Quick Tip: How to Create a Metallic Text Effect Using Layer Styles in Photoshop

In this tutorial, we will explain how to create a metallic text effect using layer styles in Photoshop. Let's get started!

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

• Strasua Font
• Black Pattern

Step 1

First of all install the .pat file named black_pattern_by_fluctuemos-d5mermc.pat. You have to double click the icon. It's that simple.

Step 2

Create a new document. Set width to 600px and height to 450. Resolution must be 72 DPI.

Step 3

Duplicate the background (Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer > OK) and rename the new layer as 'Background Pattern.'

Step 4

Double click on 'Background Pattern' and the 'Layer Style' window will appear. Go to 'Pattern Overlay', select 'PATTERN' from the list and press OK.

Step 5

To make the background look even better we are going to add inner shadow. You have to double click on 'Background Pattern' and, once the Layer Style window appears, set the following values.

Step 6

Type the word 'Metalkid' or a text of your choice using Strasua font. Set the font size to 100 pt and tracking to 20. For best quality, change the anti-aliasing mode to Sharp.

Step 7

Using the 'Move Tool', select the text and background layer, then click the align commands: 'Align Horizontal Center' and 'Align Vertical Center' on the top menu to center it, as shown in the image below.

Step 8

Add a layer style to the text, you have to right click on the layer in your layers menu and choose Blending Options. Make sure you use the following values and press OK.

Step 9

Let's start with the text effect! First we are going to add some shadows to separate the text from the background. Go to Layer Style > Drop Shadow and use the values shown in the image below.

Step 10

Now we are going to create a gradient overlay, it will give a base to the metal effect. Go to Layer Style and modify 'Gradient Overlay' setting the following values.

Tip: To create a new point in the gradient you have to click under the gradient bar. Clicking each one of the color stops allows you to modify Location and Color.

Step 11

Go to Layer Style > Inner Glow and use the settings shown below to brighten up the edges.

Step 12

To start creating the 3D look go to Layer Style > Bevel & Emboss and use the following values.

Step 13

Now we are going to emphasize lights and shadows to give more realism to the metal effect. Go to Layer Style > Satin and use the settings shown below.

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Step 14

It's almost done. In this final step we are going to accentuate edges and corners, giving the text the 3D final look. Go to Layer Style > Stroke, and use the values shown in the image below.

Final Image

Create a Magma Hot Text Effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial, we will explain how to create a magma hot text effect using layer styles and textures in Photoshop. Let's get started!

Buy This Text Effect

Interested in getting your hands on the Photoshop layer style to let you apply this effect (and several others) straight away? Take a look at the Chrome & Fire Layer Style pack on Envato Market.

It contains the effect featured in this tutorial, as well as several others, and it's a great way to get started quickly!

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

• Smoke photography
• Sparkles by cgtextures.com (choose image 1)
• Magma Texture (included in the download file)
• Background Texture (included in the download file)

Step 1

First of all Open The "Background Texture" with Photoshop, then using the Type Tool (T) write your text. For this tutorial I've used the font Helvetica LT Std, but you can apply these techniques using any other font or shape. To achieve the same result as mine, create the text using the font Helvetica LT Std. In the Character panel Window > Character, change the Size to 425 pt and the kerning to -25.

Step 2

Note that the letter "D" is still a bit close to the letter "S", to fix that, place the Type Tool cursor between the letters "D" and "S", then change the Kerning value to -305. The distance between letters must be consistent.

Step 3

Double-click on the thumbnail of the Layer "PSD" to open the Layer Style panel. Apply these effects.

Step 4

Duplicate this Layer with Command/Ctrl + (J), right-click on the Layer's thumbnail and choose "Clear Layer Style". This way the text below matches exactly the one above, and now we can add more effects.

Step 5

Place the "Magma Texture" into the document, behind the text, and modify it using the following Gradient Map. It is an Adjustment Layer that you can find under Window > Adjustments. Apply this gradient only to the texture.

Step 6

Be sure the texture is just above the background in the Layers Panel, then change the Blending Mode of the Layer to Linear Dodge (Add) and its Opacity to 36%. This will intensify the colors and the details of the background. Erase the edges using a big soft Brush (B) with hardness 0%, to have the brighter area just below the Text.

Step 7

Select the two "PSD" Text Layers, right-click and choose "Convert into Smart Object". Create a new Layer "Shadows" and with the use of the Brush Tool (B) add some shadows below the text: use a black Brush Tool (B) with hardness 0% and size around 280px.

Step 8

Now add some orange bright spots using again the Brush Tool (B), apply a Gaussian blur, change the Blend Mode to "Linear Dodge (Add)" and its Opacity to around 45%.

Step 9

Select the "PSD" Smart Object, Duplicate it, call it "Smudged Layer" and finally Rasterize it (right-click > Rasterize). We're going to blur the edges of the text, where is hot and burning. We'll use the Smudge Tool (R), 30% strength, with a circular brush with hardness 0%. Smudge the edges like they’re melting/blurred.

Step 10

Continue smudging this Layer, follow the texture's shape, don"t apply randomly. Use a bigger "Smudge" (R) for orange areas. Add some contrast with a "Curves" Adjustment Layer.

Step 11

Create a New Layer and with a black Brush (B), hardness 0%, draw some shadows over the text. Finally reduce the Opacity of this Layer down to 40%

Step 12

Add some orange lights, the same way we previously created some shadows. This time set the blending options "Color Dodge" and we use a bright orange color. Use the Gaussian Blur under Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to get these soft initial tones.

Step 13

Add some highlights on top, paint with a soft white Brush, then set their Blending Options to Overlay

Step 14

Now Place the Smoke texture, remove color by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (Shift + Command/Ctrl + U). Adapt it to the text by removing unnecessary parts using the Eraser Tool, and deforming with the Warp Tool (Command/Ctrl + T). It's very important to set the Blending Mode to "Screen" of every smoke image, to hide their blacks. Use also Levels (Command/Ctrl + L) to increase or decrease the contrast and the Smudge Tool for final touches.

Step 15

Continue adding more photos of Smoke to the composition: deform and smudge, this part is mostly experimental. Continue experimenting until you get a satisfying result. Place this photo of sparkles into the document.

Step 16

Switch the Blending Mode of the Sparkles Layer to "Color Dodge", then using a Layer Mask delete the some areas, specially the ones outside the letters, because we don't need as many.

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Step 17

Below you can see the Layer Mask (on the left) and the final effect (on the right), with Sparkles Layer in Color Dodge Mode and with a Layer Mask applied to it. To view a Layer Mask Alt + click on its thumbnail.

Final Image

Create a Dark, Emotional Deer Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

Learn how to create a dark, emotional deer photo manipulation in Photoshop. In this tutorial you’ll learn how you can combine different stock images into a cohesive scene to create a magical and emotional forest scene for deer. You’ll also learn how you can practice adjustments layers, masking, creating light effects and shadows and much more.

Note: I am using Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 for this tutorial but you can use any version of Photoshop to follow this tutorial.

TUTORIAL RESOURCES

•  Forest
• Nebula
• Starry Texture
• Deer
• Raven and Crow PSD

SETTING UP THE BACKGROUND

STEP 1

Start by creating a new document by selecting File > New and set the setting as shown in the image below.

STEP 2

Place the forest image to the main document by selecting File > Place Embedded or Place and then place it into the main document. Also, resize it a little bit so it resembles to below image.

STEP 3

If you’ve read my Photoshop Filters tutorial then you’ll probably remember that I’ve said Gaussian Blur filter is also used to add depth to photos. We are accomplishing it right now by adding depth to forest image. To do this, convert the forest image into a smart object (right-click on it and choose to Convert to Smart Object) and then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius value as shown in the image below.

STEP 4

Activate the Brush tool by pressing (B) on the keyboard. Choose a soft round black brush. Set it’s opacity and flow about 30% then start hiding the selected effect by painting on the layer mask of Gaussian Blur filter.

Here we’ve depth added to the scene.

STEP 5

Make a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment layers > Brightness/Contrast) to forest image as clipping mask (red one) to reduce brightness of forest.

STEP 6

Use a Color Balance adjustment layer to add some blue tones to the forest.

Here are the results.

STEP 7

Use the Selective Color adjustment layer to reduce yellow tones from the forest.

Here are the results.

ADDING THE NEBULA

STEP 8

Add the nebula image to the scene and resize it as shown in the image below so it can cover the entire canvas.

Set the blend mode of Nebula image to Screen and reduce the opacity to 33%. Here are the results and as you can see by adding the nebula image we’ve little bit magical effect added to the scene.

STEP 9

Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to match the color of nebula to the rest of the background.

Create a Double Exposure Effect in Photoshop (Easy 11 Steps)

In this Photoshop tutorial I’ll show you how to create a double exposure effect in Photoshop. The double exposure effect can be achieved through combining multiple stock images, experimenting with blend modes and using adjustment layers. We’ll also learn how to make transition between multiple images and blending them nicely using the layer mask. Follow the tutorial and find out more about it.

TUTORIAL RESOURCES

• Old Man
• City
• Birds

Open up the Photo

STEP 1

Create a new document in Photoshop with the following settings:

STEP 2

Place the old man to the main document and place it as shown below. I’m using this old man image for this tutorial, but feel free to choose your own. You can also use the image like a silhouette or almost dark, so the blend mode gives you the effect.

Also, make sure whichever image you are using, it should have a solid background that means no details on the background.

STEP 3

As a said, we should use the image which has neutral background, but using images from free sites always have some issues. In my case the background is solid, but it is not white.
To fix this, use a Curves adjustment layer to increase the lightness of the background.

The aim here is to whiten the background so the city, which we are going to add later, will be only visible on the old man not on his background. You can add an adjustment layer by clicking on the third icon at the bottom of the layer panel.

Results:

STEP 4

Since we have applied the effect to the entire image and obviously, it will affect the many other parts which we don’t want. The better solution of this is to mask the effect over the image where we don’t want. Remember to leave the brighten effect on the hair as we need some lights here in order to create the light effect.

On the layer mask of Curves, mask the effect on the selected parts. Because we’ve applied the Curves for the background not for the old man. Use a soft round basic black brush for masking.

Here we’ve the white background:

Here you can compare the before and after results:

Create the Double Exposure Effect

STEP 5

In this step, we’ll create the double exposure effect by adding the city image and then blending it properly using blending modes. Also, this step can be experimental for you as well like you can try adding different photos here to see which photo gives you the best results. So feel free to choose the images which you like and this can be a city, creek, forest and any image.

Place the city image to the main document. Use the Transform Tool (CTRL +T) to enlarge it and make it fit nicely into the main document like shown below.

Change the blend mode of the city layer to Screen.

Here we’ve our double exposure effect:

STEP 6

This step is to enhance the effect which we have created so far. We’ll make the image more surrealistic by revealing the beard of the old man.

Add a Layer Mask to city image. Activate the Brush Tool (B). Set its opacity and flow about 30%. Now mask the highlighted parts of city image as shown below to reveal the old man’s beard and some face parts. This will create a surreal effect like his beard hanging over the road. If you want, you can also go for revealing other parts as well.

Try to achieve a smooth transition between the old man and city image. Don’t rush it and do it patiently.

Results:

ADD THE BIRDS

STEP 7

Create a new layer and name it ‘birds’. Load the bird brushes and paint some birds as shown below. Feel free to paint them wherever you want to.

Reduce the opacity of birds layer to 60% and fade them into the lights of the city. This will also help us to blend the birds with lights which we are going to create in the next step.

After reducing opacity:

CREATE THE LIGHT EFFECT

STEP 8

Create a new layer and name it ‘light’. Set the foreground color to #5a4119. Now using a soft round brush, paint some lights as shown below. Do use a bigger brush for painting the light.

Set the blending mode of the light layer to Linear Dodge and reduce its opacity to 69%.

Final Adjustments

STEP 9

Make a Color Balance adjustment layer and make some colors adjustment. Only change the value of Midtones.

Results:

STEP 10

Add a Selective Color adjustment layer and enhance the red colors tones.

Results:

STEP 11

Finally, use Color Lookup adjustment layer and choose the Tension Green file.

Set the opacity of the Color Lookup to 70%.

Here are the final results:

Layer panel arranged:

Conclusion

Thanks for following the tutorial. In order to create a double exposure effect, try to experiment with images, blend them using blend modes and adjustment layers like you have already seen in the above mentioned steps. Do share, like, tweet if you really like it and feel free to let me know if need any help. Have a great day!