Fake that elusive snow-fall. Fed-up with waiting for that next snow-storm? Can’t seem to get a decent shot because of that dim light? Enter Photoshop. This tutorial will help you add some realistic snow to your winter landscapes. You’ll learn to use the “Levels” adjustment tool and you’ll pick-up some creative uses for Noise and Motion Blur.
![Snow effect - FInal]( "Snow effect - FInal")
We’re using Adobe Photoshop CS5 but this will also work on earlier versions of Photoshop.
![new layer]( "new layer")
} button to create a layer for our snow. Give it an easy to remember name.
![Snowfall - new layer]( "1 Snowfall - new layer")
![Snowfall - fill]( "2 Snowfall - fill")
Choose “Color” from the drop-down menu and pick a black color.
![Snowfall - fill black]( "3 Snowfall - fill black")
To create the base for our snow go to the “Filter” menu, “Noise” submenu and click on noise.
![Snowfall - noise]( "4 Snowfall - noise")
Set a high noise amount and click ok.
![Snowfall - noise settings]( "5 Snowfall - noise settings")
Add some blur on top of the noise. Go to the “Filter” menu, “Blur” submenu and click “Blur”.
![Snowfall - blur noise]( "6 Snowfall - blur noise")
At this point we have a lot of noise and pretty much no snow. Using the “Levels…” command we’ll get rid of most of the intermediate shades of gray.
Go to the “Image” menu, “Adjustments” submenu and click on “Levels…”.
![Snowfall - Levels]( "7 Snowfall - Levels")
The “Levels” dialog box will display a graph (the histogram). Directly beneath the histogram you will see three sliders: a black one, a gray one and a white one. <strong>You’ll have to drag the black one (leftmost) to the right.</strong>
Toy around with these until there are a lot of white dots on a black background .
![Snowfall - Levels settings]( "8 Snowfall - Levels settings")
To get rid of the black, change the blending mode of the snow layer to “Screen”. The “Screen” blending mode will set the opacity of all the pixels that are pure black to 0.
![Snowfall - screen]( "9 Snowfall - screen")
Time to add some motion blur to make the snow look more realistic. Go to the “Filter” menu, ”Blur” sub-menu and click on “Motion Blur…”.
![Snowfall - motion blur]( "10 Snowfall - motion blur")
You need to change the angle of the snow and the blur distance. If the angle is close to 90 degrees it will look like there’s no wind, so be careful about the direction of the blur.
![Snowfall - motion blur/ Angle]( "11 Snowfall - motion blur/ Angle")
![Snowfall - duplicate snow]( "12 Snowfall - duplicate snow")
Select the “Snow copy”layer. Go to the “Filter” menu, “Pixelate” sub-menu and click on “Crystallize..”.
![Snowfall - crystallize duplicate]( "13 Snowfall - crystallize duplicate")
Adjust the size to anything between 5 and 8. This step will make our snow look random.
![Snowfall - crystallize settings]( "14 Snowfall - crystallize settings")
Add another motion blur to the crystallized snow layer
![Snowfall - motion blur - duplicate]( "15 Snowfall - motion blur - duplicate")
Finally, duplicate the base Snow layer and drop its opacity level by a bit. Now, drag it around using the Move Tool {![move tool]( "move tool")
}. This ensures there are enough snowflakes in our scene.
![Snowfall - duplicate base layer / Set opacity]( "16 Snowfall - duplicate base layer / Set opacity")
Final Effect preview
We’re using Adobe Photoshop CS5 but this will also work on earlier versions of Photoshop.
1/3 The Document
Start by opening the image you want to work on (obviously). Click the New Layer {
} button to create a layer for our snow. Give it an easy to remember name.
2/3 Snow Base
We need to fill the layer with a black color. Go to the “Edit” menu and click on “Fill…”.
Choose “Color” from the drop-down menu and pick a black color.
To create the base for our snow go to the “Filter” menu, “Noise” submenu and click on noise.
Set a high noise amount and click ok.
Add some blur on top of the noise. Go to the “Filter” menu, “Blur” submenu and click “Blur”.
At this point we have a lot of noise and pretty much no snow. Using the “Levels…” command we’ll get rid of most of the intermediate shades of gray.
Go to the “Image” menu, “Adjustments” submenu and click on “Levels…”.
The “Levels” dialog box will display a graph (the histogram). Directly beneath the histogram you will see three sliders: a black one, a gray one and a white one. <strong>You’ll have to drag the black one (leftmost) to the right.</strong>
Toy around with these until there are a lot of white dots on a black background .
To get rid of the black, change the blending mode of the snow layer to “Screen”. The “Screen” blending mode will set the opacity of all the pixels that are pure black to 0.
Time to add some motion blur to make the snow look more realistic. Go to the “Filter” menu, ”Blur” sub-menu and click on “Motion Blur…”.
You need to change the angle of the snow and the blur distance. If the angle is close to 90 degrees it will look like there’s no wind, so be careful about the direction of the blur.
3/3 Adding Depth
In order to give some depth to the snow duplicate the snow layer by right clicking it and clicking “Duplicate Layer…”
Select the “Snow copy”layer. Go to the “Filter” menu, “Pixelate” sub-menu and click on “Crystallize..”.
Adjust the size to anything between 5 and 8. This step will make our snow look random.
Add another motion blur to the crystallized snow layer
Finally, duplicate the base Snow layer and drop its opacity level by a bit. Now, drag it around using the Move Tool {
}. This ensures there are enough snowflakes in our scene.
