A great way to create a selection and experiment with settings is with Photoshop filters and Alpha channels. This tutorial will show you how to use simple techniques to create drops, and then decorate them by adding a couple of textures and adjustment layers to create a text effect from raindrops.
Note: The author uses paid materials. In the archive you will find alternative materials.
1. Create a background and text
Step 1
Create a new document (Ctrl + N) sized 1500 by 875 px and fill it with black color # 000000.
Step 2
Write your text using the tool Horizontal text (Text Tool) and CoreHumanistSans font. Make sure that Colour (Color) set to white #fff, The size (Size) 350 px and Tracking (Tracking): -25.
Step 3
Right-click on the text layer and select Convert to Smart Object (Convert to Smart object).
2. Apply filter
Step 1
Set the foreground and background color to black and white.
Now go Filter> Filter Gallery> Texture> Stained Glass (Filter> Filter Gallery> Texture> Stained Glass). Change Cell size (Cell Size) at 20, Border thickness (Border Thickness) at 7, and IntensitySveta (Light Intensity) at 3.
Step 2
Each of the cells is our future drop, so you can play with the filter settings to get different sizes.
Step 3
Activate the tool Magic wand (Magnetic Lasso), then uncheck Adjacent pixels (Contiguous) in the settings panel. Now, click on one of the white cells to create a selection.
3. Create drops
Step 1
Open the channel panel Window> Channels (Window> Channels) and click the icon Create a new channel (Create new channel) at the bottom of the layers panel.
Step 2
Make sure Alpha 1 channel is selected, select tool. Fill (Paint Bucket Tool) and fill the selection with white, then go Select> Unselect All (Select> Deselect) or press the key combination (Ctrl + D).
Step 3
Navigate Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur (Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur) and set Radius (Radius) at 5.
Step 4
Now move on Image> Correction> Levels (Image> Adjustments> Levels). All you need to do is change the position of the sliders until you get a drop like the image below.
Step 5
Make sure that the edges are smooth, and not interrupted, so that the letters are approximately at the same level.
4. Load the selection and add a background image.
Step 1
Click on the RGB channel, and then return to the layers panel.
Make a layer with drops invisible by clicking on the eye icon next to it.
Step 2
Move on Selection> Load Selection (Select> Load Selection) and select the channel Alpha 1 (Alpha 1) in the drop down menu.
Step 3
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N), call it “Drops 1”, fill the selection with white color, then press the key combination (Ctrl + D) to remove the selection.
Step 4
Change Fill (Fill) layer with drops to 0, then duplicate it (Ctrl + J) and rename it to “Drops 2”.
Step 5
You can use any background image you want, but for this tutorial we will use a metallic matte texture with raindrops.
So add a texture to your document on top of the background layer and resize to fit your document.
Note: You can change the size by pressing the Ctrl + T key combination.
5. Add styles to the “Drops 1” layer
Double-click on the “Drops 1” layer to apply the following layer styles:
Step 1
Add style Stamping (Bevel and Emboss) with the following parameters:
- The size (Size): 7
- Remove the check mark Global coverage (Use Global Light)
- Angle (Angle): 180
- Height (Altitude): 53
- Put a tick Smoothing (Anti-aliased)
- Mode backlight (Highlight Mode): Bright shine (Vivid Light)
- Opacity (Opacity): 50%
- Mode the shadows (Shadow Mode) – Opacity (Opacity): 15%
Step 2
Add style Circuit (Contour) with the following parameters:
- Circuit (Contour): Asymmetric (Asymmetrical)
- Put a tick Smoothing (Anti-aliased)
Step 3
Add style Shadow (Drop Shadow) with the following parameters:
- Opacity (Opacity): 5%
- Bias (Distance): 3
- The size (Size): 5
This is how we got the style of the first layer.
6. Add styles to the “Drops 2” layer
Double-click on the “Drops 2” layer to apply the following layer styles:
Step 1
Add Bevel and Emboss style with the following parameters:
- The size (Size): 16
- Remove the check mark Global coverage (Use Global Light)
- Angle (Angle): 27
- Height (Altitude): 53
- Put a tick Smoothing (Anti-aliased)
- Mode backlight (Highlight Mode): Bright shine (Vivid Light)
- Opacity (Opacity): 50%
- Mode the shadows (Shadow Mode) – Opacity (Opacity): 5%
Change the angle and height values so that the layer style matches the background drops.
Step 2
Add style Circuit (Contour) with the following parameters:
- Circuit (Contour): Cone (Cone)
- Put a tick Smoothing (Anti-aliased)
- Range (Range): 100%
Step 3
Add style Inner shadow (Inner Shadow) with these parameters:
- Opacity (Opacity): 50%
- Bias (Distance): 0
- The size (Size): 13
Step 4
This will be the style for the second layer. You can adjust the values as needed.
7. Change the background
Step 1
As you can see, the text does not look very good, as we have a background with drops. They overlap each other, have different sizes and overload the text.
So now we will remove some drops to improve the final result. To do this, activate the tool. Spot Healing Brush (Spot Healing Brush Tool) and select soft round Brush (Brush) the size of a drop.
Then fill in every drop you want to remove. You can paint the same surface several times until it is clean.
Note: Make sure you are on a texture layer in the layers palette.
Step 2
Tool Spot Healing Brush (Spot Healing Brush Tool) should clean up the drops normally, but if you want, you can use any other tools to get the desired result.
Step 3
Continue to work on the background image until you get a result that you like.
8. Add more texture.
Step 1
Now we will add a blurred texture to adjust the lighting of the drops and make them more realistic.
Open Texture 06 in Photoshop, then put the image on top of all layers and call it “Drops Texture.” Change its size (Ctrl + T) to cover the text, then change Blend mode (Blend Mode) layer on Soft light (Soft light) and Opacity (Opacity) up to 30%.
Step 2
Hold down the Ctrl key and click the thumbnail of the drop layer to create a selection. Then go to the layer “Texture drops” and click on the icon Add layer mask (Add layer mask) at the bottom of the layers panel.
Step 3
Bokeh textures are a great addition to making your design a little better.
Add a Bokeh texture on top of all layers, change its size (Ctrl + T) as needed and rename the layer to “Texture Bokeh”. Change Blend mode (Blend Mode) on Soft light (Soft light) and Opacity (Opacity) up to 35%.
9. Add color
Step 1
Click on the icon Create a new adjustment layer or fill layer (Create new fill or adjustment layer) at the bottom of the layers palette and select Gradient map (Gradient Map).
Note: First download the CSP True Sky Gradients.grd file from the downloaded gradient set.
Step 2
Select the gradient fill, as in the picture below, check if the check mark is next to the option Dithering (Dither) and change Blend mode (Blend Mode) adjustment layer on Linear Dodge (Linear Burn) and Opacity (Opacity) up to 20%.
This will add a blue tint to the drops.
Fine!
In this tutorial, we created white text on a black background, and using a couple of filters with an alpha channel, we turned the text into small droplets.
Then we added a background image with drops. After that, we changed the background image for a more visual result.
Finally, we added some more textures and an adjustment layer to improve the color rendition of the final result.
