How to Create Snow in Photoshop: Brushes, Filter and Animation

Winter photographs are somewhat different from those taken at other times of the year. The falling snow or snowdrifts on the background add to the image a cosiness. But thanks to the graphic editor "Photoshop" you can get a "snow" photo at any time of the year.

Photo editing: how to add snow in Photoshop?

The possibilities of "Photoshop" are almost limitless. Proper use of layers, brushes and filters can breathe a second life into even the most unsuccessful photo. Add snow in Photoshop in several ways. It all depends on the wishes of the customer.

The easiest way to add a snow background for "Photoshop" is a brush. It is a little harder to fix a static snow on the photo, for this it is necessary to work with filters and noise.

And the most difficult way is to add a falling snow for "Photoshop". Much of the work will be devoted to the creation of animation.

Download and install brushes for Photoshop

Brushes are one of the most useful functions of a graphics editor. Find them is not difficult. It is enough to drive in the search for necessary topics: snow, leaves, birds, Christmas and so on. After a few seconds, the search engine will provide an extensive list of suitable options. The user can only choose the appropriate brush and download it.

The next step is to install brushes. To do this, open the "Photoshop" and click on the "Brushes" icon. Then open the list of brushes, select "Settings" and "Download Brushes". New templates will be downloaded and available for use.

Adding snow with brushes

Now you just need to apply the brushes for Photoshop. Snow can get in the form of small precipitations or become a real storm in the picture.

In order to add snow in Photoshop, you need to open the original photo. Next, you need to select one of the preinstalled brushes. The next step is drawing the snow on the image.

To make the snow as realistic as possible, the user is given the opportunity to change the size of the brush and its vector.

Animated snow

Static snow is not suitable for animated pictures. To create dynamic snow in Photoshop, you will need to spend more time.

First you need to open the original photo or image. Next, select the "Brush" tool and go to the palette by pressing the F5 key. Then click the "Shape and Brush Brush" menu and change the settings:

• The size is 5 pixels;
• Angle - 0 degrees;
• Intervals - 75 percent.

In the "Variations of size" tab:

• The size fluctuation is 100 percent;
• Fluctuations in shape - 4 percent;
• The minimum form is 25 percent.

In the "Dispel" tab:

• Fluctuations of the meter - 25 percent.

Next, a new layer creates a white snow in Photoshop. The next step is to create a copy of the layer with the snow. Then a copy of the layer needs to be lifted so that the bottom edge of the copied layer is level with the top layer of snow. After that, select both layers using Ctrl + E.

Adding an animation

After the user has coped with such task how to make a snow in "Photoshop", it is necessary to add animation to the image. To do this, you need to go to the animation window, which is located in the window "Window" - "Timeline".

The animation window will appear at the bottom of the graphic editor. The first step to create dynamic snow - click on the button "Create a timeline for video." After that, the first slide will appear in the window. Then you need:

• Create a copy of the first slide in the animation window;
• Click on the second slide;
• Drag the upper snow layer on the image a little lower, so that only a small edge is visible;
• Select the two resulting slides and click "Create Intermediate Frames".

In the appeared window, change the parameters:

• Add frames - 20;
• Layers - all layers;
• Layer attributes - position, opacity and effects.

Applying settings will create twenty intermediate slides with animated snow. In order for the resulting animation to be cyclic and not interrupted, you must delete the last slide. In the animation window, you can adjust the rate of "falling" of snow. It is enough to change the duration of each slide.

To save the resulting image, you need to open the "File" menu and select "Save for web". In Photoshop of the CC version, this function was moved to the "File" - "Export". When saving, you must select the GIF format.

Filter "Noise" and the addition of snow

You can create snow without using brushes for Photoshop. Snow will look realistic if you correctly use the "Noise" filter.

First you need to load the original image into the graphics editor. Then you need to create a new layer and use the Fill tool to paint it in black. Further it is necessary:

• Go to the "Filters" tab;
• Select from the list "Noise";
• In the opened window, click on "Add noise".

In the filter settings, change:

• The amount is 400 percent;
• Add "Gauss";
• Include "Monochrome".

After changing the look of noise:

• Transition to "Filters";
• The choice of the item "Blur";
• Click on "Gaussian";
• In the window change the size to two pixels.

To create islands of snow, you will need:

• Go to the "Image" menu;
• Select "Correction";
• Click on "Brightness / Contrast".

Then you need to change the brightness and contrast values until the desired result is achieved. And, at last, it is required to superimpose a "snow" layer on the image. To do this, click on the "snow" layer and change the blend mode to "Clarity". The black color will become transparent, the snow will fall on the photo. Next - save the file.

So, you can solve the problem of how to make snow in Photoshop in several ways: using brushes, animations and filters.