How to Create a Cinematic Effect in Adobe Photoshop
Posted on 19th June 2023
Creating the Cinematic Effect in Adobe Photoshop
One of the most popular effects that photographers and graphic designers love to use is the cinematic effect. Adobe Photoshop is one of the best software programs to use to create this effect. In this article, we will show you how to create a cinematic effect in Adobe Photoshop.
Step 1: Open your image in Adobe Photoshop
The first step is to open your image in Adobe Photoshop. You can do this by going to File > Open. Once your image is open, you will need to duplicate the layer. You can do this by going to Layer > Duplicate Layer. A new layer will appear on your Layers panel.
Step 2: Add a Gaussian Blur
Next, you will need to add a Gaussian Blur to your image. You can do this by going to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. A dialogue box will appear and you will need to enter in a radius of 5 pixels. Once you have entered in the radius, click OK.
Step 3: Change the Blending Mode
Now, you will need to change the Blending Mode of your layer. You can do this by going to Layer > Blending Mode. A menu will appear and you will need to choose the Soft Light option. Your image should now look softer.
Step 4: Add a Levels Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Levels Adjustment Layer. You can do this by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. A dialogue box will appear and you will need to enter in the following values: 0, 1.15, 255. Once you have entered in these values, click OK.
Step 5: Add a Vibrance Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Vibrance Adjustment Layer. You can do this by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance. A dialogue box will appear and you will need to enter in a value of +30. Once you have entered in this value, click OK.
Step 6: Add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer. You can do this by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast. A dialogue box will appear and you will need to enter in the following values: Brightness: +15, Contrast: +10. Once you have entered in these values, click OK.
Step 7: Add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. You can do this by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter. A dialogue box will appear and you will need to choose the Warming Filter (85) option. Once you have chosen this option, click OK.
Step 8: Save your image
The final step is to save your image. You can do this by going to File > Save As. A dialogue box will appear and you will need to choose a location to save your image. Once you have chosen a location, click Save.
Your image is now saved and you can share it with your friends!
How to Create a Cinematic Effect in Adobe Photoshop
Creating the Effect
Open up your image in Photoshop and go to Image > Adjustments > Levels.
Click on the white eyedropper tool and then click on the part of the image that you want to be white. This will make the levels of the image more defined.
Now, go to Image > Adjustments > Curves.
Click on the middle of the line and drag it up slightly. This will make the image brighter.
Now go to Image > Adjustments > Exposure.
Increase the Gamma Correction to 1.50.
Now go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.
Set the Radius to 2.0 pixels and click OK.
Your image should now have a cinematic effect!
Tips
- You can experiment with different values in the
Levels,CurvesandExposuredialogues to get different effects. - You can also use different values for the
Gaussian Blurfilter to get different results.
Conclusion
By following the steps above, you can easily create a cinematic effect in Adobe Photoshop. Experiment with different values to get different results.
In this final section, we will add a vignette to our image. A vignette is a darkening of the edges of an image, which gives it a more cinematic effect.
To create a vignette, we will first need to create a new layer. We do this by clicking on the ‘Create a new layer’ icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.
Once we have our new layer, we need to fill it with black. We do this by going to Edit > Fill > Black.
Next, we need to set the layer blend mode to ‘Multiply’. We do this by clicking on the drop-down menu at the top of the Layers panel and selecting ‘Multiply’ from the list.
Now we need to add a mask to our layer. A mask is used to control which parts of a layer are visible. To add a mask, we click on the ‘Add layer mask’ icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.
Once we have our mask, we need to select the Brush tool from the Toolbar. We then set the Foreground color to white and the Background color to black.
With our Brush tool selected, we can now paint over the areas of our image that we want to remain visible. In this case, we are painting over the center of our image, as we want the vignette to be more pronounced at the edges.
Once we are happy with our vignette, we can save our image by going to File > Save As.
How to Create a Cinematic Effect in Adobe Photoshop
Step One: Duplicate the Background Layer
The first step is to duplicate the Background layer. You can do this by going to the Layer panel and selecting the Background layer. Then, press Ctrl/Cmd+J on your keyboard. This will create a new layer called “Layer 1” that is an exact copy of the Background layer.
Step Two: Apply a Gaussian Blur
Next, you want to apply a Gaussian Blur to the new layer. To do this, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. In the popup menu, enter a Radius of 5 pixels and click OK.
Step Three: Change the Blending Mode
Now, you want to change the Blending Mode of the layer to “Soft Light”. You can do this by selecting the “Soft Light” option from the dropdown menu in the Layer panel.
Step Four: Adjust the Levels
The next step is to adjust the Levels of the layer. To do this, go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. In the popup menu, drag the middle Input Level to the right until it is at 1.15. Then, click OK.
Step Five: Add a Curves Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Curves Adjustment Layer. To do this, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. In the popup menu, click the “Create Clipping Mask” button. This will ensure that the Curves Adjustment Layer only affects the layer below it.
Step Five: Add a Curves Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Curves Adjustment Layer. To do this, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. In the popup menu, click the “Create Clipping Mask” button. This will ensure that the Curves Adjustment Layer only affects the layer below it.
On the Curves Adjustment Layer, you want to create an “S” curve. To do this, click on the middle of the line and drag it up. Then, click on the left and right ends of the line and drag them down. This will create an “S” shape.
Step Six: Add a Vibrance Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Vibrance Adjustment Layer. To do this, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance. In the popup menu, increase the Vibrance to +35 and the Saturation to +10. Then, click OK.
Step Seven: Add a Levels Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Levels Adjustment Layer. To do this, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. In the popup menu, drag the left Input Level to the right until it is at 20. Then, click OK.
Step Eight: Add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer. To do this, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast. In the popup menu, increase the Brightness to +50 and the Contrast to +20. Then, click OK.
Step Nine: Add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer
The next step is to add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. To do this, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter. In the popup menu, select the “Warm Filter (85)” option. Then, click OK.
Step Ten: Add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer
The final step is to add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer. To do this, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. In the popup menu, increase the Midtones to +15, the Highlights to +10, and the Shadows to +5. Then, click OK.
