Photoshop Graphic Design Sport Edit (simple)

Sports are my passion and I love expressing all the great moments through art. One way I'm able to do this is by creating sports edits. I began using less complicated and inexpensive programs but as my passion grew I knew Photoshop was for me. It's currently my main program for graphic design and I'd recommend the program to anyone interested in maximizing their potential.

In this instructable I walk you through the steps on how I used my Photoshop skills to create an original edit of NBA player John Wall. This is a very simple and beginner level edit, and something I thought would be helpful to those of you who might be starting and getting familiar with Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop

The first action was to create the Photoshop Document you'd be editing on. I chose a square size for the best compatibility with Instagram, as for the resolution I recommend always designing on 300 pixels/inch just to ensure quality.

Search for what you are planning on to be the focus point for your edit. In this case I decided on NBA player John Wall. You can pick whatever you'd like, the options are endless. Once again I recommend finding an image larger in size to keep the quality high.

Once you have decided on an image, you want to add that to the original document that you created. Scale and position the photo how'd you like it to appear. Make sure it's the top layer showing.

You now want to duplicate the layer of the image you added in the previous step. Doing this gives you a copy of the image you are working on. Once you've done this we want to turn the duplicated image to black and white. Go to Image>Adjustments>Black & White. Select "Ok" and the layer will change to show the adjustments you selected.

Now that the image is black & white we are able to add the blur effect. There are many different blur options, however I felt a gaussian blur would be the best. You can feel free to choose any you'd like that fits your image the best. To add the gaussian blur go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Select "Ok" and once again the changes you made will appear.

We are now going to add an effect to the background we have started creating. For this edit I added a motion effect, but once again feel free to pick any effect you'd like. You can find these by searching the type of effect you'd like in google. Don't worry about the color, you can change it to black and white following the steps we did earlier. Once you've done this and added the effect to your image you want to change the opacity to 53% or whatever looks best, you don't want this effect to overtake the image and be a distraction so use your judgment on what looks best.

We now want to add some color back into our edit since it's pretty boring and unappealing at the moment. To do this we are going to add a gradient. Begin by adding a new layer on top of all the previous layers. Choose the colors you want to incorporate into the design, for me I decided on the Wizards primary uniform colors. You can choose these by clicking the squares on your left tool bar. We then want to select the Gradient Tool which is also found on the left tool bar. Once you have selected that apply your gradient by clicking and holding at the top of your document and dragging to the bottom. You can then let go and the Gradient will appear.

We are now going to do what we did with our effect early and change the opacity but this time on the gradient layer we just created. You want to click on the opacity and set it to what looks best. In my case 50% was where I felt it looked the best.

Now that the background is complete we want to bring to life the center of our edit. Where your layers are located on the bottom right corner we want to scroll and find the original unedited image we started with. Grab that layer and drag it to the top of the other layers so it looks like the image I have here. We are now going to select the Object Selection Tool from the tool bar on the left side. Once you have this tool picked we want to drag a box around the person/object we are editing from our image. This creates a selection that we can then remove the background from which leaves the person/object isolated.

Now that your person/object is removed from the background it should appear in front of the effects we've added to the background. We can now add a fading effect that goes into our person/object. Select the Eraser tool from the tool bar on the left side and then select the drop down menu I have shown here. You want to set the hardness to 0% and click along the bottom of the person/object creating this fade effect. You can play with the hardness as well as the area you are fading to see what you like the best.

There are many different ways to create lighting and shadows when working in Photoshop but I find this an easy and effective way. We want to add our final new layer on top of the previous layers, we then want to select the color black from our tool bar on the left side. After doing so we need to select the Paint Bucket tool from the tool bar as well. Then simply click on your document and the layer will turn black as shown in the picture.

Now that we have added a black layer we are going to apply the final step. Start by changing the layer opacity which is found in the lower right had corner and highlighted in the image I have shown. I set mine to 55% but once again do whatever you think works best for you. After that click the Eraser tool found on the tool bar. Select the drop down menu and change your opacity to 0% and began clicking where your person/object is located to remove the black from that area until you are satisfied with your product.

You should now be left with the final edit that was shown first in these instructions. If there's anything you feel your edit needs go ahead and make those changes/updates as necessary.

I hope you enjoyed this simple Photoshop Sports Edit tutorial on the journey through my first ever instructable and I hope it was time well spent.