How to Make Icicles in Photoshop

If you want to send a digital snapshot for a Christmas e-card but it doesn't look wintery enough, add icicles. You don't have to wait for a winter freeze; all you need is Photoshop and a few digital wizardry tricks.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Open the image you want to doctor in Photoshop. Add a new layer above the image.

2. Paint the icicles onto the new layer. Consider how the ice would form and where it would begin to drip into icicles. Mid-tone gray will give you the nest color. Build your icicles slowly with a hard brush to create the look of drips.

3. Add shading with the dodge and burn tools. Don't worry about accuracy. You aren't trying to create realistic shadows and highlights, just provide texture. Set the dodge to option to "Highlights" to boost the white tones.

4. Apply the "Plastic Wrap" filter. Tweak the highlight strength and smoothness to get the best effect.

5. Erase the ice edges with a soft edged brush and reduced transparency to blend them into the object they are hanging from.

6. Add a hint of layer color. Change the blend mode to "Hard Light." Apply the "Color Overlay" layer style. Use the color picker to select a color from the background and set the blend mode to "Overlay" with 10 to 20 percent opacity.

Tips & Warnings

• If you can't paint the dripping effect quite as well as you'd like, try using the "Liquefy" command in the Filter menu.
• Photoshop CS3 allows you to convert the icicle to a smart object before you apply the filter. This will allow you to adjust the strength, smoothness and detail settings at any time.
• Don't paint your icicles against a bright background or the "Hard Light" setting will make them disappear.