Requested by anathem

Done in PS CS2...should translate fairly easily.
I didn't have the psd saved, but the graphic is newer and still pretty fresh in my mind so I should be able to come close to the original.

Make a graphic like this






Click images for full size samples.


Okay, I started out first with an 800x600 plain white background. I selected the first photo that I wanted to use. This would be my main image (all images from Here, btw.) I used the pen tool to extract the picture from its background and then pasted it onto my white background. Next I opened up the next photo that I wanted to use and did the same thing except since this one isn't the focal picture, I did reduce it's size and put it on the layer beneath the other one.

The pictures were high quality scans to begin with so I did very little with them. What I did so was....and I did the same thing on both of them. I duplicated the layer and set the blend mode to Screen. 100% was a bit too bright so I put the blend mode down to 70%. I then went to Filter>>Blur>>Smart Blur and set Radius at 1.1 and Threshold at 25. Now make sure that your foreground color is set to black and the background color is set to white. Then click on the original picture layer and go to Filter>>Distort>>Diffuse Glow. I don't remember exactly what my settings were on that but it was probably around Graininess at 0, Glow being at 1 and Clear amount 15-17. I then also desaturated those 2 original image layers.




Alright, next I made a new layer beneath the pictures so I could add some brushes. After trying several out, I ended up using these from http://aethereality.net/






Using black for my color, I applied it in the upper left corner behind the main picture. I then duplicated the layer and flipped it horizontally and moved it over to the right a bit.



On another new layer, I applied the 2nd brush bottom left of the graphic and then duplicated the layer and not only flipped it horizontally, but vertically as well so that the flat edge of the brush was at the edge of the graphic.



Next I wanted to add some littler pictures and since she is an actress, I decided to use this filmstrip brush from ???...I don't know. If anyone knows, please let me know so I can credit.



So after opening the images that I wanted to use, I sized them down to fit within the filmstrip boxes. I put the picture layers beneath the filmstrip layer. And once again, I did the same thing with each images that I used. I duplicated each one and set it to Screen 100% and then went back and desaturated and sharpened the original layer. I also tried to use pictures that were from the same photo shoot at the bigger ones...just makes it easier when it comes time to add color and things, imo, if they all look very similar.


Next I wanted to add another brush from the same set that I got the previous filmstrip brush so I made a new layer below that and all of the small images and added this one in black. On this particular graphic I do most of the brush work in black so that when I go to add the color, it will all look uniform.






In the original graphic, I had erased off the filmstrip tail because I had been trying to put text there, but I've decided to leave it now that I've put the text some where else.

Alright time to add some color and make it shiny. YAY!
So I made a new layer above everything and started trying different gradients on different blend modes...I find that usually softlight, overlay, or colorburn works the best.
I ended up using this one from crumblingwalls

The blend mode is Overlay 100%. I erased what was covering her arms on the larger pictures because I didn't like how it looked.



It looks pretty good, but I wanted to make it pop a little bit more, so I took this gradient, again from crumblingwalls(she has the best gradiensts!) and added it to a new layer above everything.


I set the blend mode to Color Burn 100% and again erased what was covering the two main pictures. The erasing step is pretty much optional...it's going to depend on the pictures that you are using, how the gradients look on those pictures, and what your personal preference is. I didn't like how it looked, but some one else may.



And that's pretty much it :) Just add some text and more brushes or textures to finish it out.

Tags: ashley tisdale, blend, gradients, ps cs2, tutorial
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