When the captured color in a photo isn’t quite right for the way you want to use it, or you simply want to put an artistic spin on it, try creating this easy photo-illustration effect in Adobe Photoshop.
What you'll need
First, we isolated the umbrellas by removing the blue sky. With the Magic Wand tool, click an area of the sky. Shift-click other areas until the sky is all selected. Adjusting Sample Size, Tolerance, and other settings can make this process quicker. Then Alt/Option-click Add Layer Mask to hide the sky.
Now that your subject is isolated, click the layer thumbnail to create the colorized effect. Experiment with the Camera Raw Filter (Filter > Camera Raw Filter) and click the Presets icon. Try clicking an option in each section to build up the effect; here’s a sampling of the different looks you can create.
We combined Matte, Aged Photo, and Medium Vignetting.
Try changing the background to complement the hand-colored effect. We applied a gradation with the Gradient tool. After changing colors for each end of the gradient, we dragged from left to right to apply the gradient.
See the difference filters and effects can make.
Keep practicing. Isolate any subject to its own layer, and then apply different filters and effects to each layer. You never know what signature art style you’ll invent.
