Image in Snow Photoshop

For this tutorial, we are going to use a snowy background image and one or some of the “Vector Shapes” included in Photoshop.

1 - In Photoshop, open your background image. Go to your “Toolbar” and select the “Custom Shape Tool” (U), then go to your “Options” menu on top and click on the “Shape” menu. Click on the little gear icon on the top right to load more shapes and choose “Nature” from the drop-down menu, then, click “Append” when prompted. There are some nice snowflakes there (you can explore the other packs and choose the shape you prefer).

2 - Once you choose your shape drag your cursor on top of your image to draw your shape. It’s better to do this while holding the “Shift” key so your shape will be proportioned. Then, you can hit Command/Control + T to use the “Transform Tool” and rotate it a bit. Hit “Enter/Return” when you are satisfied with your shape.

3 - Select your “Brush Tool” (B) and choose the “Spatter 59 pixels” brush in the “Brush Piker” window. Then go to the “Brush Panel” and lower the “Spacing” to 1%. In “Shape Dynamics” set the “Size”, “Angle” and “Roundness” Jitter values to 100%. In “Scattering” check the “Both Axes” box and set the value to 55%, the “Count” to 1% and the “Count Jitter” to 100%. And in “Texture” choose the “Clouds” pattern and set the “Scale” to 120%, the “Mode” to “Subtract” and the “Depth” to 60%.

4 - You can save the brush for future use by going to the menu in the upper left corner and choosing “New Brush Preset” and giving it a name.

5 - Go to the “Paths” menu and with your shape selected with the “Path Selection Tool” (A) click on the “Load path as selection” button at the bottom of the “Paths” menu and the click the “Create a new path with selection” button next to it.

6 - With the new “Work Path” selected go to the “Layers” menu and create a “New Layer” (Shift + Command/Control + N) and name it “Snow”. Right-click on your path and choose “Make Selection”, click OK, then hit Shift + F5 and fill the selection with the “Foreground” color.

7 - Add a “Mask” to your “Snow” layer by clicking on the “Add Layer Mask” button at the bottom of the “Layers” menu.

8 - Now, making sure your “Work Path” is active (you will see the path line around your shape), select the “Brush Tool” (B) and click the “Enter/Return” key two or three times.

Increase the size of the brush and then hit “Enter/Return” again a couple of times. Keep doing this until you are satisfied. You can hide and unhide the path by clicking Command/Control + H to check your results.

9 - Double-click on your “Snow” layer and apply some “Layer Styles:

Bevel & Emboss: Shadow Mode color # 3e729d

Gradient Overlay:

Drop Shadow: #ffffff

10 - Check your image:

(You can do this with text too. Just remember to convert it to a “Smart Objet” or “Rasterize” your text first).

by @lornacane