Create style frames in Photoshop

12. Add a secondary photo

Now it’s time to add two more photos. Let’s start with the one above. I’m going to use a gradient map to match the colours in the image.

Open the photo and colour pick that darkest blue in the water. Add a Gradient Map adjustment layer, and click the gradient to edit it. You should begin with a white stop on the far-right, and make the stop on the far-left that dark blue swatch colour.

13. Colour-match the previous image

Now click the bar just below the gradient to add more colours. Towards the white end we want to add the pink neon swatch from our previous composite, and towards the blue end add the previous neon blue. This neon blue swatch will look a little odd and slightly too light, so double-click on it and make it a little darker.

14. Round things out with one more photo

Let’s work on one more photo to round the set of style frames out (download the photo from stockSnap.io). We’ll use the same gradient map technique but with a twist.

15. Adjust the gradient map

Follow the same gradient map steps as before but leave out that neon blue colour. Make the pink a slightly hotter shade than the one you used previously, and push the dark blue slider over to the right so that more of the image will be on the dark end of the spectrum.

We want to maintain some of those amazing colours from the original photo, so turn down the Opacity of the Gradient Map layer to 75 per cent.

16. Add a light leak

Now you can spice things up a bit by adding a light leak effect (I used an image from Shutterstock for this). Duplicate the gradient map and clip it above the light leak image. You may need to turn up the opacity of the gradient map on the copy.

17. Bring the images together

Now bring all these images together into one document. You’ll need to save out your style frames as PNGs or JPGs first, then create a new document with a very large width such as 4000px. Place the style frames into the new document and space them evenly.

18. Match the tones and values

We want to match that darker middle frame with the others, which appear much more similar to each other in colour and value. First rasterize your layers by right-clicking them and choosing Rasterize Layer. Create a copy of the middle style frame ('styleframe1'), then with this selected go to ‘Image > Adjustments > Match color’.

Choose the Source as this ‘CombinedStyleFrames.psd’ if you have multiple Photoshop documents open. Then select either style frame 2 or 3, depending on which one you prefer – I went for 2. Turn down the opacity of this copy to blend it with the original frame until you have just the right mix of colour.

If you want to learn more about style frames, take a look at my full video tutorial.

About Pluralsight

Pluralsight is an enterprise technology learning platform that delivers a unified, end to end learning experience for businesses across the globe. Through a subscription service, companies are empowered to move at the speed of technology, increasing proficiency, innovation and efficiency.

Related articles:

• Create a cinemagraph with Photoshop in 60 seconds
• The 10 commandments of Photoshop etiquette
• Master the art of storyboarding