Definition of frustrating: trying to re create sin city rain and having to trawl through a bunch of useless tutorials that just say the same thing over and over again! Never fear loyal readers, I have perfected the perfect sin city rain effect.
Here’s the first lot of rain that I came up with using all the tutorials that I found online:

Basically the formula for this rain is as follows:

New layer> Fill 50% grey
Filter>Add Noise>Add Noise, Amount 400%, Gaussian, monochrome
Transform: 500% with the little link button pressed.
Filter>Blur>Motion Blur, angle 75, distance …

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to achieve the Quick  Antique Colouring effect, that you can find in my latest group of actions.

 
1.  If you have retouched the image and made density corrections, press crtl-shift-alt-E to make a merged copy of the image.
If you are working from the original image, press crtl-J. Name this layer Softlight.

 
2. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and apply with a radius between 5 px – 10px .

 
3. Change the blend mode of the Softlight layer to Softlight.

4. Open the Layer Style Palette and …

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to achieve the High Contrast effect, that you can find in my latest group of actions.

1.  If you have retouched the image and made density corrections, press crtl-shift-alt-E to make a merged copy of the image, then press crtl-J to create another copy.
If you are working from the original image, press crtl-J twice.
Name the first copied layer Black & White and the second Soft Light.

2. Turn off the Soft Light layer. Select the layer Black & White and press crtl-shift-U to …

Hello loyal readers of my blog , I have launched a set of AllyKatDesign Actions to make photoshopping your images a little bit easier, especially if you’re like me and want everything NOW!

A couple of the actions are set up for a flattened image, while others will work on a layered file, which means that you can make all the “beauty” adjustments for instance first, then use the action as a finishing touch. All the actions also put all the layers into a folder, so that you can go …

Hey everyone, sorry that its been so long between updates, so I’ve decided to make this a good one ^_^
For a while now I have been fascinated with the style of Jill Greenburg. Such beautiful emotive portraits, set against beautiful backgrounds.
After studying the key elements of her portraits, now its time to unlock the secrets. If you look at her work, the backgrounds are usually one colour lit with a spotlight an the people have been photoshopped to varying degrees of glowyness.
So this is what we want to retain when …

Dave Hill is one photographer that I have a lot of awe for. I love the way he creates his images. Some people may say that they are too stylised or cartoonish but after trying to recreate his work, I found that its a lot of work! Even a lot of the tutorials that are around don’t come close to what he does. I believe that I may have cracked it the Dave Hill secret finally. I do welcome feedback in regards to what I have created.
Here are the two …

Today I finally set up my second monitor for my computer.
A bit of a kerfuffle as I needed to get a DVI To SVGA/VGA adapter in order to plug it into my graphics card. Half hour wait at the computer shop got me the adapter and I was on my way home to set it up.
The second problem that I ran into was the fact that the new monitor calibration was completely out. :S I tried calibrating it visually – nearly but no dice! So I went to the trusty …

In part 1 of editing with blending modes, we had a look at adjusting density using screen and multiply modes, now we are going to look at how to change the look of a photo using gaussian blur, blend modes and the blend if grey sliders.
Using the blend modes to adjust density
High Key Glows
Step 1
Correct the density and any flaws in the photo.
Step 2
Duplicate the layer and go to filter>blur>gaussian blur. Use a radius of 10px to 30px, depending on the resolution of the photo and the desired effect.
For the …

Blend modes in photoshop are a wonderful thing that can do so much for a photo. The best thing is that you can use them as a quick fix for editing the density of a photo or for adding extra depth.
I thought I’d do a quick run through of a few different techniques using just the blend modes, layers and maybe season with a filter. All these techniques take moments to do but are very rewarding.
Using the blend modes to adjust density
Making a photo lighter
Step 1
Duplicate the background layer
Step 2
Change …