Smudge is a GPU intensive task, and can have a drastic effect on the image. With the flattened copy active, choose the smudge tool.I prefer to work on a flattened copy, so I have the option to go back and change settings without starting from scratch.) To make a flattened copy of the project click shift + option/alt + command/control + click – The Claw! (At this point, you may choose to flatten the image. Now let’s make the image look more natural.It’s a subtle addition, but can really help make your subject come to life. Set the brush size to about 3, hardness to 0 and drop its Opacity to about 38%, Add a little catch light to the pupil.Set the brush size to match the gull’s pupil, and daub in a crisper pupil.Ensure the foreground color is black (Click d to reset the default colors, if black and white aren’t already loaded as fore- and background colors.Choose a hard brush: Somewhere around 80% hardness should suffice. We can add more life to the eye by painting the pupil and adding a bit of a catch light.Select a small, soft brush and reveal the eye.(It will be highlighted by a dashed rectangle.) Click on the Layer 1 mask to ensure it’s the active element.Click x to make white the foreground color.Click d to reset the foreground and background colours to black and white.

We only want to paint in the sharp eye, so painting in pixels is quicker than painting them out in this case.

Add a reversed Layer Mask to Layer 1 by option/alt-clicking the Add a Mask button – the circle in a rectangle at the bottom of the Layers panel.

I’m not worried about file size at this point, and I tend to be overly cautious about saving my steps.) (You may opt to drag a duplicate of Layer 1 instead, as I did. We need to paint his eyes back in, an easy task because we have a copy of our original image in the stack. Can help give the illusion of depth.Ī subject’s personality is in the eyes.

Shine: Adjusts contrast (slide right to increase contrast).

Angular Direction: Angle of light source (0–360°).

Bristle Detail: Works with Shine and Angular Direction to reveal less or more bristle-like lines.

Scale: Brush size (slide right to increase brush size).

Cleanliness: detail (slide right for a looser stroke).

Stylization: stroke length (slide right for a longer stroke).

Here’s a quick run down of what each slider controls: The filter controls are in the right pane. Your image will load inside the Oil Paint dialog.

Duplicate Layer 1(command- or control-j).

Use the Clone Stamp (s) and Healing Brush (j) set to Content-Aware, to remove them.

The ducks in the lake are distracting blobs.

Select Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen Edges, which may seem silly, but sharpening the edges we just blurred adds back a little contrast, which will help enhance the Oil Paint effect.

Activate Layer 1 by single clicking on it.

Hide the background by clicking the eye icon to the left.

Duplicate the background layer (command- or control-j).

Converting the image to a Smart Object (right- or control-click on the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object from the context menu) makes the filter non-destructive, allowing you to go back and change settings, if you’re not happy with the result. Right- or control-click on the sample image. We’re going to use this image in our tutorial.

Oil paint filter for photoshop mac