Create a canvas with a black background and pick a soft edge brush with white as the foreground color and create a new layer.

On the new layer start painting random swirls, dont try to give it a particular shape, the more random it looks the better the final result!

If you want to get more variations on the shapes of your doodles just lower the opacity of your brush by 20-30% .

Next reach for your smudge tool and start dragging lines out from the core of the drawing you just created. Make sure that all the lines you paint begin from the centre as this will give your explosion a more radiating effect. Keep dragging lines with the smudge tool until you have created a halo around your initial drawing.

To prepare for the next step we will lock the Transparency of this layer. This will prevent color from spilling over the edges of the lines. Do this by clicking on the Lock button above the layers palette as shown below.

Next from the color palette set the foreground and background colors of the layer to red and yellow. You do not need to worry about the shade of the colors now as we will apply layers, just go for the basic shades.

The go to Filters->Render and click on the Clouds filter, this is what you should be looking at by now , well more or less…

Next change the colors of the layer to the default black and white and apply the Clouds Filter again, thats FIlters->Render->Clouds FIlter, this will eliminate all color from the image. Now go to Edit->Fade or simply hit Ctrl-Shift+F on your keyboard, that Ctrl-Command+F for Mac.This will bring forward the Fade dialogue, we will change the way the filter is applied from Normal to Linear Light.

Hit OK and this is the end result.

Now it may not say much on its own, but if you apply it on top of an image then the result is really impressive. And that is the coolest feature of this explosion effect that it is easy to create and as easy to customize it so it can be applied on almost all photos. So time for some creative chaos!

Open a front facing photo of yourself or anyone else for all that matters. The eyes and nose are the most crucial features we will be manipulating on this tutorial so make sure you have a clear view of them.

Eyes shape

• First select the Elliptical marquee tool and select the eyes. Use the Feather tool with approx. 10pixels. Copy and Paste them on a new layer.
• Select Edit -> Transform and the Scale to give them an elliptical shape and make them bigger. You may want to use an avatar poster for this exercise to get the right shape and scale.

• Select each eye separately and use Skew to give them their final shape. You will find the Skew selection under Edit->Transform.

Eyebrows

• If you have to thin out the eyebrows use the Clone Stamp Tool.
• Create a new layer and lighten the eyebrows color using a soft round brush. Choose white color and opacity around 20-25%, adjust the brush size to fit the eyebrows width.

• Next equally crucial step is the navi nose. We will use the Polygonal Lasso tool to select the nose. Set the feather tool with pixel set at 10pxls. Copy and paste it on a new layer.
• To change its shape and size we will use Edit->Transform and then Scale and Perspective.

Eyes Color

1. Next you want to create the Avatar eyes. Create a new layer and choose use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to select the iris (thats the colored part of the eye) .
2. Next take a soft round brush and choose a grey-blue color and paint all over the iris.
3. On the same layer choose the elliptical marquee tool and after choosing black as a color paint the centre of the iris (thats the black bit of the eye)
4. Create a new layer, paint lines on the iris with a soft brush and use a color slightly lighter than the existing iris color.
5. Use the smudge tool to smudge over the lines you just drew. Also smudge the black part of the iris.

Use the image below to help you visualize the steps above.

• Here is a very cool trick that will save you loads of time. Merge all the layers of the eye you just edited, replicate the new merged layer and use flip to apply this layer to the other eye as well.
• Zoom out of the eyes area.

Skin

• Now lets do some face painting! Create a new adjustment layer and choose Gradient Map. Choose the color settings as shown below.

• Create a new layer and choose a soft round brush with white color  and width approx. 9 pixels. And throw draw dots on your Navi face. Change the blending mode into Overlay.

• Create a new layer and choose a soft round brush with a deep blue color like #002542. Draw the lines on the face to your liking. Here is where you can get really creative!
• Apply a gaussian blur of 5 pixels and reduce the opacity of your new layer to around 20-30% .
• Go to your blending mode drop down menu on your layer and change this to Vivid light.

Congratulations on creating your Avatar Navi persona!

We will use a rather plain photograph that will make the end result even more noticeable.

Next we will start creating a series of layers that will give us the lomo effect. First layer we will need is an Adjustment layer and more specifically a Curves one. Just click on layers and on the drop down menu follow Adjustment->Curves as shown below.

The Curves layer will bring forward the Curves dialogue window, where you can play around with the colors axes. We will work with the input and the output of the RGB, the Green and the Blue colors. This will adjust the density of the chosen colors and will start our picture resembling a lomo effect.

On the RGB and Green we will increase the input and reduce the output and we will do the opposite with the Blue. The images below will give you a good idea of how you want to adjust the axes of the Curves layer.

You can already start noticing the retro-ish impact on your photograph. We will continue our tutorial with another layer. This time we will use a Gradient map layer. The way to do this is the same, Layers and Gradient Map, shown below for your convenience.

Once done so, the Gradient Map dialogue box will be brought forward, which is preset in Black and White and which is exactly how we want it to be. Next click on the layers tab and set the lighting mood to Overlay, thats the first drop down menu on top and then lower the opacity, do this to your liking. We will use a 40% opacity in this case but this is more of a rule of thumb case.

If you want to perfect your lomo photo you can give it a tunnel vision effect. For this we will need another layer. This layer needs to have Black as a foreground color which we will then feather to give us the tunnel effect.
To do this create a new layer and having chosen Black then choose Edit and Fill from your top navigation bar.
This will bring up the Fill dialogue box. Hit OK.

Next choose your Rectangular Marquee Tool and draw a Rectangle in your black layer, not too large, it has to big a bit larger than the main object of your picture.

Once you are done drawing your rectangle, reach for your Feather tool. You will find that if you click: Edit->Modify->Feather. This will bring up the Feather tool dialogue box. Next we will set the Radius, this has to be related to the size of your picture, play around with the radius to see what works best for you. We used a radius of 50 pixels. This will black-out the peripheral area of the picture and leave the main object into focus with a black halo effect, which will be the tunnel vision. If this sounds too complex, dont worry, it is not. Just experiment with the radius and once you get it right you will know it.

Hit OK. If the picture comes up too blackened, simply reduce the Opacity a bit.
The result is an astonishing lomo effect!

First we will open our image on photoshop and to glam things up we will use Marilyn.

Then we will prepare our picture to accept the quintessential Warhol colors by messing around with the Brightness Contrast, which will give our picture a polarized effect. You will find the Brightness Contrast window on your top navigation bar, Image->Adjustments->Brightness Contrast. When you click it you will get a dialogue window. On that scroll the Contrast cursor all the way to 100, hit OK. You image just got more interesting.

Next we will play with Layers. Go to the top bar and choose Layers->Adjustment Layers->Posterize as shown below and name it. With this you are done with the procedural stuff, time now to get creative and bring the real Warhol out!

Now create a new layer and name it. From the layer drop down menu choose the following: Layer->Layer Style->Blending Options->Multiply. This is extremely important as it will allow you to roughly paint each of the layers (hair, skin etc) without really caring about outlines. Really really handy!

Next reach out for your brush, normal brush will do and for the hair we will use a bright yellow to “pop out” our portait.

We will repeat the above process in the exact same way for Marilyn’s skin and dress, each time using a different pop color.

Finish it off with a few extra brushes where you missed a spot and Warhol would be proud of that one!

Step 1. Open your image on your editor, we will use a random picture from the internet for this tutorial.

Step 2. Go to Add a New Layer from the top navigation bar.

Step 3. On the Layers options change the first drop down menu from Normal to Color.

Step 4. From your tool bar on the left choose the normal Brush Tool.

Step 5. On the bottom of your tool bar and with the brush tool chosen go to the color picker tool. Choose a color, any color, except for black or white.

Step 6. Zoom in the eye of your picture, and start brushing the iris of the eye (thats the colored part) , gradually cover the entire colored area of the eye.

Step 7.From the top bar of your editor choose: Adjustments->Hue->Saturation .This will bring up the dialogue box as shown below, on the top right corner of that box there is a radio button called “Colorize” . Check it.

Step 8.By scrolling the Hue/Saturation/Lightness bars you can edit the new color of your eyes just the way you want it. When happy hit OK and done!

Lets see step by step you can get there in no time!

Step 1. Open that problematic picture on photoshop .

Step 2. Create a new layer from the bottom left menu. We will be working on this layer.

Step 3. On your right hand toolbar you should find the Healing Brush tool. Left click on it as shown below if you have trouble finding it. To use the Healing Brush tool:
• Hold down the ALT (or Option) on your keyboard
• Left click on the area you want to “heal” while holding ALT (or Option) down

Step 4. When you click ALT and left click the Healing Brush Tool should turn into a wider circle.

Step 5. Zoom in the wrinkled area of your photoshop picture to focus on those annoying lines.
*Note that you can adjust the size of the brush by using the bracket key on your keyboard.

Step 6. Simply start brushing with the tool over the lines you want to heal. The tool automatically detects the difference in the texture and starts smoothing out the wrinkles magically. Continue until all the lines have been smoothed out.

Step 7. When done “ironing” you want to blend in the de-wrinkled areas by expanding the use of the healing brush tool to the peripheral area of the wrinkles. In this way you will get a more natural effect.

Step 8. Once finished with using the healing brush you may notice that the face looks a bit un-natural, with a rather lifting effect. This is quite normal do not fear! To fix this we will use opacity. You will find opacity on the bottom left of your screen just above the layer you created in the beginning of this tutorial. Once found just lower the opacity. Play with the opacity percentage, usually something like 35-45% should do the trick as it will bring back some of the wrinkles you just removed but more ironed out! Good uh?

Okay, the title is slightly misleading ..

You can not move layers without touching them, but you can move them from the layers palette without clicking on them using the following keyboard shortcuts:

To move a layer down to the layers palette, press: Command-left bracket (PC: Ctrl-left bracket)
To move a layer to the palette of layers, press: Command-right bracket (PC: Ctrl-right bracket)

Now, if you want to move a layer within the image without using your mouse, select the Move tool and use the arrow keys on your keyboard.

For example, suppose you have a picture of a ball in its own layer and you apply a Drop Shadow to this layer. When this is done, everything in this layer will have exactly the same drop shadow to the ball.

Draw a line with the brush? This is drop shadow. Drag a rectangular selection and fill with glare to add another drop shadow. Remember, the styles are known as layer styles affect the entire layer.

You are probably already familiar with the History of Photoshop, which allows you to undo up to 20 steps. Unfortunately, when you quit Photoshop nothing is saved in memory and this no longer works. However, there is a way to undo changes to color and tone after days, weeks or even months.

Here is how: next time you apply a change in tone of any kind (e.g. through options Levels, Brightness/Contrast, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Color Balance or other), do not select them from the menu. Instead, scroll to the bottom of the Layers palette and click on New Fill or Adjustment Layer. This is the half black and half white circle. You will see a pop-up menu from which you can choose what tonal change (or filling) you want to apply. You’ll see a new special layer in Layers palette with the name change of tone (e.g. Color Balance). When you save the document and open it again, the Color Balance layer will still exist. To edit the settings of the Color balance, double-click on it. To undo the action, drag the Color Balance layer to waste.