Creating an Overlay in Photoshop

So today I want to share with you some Photoshop Fun! OVERLAYS!

Last night I was playing with some of my family photos from last november. You can see more of them HERE. And I have to admit that although I do have the most amazing Photoshop program ever, I do not know how to use all of its powers. LOL So I started playing with some textures and finally figured out how to make an overlay. I am pretty proud of myself. (pat on the back, heehee)

I first searched google for how to turn an image into an overlay and got frustrated because either the tutorials I found were either confusing or vague. Uuuugghhh. And I am sure they are great for others, just not for me. So I just went into Photoshop and started exploring. It didn't take long. I was determined.

Here is what I did! First I opened my family image in one window.

This is my before image.

Next I opened up my texture in another window.

This is my texture image.

You now should have two windows open. One is your photo and the other is your texture. While in the texture window, Click on the background image in your layers window and drag it to your Photo.

You will now have created a new layer in your photo window. 

You will see your photo with the new texture layer on top of the photo.

Now right click your new texture layer. Click on Blending Options.

A new window will open called Layer Style. In the general blending box you want to click on the area that shows "normal". A drop down menu will appear and you want to go down the list and find "overlay". Click on that.

After doing this you will see the texture image change to an overlay image. Then all you have to do is play with the Opacity percentages to the right look for you.

Here is what I did with my Opacity percentages.

I set my Opacity to 65% in the advanced bleeding settings. You can also use the general bleeding Opacity settings if you like.

Click ok to close the layer style box. Resize your texture overlay to fit the whole photo, save and print your new photo for your wall gallery.

Look at the differences

Again here is the photo "before" I added the overlay.

And here is the photo "after" I added the overlay.

Can you see the differences? It's brighter, has torn edges on the sides and some subtle crinkles in the photo. I love it!

Hope you like my lil tutorial today. Was it easy enough or did I confuse you? Any questions, you can leave them in comments below or email me at trendytreehouse@me.com.

More fun Textures can be found at Life N Reflection. I bought some and played with them this morning using her tutorial from last weeks Create and Share link up.


Here is the same family photo using her textures and tutorial.
Her tutorial is great and explains what textures and Opacity she used for each texture. 


I can share more blending options in future tutorials if you like too but today I just shared a quick Overlay option with 1 texture. The below pic has 3 textures and 3 blending options. See below for more.

I used the Life N Reflection Tutorial as an example and the Blending Options Opacity was ~ (legacy b texture) Overlay at 50%, (legacy d texture) Linear Burn at 100% and (legacy a texture) Dark Color at 55%. 
Get the Legacy Textures HERE and search her goodies HERE.


BTW...have you wondered how to make a screenshot on your mac? It is so easy. Just hit "Command, Shift, 3" Your image will automatically save as a PNG file. Go to you Finder and search for screenshots. That's it. It's that easy. ;)