Photoshop Coloring Effect Tutorial

So, I've been experimenting with Photoshop today. And guess what, I came up with this coloring. So, if you're just a beginner in Photoshop and have no idea what selective coloring is, just follow this simple tutorial and you're good to go.




Now, this tutorial is merely a guide for you on how to get this coloring effect. Your end result might not be similar as mind. It all depends on the image you're using. But, there's some tips along the way you can try.

1. Open your image. Don't crop or resize just yet.

2. Duplicate the image. Set it to screen.

3. Duplicate the image again. Now, set it to overlay.

4. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. Use the settings below:
REDS: -100, 15, 84, 0
YELLOWS: -100, 0, -50, -33
NEUTRALS: 20, -10, -15, -20

5. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. Use the settings below:
REDS: -80, -30, -23, -6
YELLOWS: -87, -40, -25, -36
NEUTRALS: 44, 0, -15, 0

6. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Set the Master saturation to +15.

7. Now, take a look at your image.
If it's too bright, reduce the opacity of the screen layer created in step 2.
If it's too dark, reduce the opacity of the overlay layer created in step 3.
And here's a few steps you can follow to improve the coloring:
- Adjust the opacity of the Selective Color layer created in step 4. In this example, 100% opacity looks just fine to me.
- Adjust the opacity of the Selective Color layer created in step 5. In my case, I reduce the opacity to 36% to make it less greenish.
- You can also adjust the master saturation setting in step 6 depending on your image.

8. Now, flatten your image. CTRL+SHIFT+E. Duplicate your image.

9. Now, working with the duplicate image, go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Angled Strokes. Use the settings below:
Direction Balance: 50
Stroke Length: 3
Sharpness: 1

10. Select the Blur Tool. Set the Strength to 20%. Choose a soft round brush. In this example, my brush size is 11. Then, just brush on the part that need smoothing.

11. Now that your image is smooth and shiny, it's time to do the resizing and cropping.

12. I always like my image to look kind of yellowish. So I add one more layer. Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid color > #010618 (a very dark blue) and set this layer to exclusion.

13. Now I want to increase the red in my image. If you're satisfied with your image, you can just skip this. If not, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. For midtones only, use this setting:
+28, 0, 0

And you're done! How do you like the new coloring effect?

Stay tune for more tips on Photoshop Tutorials for beginners