Photoshop Dither Effect Tutorial
In this Photoshop Tutorial I will show you how to create an interesting Dither effect with Photoshop created using the Hard Mix blend and Erodible Textures. This effect works best with Black and White images but also works well with color images.
This tutorial was done with Photoshop CC, and tested well with Photoshop CC 2014.
If you apply a sepia or other color tone to a black and white image first, this procedure can result in an interesting tri-tone result
Images with faded areas or minor imperfections can produce excellent results with this method.
An alternate method that works with Photoshop CS5 and above as well as Photoshop Elements 10 is presented near the end of the video. The alternate method utilizes the Film Grain filter.
This video was made for instructional and educational purposes. In it I teach people how to use Adobe Photoshop to make interesting designs. No copyrighted materials were used in this video.
Image attribution:
TheodoreRoosevelt by Department of Defense
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Muhammad Ali vs. Ernie Terrell, Houston Astrodome, Houston, TX, 1967
by Cliff
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-...
Mohandas K. Gandhi, portrait.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Laurel & Hardy in "Thicker than Water" from Insomnia Cured Here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tom-mar...
Abraham Lincoln by Byers 1858
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
**Transcript Excerpt**
To begin, open up your image in Photoshop.
If the image is in grayscale Mode, choose Image - Mode - RGB Color
Double-Click the background layer and rename it "Teddy"
Save your image as a psd file
Right-Click and select Convert to Smart Object
Black and White photos sometimes work better if you apply a sepia Photo Filter to them
Select the "create a new fill or adjustment layer" icon and select Photo Filter
For this image I chose Warming Filter (85) at 25% Density.
Click the clip to icon to clip it to the Teddy Layer.
Move to the Teddy layer.
Hold down Control key while selecting the add a new layer icon to create an empty layer below the Teddy layer.
Click the create a new fill or adjustment layer icon, then choose "solid color"
a color picker with open, choose a color, I choose a orange-red #dd794c
Next add a pattern overlay layer style to the color fill layer you just created.
choose the pattern picker fly-out
click the gear icon and chose "Large List"
check to see if you have the Pastel Paper pattern on the list
If you don't,
choose the gear icon again and choose "Erodible Textures" from the dropdown
click append to add the pattern group to your list,
Other textures you can experiment with are Fine Grain, Cold Press, and Pebble Board. They are in the Erodible Textures Pattern Group also.
for now, choose the Pastel Paper Pattern,
Normal blend, 50% Opacity, and 50% Scale.
Select the Teddy layer, add a levels adjustment layer,
for now don't make any levels changes.
the levels layer should automatically be clipped to the Teddy layer.
We're now read to tweak the settings
Select the Teddy Layer and change its blend mode to Hard Mix
Double-Click the levels layer to change the settings
Adjust the Black and white output levels to where the brightest areas are white and other light areas are yellowish. I used Output levels of 6 and 194
Next adjust the pattern overlay.
Note that texture opacity and scale will change depending on the size, and resolution of your image.
Adjust the opacity to where the dither is showing some on the face, I used 55% Opacity
Now adjust the scale to where the dither looks appropriate i.e. not too large but small enough that small dither dots can be seen. I use 95% scale.
This completes the Teddy Image.
Notice that as I experiment with different color tones of the orange color that the effect changes quite a bit.
Also notice the changes as I experiment with completely different colors.
Here are a few more images created using this method. By using different Levels adjustments, Fill colors, and pattern settings you can achieve many excellent results.
CS5 does not have the Erodible Patterns Category availiable. You could use the fibers 1 texture in the Grayscale Papers pattern group or you can use an alternative method.
Here is a CS5 screen showing an Alternate method that utilizes the Film Grain Filter that you could use for CS5. This method also works in later versions of Photoshop.
The settings for the Film Grain Filter are: Grain 10, Highlight Area 4, and Intensity 9.
On the left side of the screen is the working canvas, notice that the screen view size is 18.59%. On the right side of the screen is the resulting jpg image. The reason they are different is because the canvas view was shrunk to 18.59%. ......