How to Make Blueprints in Photoshop

Blueprints are technical drawings that usually illustrate the detailed plans of a building or mechanical product. They are called blueprints because plans used to be copied onto a chemically coated paper that made copying easier. Today, with Photoshop, you can copy an image onto a digital blueprint by applying some simple effect to the image.

Things You'll Need

• Photoshop CS3 or Higher
• Image

Instructions

1. 

   Open the image that you want to turn into a blue print. Copy the entire image.

2. 

   Select "Window>Channels" to display the "Channels" palette. Click on "Create a new channel" in the channel palette. Paste the image in the channel

3. 

   Select "Filter>Stylize>Find Edges." This should give you the basic structure of your image. To refine the edges, select "Image>Adjustments>Threshold." Adjust the threshold as desired.

4. 

   Create a new layer. Delete the background layer or turn off the visibility. Select the inverse of the new channel. Select "Select>Load Selection." Then select the name of the new channel in the "Channel" drop-down box and select the "Invert" box.

5. 

   Select "Edit>Fill." Select "Color" from the "Use" drop-down box. Select a white or navy blue color. Click "Ok" and deselect the image.

6. 

   Create a new background layer and fill it with blue.

Tips & Warnings

• You can adjust the levels of the channel to increase or decrease the clarity of the drawing's lines.

References

• Create blueprint

Resources

• Create a vibrant blueprint