Source HERE

Create a Flowing Liquid Stream Metallic 3D Text Effect in Photoshop

version 1 

version 2 

Ok Let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stock:

3D Text PSD File

Metal Texture (you need to create an account first before downloading)

Water Splash Brush

Step 1

Load the 3D Text PSD File into Photoshop (I created those letter in Illustrator) – you will have four letters, each on a separate layer:

Apply the following layer blending options to each letter:

Drop Shadow

 Gradient Overlay

Merge all texts into one layer, and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

We’re now onto the texturing part. Add then following layer mask on the text layer with a soft eraser tool:

here is the effect after applying the layer mask on text layer:

Load the selection of the text layer, then move the selection onto the metal texture you downloaded: (see screenshot below for instruction)

Copy a portion of the metal texture with our selection:

 

Copy and paste the texture onto the text, set the layer blending mode of this texture layer to be “overlay”. Then duplicate this texture once and you will have the following effect:

As you can, because we add the layer mask on the original text layer, we now have some shadows under the text:

Add a black and white image adjustment layer on top of all previous layer:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

Create a new layer and use a soft black brush to paint some dark parts around the text: (set layer blending mode to color burn, with layer opacity 50%)

Load the water splash brush into Photoshop, paint some water around the text on a new layer:

you can use the Warp Tool to warp the water splash and create a flow/stream effect:

 After warping, use a soft eraser to remove unnecessary bits around the edge:

 Duplicate the warped water stream layer a few more times, scatter them around the canvas, make sure you alter their layer opacity to create some depth for the overall image:

Step 4

I decided to give the text a bit of dark brown effect, similar to the color scheme of “Heavy Rain” game cover. So go ahead and add the following Curves adjustment layer on top of all previous layer:

 and here is the effect so far:

Step 5

We’re almost done! For some final touch-ups, flatten the image and duplicate the background layer, apply the following smart sharpen filter to it:

Add the following layer mask on this sharpened layer to hide some part of it: (we don’t want the whole text image to be sharpened)

 Duplicate this sharpened layer once and apply the Liquify Filter (Forward Warp Tool) on the text, just go crazy with it and create some random pattern as shown below:

Change the blending mode of this liquify layer to “color dodge”, and you will have the following effect:

I further added some colours on top with color balance adjustment layer and some soft brushes. I decided not to show the exact colour here and instead, I would like you to experiment with different colour scheme, and see what sort of results that will bring you.
Here are my two versions of final effect: (click to enlarge)

Version 1

version 2 

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful! 

Till next time, have a great day!

Non-destructively Sharpen Your Image

"Non-DESTRUCTIVELY SHARPEN IMAGES "

LINK HERE 
Skill level : Basics  <

In this tutorial, I will show you how to Non-destructively Sharpen Your Image, as a result bring out more photo details in Photoshop. You can apply this method to any image and you will be amazed by the result. Plus it is done in a non-destructive way, without damaging the original image.

This is a beginner level tutorial and the steps are very easy to follow. 

OK let’s get started!

Have a try :)

Step 1

Download this image here and load it into Photoshop – firstly we want to duplicate the background layer once (always a good habit when it comes to image editing):

Go to “Channels” (View > Channels) and add a new Alpha Channel:

Then, hit CTRL + A and select the entire canvas 

Go to the new Alpha Channel, copy and paste the selection onto our Alpha Channel:

STEP 2 

Go to the FILTER > STYLIZE > FIND EDGE and find the edges of the image on Alpha Channel 

and here is the effect after THE FIND EDGES FILTER applied

Images > Adjusments> levels 

Apply the following Levels adjustment settings: (You can experiment with different values – the ultimate goal is to obtain as much contrast as possible)

Apply the following Gaussian Blur to blur the edges slightly:

You can apply the levels adjustment again to increase the contrast a bit for this Alpha Channel:

And here is the effect on the Alpha Channel:

Step 3

Load the selection on the Alpha 1 channel by holding down the Ctrl key and Left-click here:

Press Ctrl + Shift + I and inverse the selection:

Click on the “Layer 1″ layer and go back to the image, you will see the channel selection is still visible:

Hit Ctrl + J and duplicate this selection into a new layer, turn off the background and “layer 1″ layer, and you will see the following effect:

Step 4

We’re almost done! On this newly duplicated layer, apply the following Unsharp Mask settings: (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask)

Hit Ctrl + F and apply this unsharp mask filter again, then apply the Fade Unsharp Mask option once:

and you will have the following effect so far:

Turn the original photo layer back on and you will see the image becomes clearer and contains more details. Here is the before and after effect for various parts of the image:

Hair and Decorations

Before

After

Face and Eyes

Before

After

Skirt

Before

After

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful :) 

Till next time, have a great day!