Dread Effect
In this tutorial, we will learn how to use dread effect by using Photoshop. Since some of the products or
services in the market are targeted to men, this would mean that the feel of the environment of the
website for instance is somehow masculine and exudes power. Thus, in selling products such as
motorcycle or big trucks, some of the images in the webpage may have perhaps fire or skull effect. This
can be also utilized in the front cover of horror books or movie posters and other flyers or invitation for
haloween events.
Select a main photo. (Preferably a close-up shot)
It may have a plain background or not, depending on your choice.
Step 1
Adjust the color of the whole picture by pressing Ctrl M to open the curve setup window or to do it
manually, you could go to IMAGE at the main toolbar then click ADJUSTMENTS at the dropdown, then,
click CURVES. The picture should not be too dark or too light.
Step 2
To open the image of a drought soil, to be used as an effect to the photo, press Ctrl O and select the
photo.
Step 3
Drag the drought soil photo over the main photo overlaying it.
Step 4
Position the drought soil photo over the portion of the face that you wanted to place the effect of
cracked skin. Go to the tool bar and click move button or press V to show the transform controls of the
photo that you wanted to rotate. Rotate it by placing the cursor on the corner points of the photo and
hold the Left click and rotate to the desired position.
Step 5
Then go to the Layer toolbar at the middle right side of the screen and below it you can see a dropdown
to change the Layer effect. Change default from Normal to Multiply. You shall expect a transparent
effect as shown above.
Step 6
To incorporate the cracked skin effect to the shape of the face, go to the Tool bar, click the eraser tool
and bring the cursor to the areas you want to erase. To smoothen the transition of the erased areas,
adjust the eraser brush (shown below the main toolbar which appears as you click the eraser tool) by
clicking the dropdown beside the Brush and choose any smooth round depending how large the image
is (in this case, we clicked number 17). Make the radius bigger by dragging the arrow in the Master
Diameter to a higher pixel (in this case 70 px)
Step 7
After finalizing the characteristic of the eraser tool, start to erase the sharp edges of the drought soil to
follow the edges of the face near the hair area. Do the same process on the other side of the drought
photo, over the forehead, nose up to the mouth area.
Step 8
Press Ctrl L to display the Levels window and adjust the input level of the drought photo, (the Layer 1)
and change the middle input level from 1 (default value) to 2.13 to have a crisp effect. This means that
the light or dark effect of the layer will be emphasized (the light, lighter and the dark, darker).
Step 9
To add the skull effect to the other side of the face of the main photo, basically the above procedures
will be similar. Repeat Steps 2 to 7.
Step 10
Open the image of the skull, to be used as an effect to the photo, press Ctrl O and select the photo. Drag
the skull photo over the main photo overlaying it. Position the skull photo over the portion of the face
that you wanted to place the effect. Go to the tool bar and click move button or press V to show the
transform controls of the photo that you wanted to rotate. Rotate it. Go to the Layer toolbar at the
middle right side of the screen and below it you can see a dropdown to change the Layer effect. Change
default from Normal to Multiply.
Step 11
To incorporate the skull effect to the shape of the face, go to the Tool bar, click the eraser tool and bring
the cursor to the areas you want to erase. Smoothen the transition of the erased areas. Erase the sharp
edges of the skull to follow the edges of the face near the hair area. Do the same process on the other
side of the skull photo, over the forehead, nose up to the mouth area.
Step 12
Open the image of the fire then drag it over the main photo overlaying it.
Step 13
Go to the Layer toolbar at the middle right side of the screen and change the Layer effect from Normal
to Multiply.
Step 14
To incorporate the fire background, click the eraser tool and erase the areas covering the face
Smoothen the transition of the erased areas.
Step 15
To give a reddish effect to the main photo in order to let it blend with the other effects, click Images in
the main Toolbar, go to Adjustments in the dropdown and click Variations. In this case, click the level of
Variation and you will find that the mark is at the middle which is its default level. Drag the mark at the
end most of Fine level, as shown above. Then on the choice of clippings shown, click the magenta twice.
Then click OK.
Step 16
Lastly, adjust the color of the whole picture by pressing Ctrl M to open the curve setup window or to do
it manually, go to IMAGE at the main toolbar then click ADJUSTMENTS at the dropdown, then, click
CURVES. When the CURVES window appears, change the Preset (found at the top of the window) to
Cross Process (RGB) to give the entire photo a dark finish.