Tutorial Tuesday - Easy Color Tinting Effect

First post of 2010!! Wow. When I see 2010 written down it seems so futuristic, right? I feel like I should be able to look outside my window and see some flyinf cars and blue people. Okay, if I want to see those things I can just go and see "Avatar" again (which I LOVED).

Why not start the year out with a new tutorial. This is a versatile action that can be used on both color and black and white photos to give them a unique and totally personalized look. You'll see what I mean :)

1. Open a photo in Photoshop. I am using Elements 5.0 for this tutorial, but it will work the same in any version. I am also using a color photo. I like using this effect with color, and you'll see why in a second. This was a shot out my backyard of the giant snowflakes falling. It's not a masterpiece, but it will work for my example. Now, you will click on the "Create A New Layer" icon on your layers palette (it's the square with the dog earred corner) to create a new blank layer on top of your original.

2.Now click once on your foreground color square (it's the top one) and a little screen will pop up. On this screen, you can move your mouse anywhere on the screen and select a color. You can click on the rainbow color strip to choose literally ANY color in the rainbow. Play around and choose a color that you'd like to tint your photo with.

3. I chose a kind of light brown color. Click OK when you are happy with the color. Don't worry - you can change the color later, if you don't like it!

4. Nothing happened! I know, just click on the paint bucket tool on the tools palette (it's the one that looks like - GASP - a paint bucket). Then click once on top of your photo. This will fill that new layer you created with the solid color you chose in the previous step.

5. Your image will be completely covered with the color. Don't worry, if you look to the bottom right of the screen, you'll see that your photo is still the same, there is just a color layer covering it.

6. Here is the magic step. Click on the blending mode (the drop down menu that says "Normal") and select "Color".

7. Voila! Your photo will reappear, only it will be tinted the color your chose! I like to play with the opacity of the color layer to bring back some of the color of the original photo. When you like the effect - flatten and save! If you find that you don't really like the color - just repeat steps 2-6, choosing a different color instead. You can get unlimited different effects this way. Have fun playing!

Here was the original photo:

Here are some variations:

Have fun playing! And remember, I'd love to see YOUR creations!