when the sky in a beautiful vista turns out white? Very! The solution to this in Photoshop relies on one very useful fill layer. Here’s how to turn a white sky into a more natural blue one.

Step 1 – Make a selection

If you have to tackle with trees in your landscape, select the Magic Wand tool and untick the Contiguous box in the Options bar. Set Tolerance to around 40 and click once on the sky. The gaps in the branches should be selected. Continue to click the sky to make sure it’s all part of the effect.

Step 2 – Edit using Quick Mask mode

Hit Q to assess the selection in Quick Mask mode. If needed, use the Eraser and Brush tools to add or remove areas that have overflowed into the foreground to tidy up the selection. Hit Q to exit Quick Mask mode.

Step 3 – Add Gradient fill

When you’re happy with the selection go to Layer>New Fill Layer>Gradient. In the adjustment set the colour of the gradient to blue (8edeff) at one end and transparent for the other. Hit Reverse if the gradient is upside down and use a Scale that best suits your image (50% was used here). 90 Degrees should do the trick for the Angle and hit OK. Ctrl/Cmd+D to remove the selection and it’s all done.

With just three layers, this retro photo effect can be applied to any image. Notice a touch of grain helps to age the image, with light leak around the edges for extra impact.

Step 1 (Layer 1) – Discolour your image

Make a blank new layer and set its blend mode to Vivid Light and with 50% Opacity. No changes will be visible just yet, but set your Foreground swatch to a pastel pink (ffb0b0). Hit OK to set this as the Foreground colour, and then hit Alt/Opt+Backspace to fill the layer. The image will have a slight colouration applied.

Step 2 (Layer 2) – Paint in light leak

Add another blank layer and change its blend mode to Color Burn. Set your Foreground swatch to a bright orange (ffb321) and use a large, soft brush to paint around the edges of the image to form the light leak. Lower the Brush tool’s Opacity down to 70-80% for a more subtle effect.

Step 3 (Layer 3) – Add grain

To complete this three-layered effect, add the final blank layer and this time fill it with white (Edit>Fill). Change the layer’s blend mode to Multiply and go to Filter>Texture>Grain. Choose Enlarged for the Grain Type and try using an Intensity of 60 and Contrast of 50 (this will vary depending on the image). Hit OK and you should now have something that looks like the following…

We’re going to show you how you can quickly and easily add colour effects to your photos to give a modern look. Our start image is from www.sxc.hu and the image can be found here.

Step 1: Prepare to paint
First, duplicate your Background image. Create a new blank layer at the top of the Layers stack and click on the Color Picker.

Step 2: Pick a colour
Choose a nice bright colour to start you off. We have gone for a red. Then, with a large soft brush, begin painting over the top left corner of your image, covering about a third of the photo.

Step 3: More colours
Continue painting colours on your photo until it is completely covered with any colours that you like.

Step 4: Soft light
Set the layer to Soft Light mode, and you will see that the colours are better blended in with the image. However, at this stage, the edges between each colour are two harsh.

Step 5: Blur
Make sure that your colour layer is selected and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to the maximum 250 pixels and click OK. This will blend the colour together.

Step 6: Soften the effect
You could leave the image as it is, but if you want to make the effect less strong, then select your duplicated photo layer and go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate. And we’re done!

HDR photo effects are extremely popular in digital design and photo editing images. Photoshop has a few neat tricks and replicating this  HDR effect, and really make your photo-based images pop. You can really create attention-grabbing exposures, maximising highlights and shadows. You’ll achieve this by applying blending modes and Photoshop filters, personalising effects with opacity levels. It takes no time at all. Here’s how.

//Step 1: Shadow/Highlight layer

Open your image, selecting Image>Adjustments>Shadows/Highlights, activating Show More Options. Set Shadow as:  Amount 55%, Tonal Width 55% and Radius 45px. Set Highlights as: Amount 65%, Tonal Width 65% and Radius 45%. Duplicate your Shadow/Highlights treated layer and add a Color Dodge mode. Duplicate your Shadow/Highlights layer again, applying a Color Burn blending mode.

//Step 2: Adjust opacity

Tweak layer opacity to get variant result that suits you – in most cases set Opacity between 30-80% for both blending mode layers. Merge all layers into a single new layer (Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E), applying an Overlay blending mode. Hide all other layers bar this and your background layer.

//Step 3: Smart Sharpen

Duplicate your Overlay layer and Invert it (Cmd/Ctrl+I), setting 20-30% Opacity. Merge all into a single new layer, hiding all bar this and background as before, and duplicate. Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen this. Set the sharpened layer Opacity between 40-60%. Press Cmd/Ctrl+U, and play with the Hue/Saturation settings.