Summer Photo Manipulation

1. First start by making a new document for your photo. I used a 360px x 450px but you can use any size you want

Next drag the stock photo onto the canvas and re-size it as you want. I also flipped mine horizontally.

2. Duplicate the Background layer then apply Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen once, then fade it to about 50%, (Edit > Fade.) This will bring out the details a bit.

Now with the Blur Tool

blur the edges (her hair) a little bit, if it's too strong you can change the strength of the Blur Tool.

3. After you blurred her hair a bit to make her the focal point a bit more, apply Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen again and fade it to about 15%.

Next thing to do is get the Gradient Tool and set the following settings:

The colors I'm using are #b66d39 and #42352f.

On a new layer, draw a Radial Gradient from the bottom left to the top right like so:

Change the layer mode for the gradient layer to Screen and lower the opacity to about 95%.

You will be left with a nice, warm result like this:

4. Now to add a few color adjustments..

Start by making a Brightness/Contrast layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast... with similar settings to these:

This should have just brightened it up a little bit.

Lastly, I added a Photo Filter (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter...,) these are only available in Photoshop CS2 and up.

This would've just added a little bit more yellow and contrast.

5. Lastly, I added a border around the photo, and a few plain white shapes to the right side of the photo.

These shapes come with Photoshop, you can find them by getting the Custom Shape Tool and selecting All when in the shapes category.

That's all for this tutorial, you can also download the PSD from here.

Thanks for reading!