How To Create Snow in Photoshop

In this video tutorial, watch as Redouane Naouri shows you how to create snow in Photoshop. There are many ways to do this, but this technique is one I have not seen before.

In the video, Naouri starts by creating a brush with real snow texture. Having tried to create snow for composites in the past, it is very hard to get realistic snow, so using the real thing for a brush is inventive thinking. Before the brush is used, you have to set the scene for your snow. When snow falls, it is usually a little bit misty with a dull sky, and everything has a blue tint. If you add it to an image that looks too yellow and sunny, the snow will not work. Once the image set is looking good, we carry on refining our snow brush.

As the video continues, Naouri shows us all the settings he applies to his new snow brush. Brush settings can be a little daunting at first, but the more time you spend within the brush panel, the easier it gets. It is not as hard as it looks. Once the brush settings are done, Naouri paints his snow into the scene. When you paint, subtle is always best. Paint slowly, and if you go overboard, you can refine it with a layer mask. The final ingredient to this snow effect is using bevel in the FX styles options. This gives the snow more depth and more realism. 

This tutorial is great for anyone who needs to add realistic snow to an image. Naouri uses more digital painting styles than most photo-manipulators, so the tutorial can be tricky for beginners.

Clinton Lofthouse's picture

Clinton Lofthouse is an Advertising/Entertainment photographer, creative artworker and Photoshop expert from the U.K. Specializing in composite and photomanipulation imagery.
When he is not chained to his desktop PC editing, Clinton likes to put on Synthwave music, wear Aviator sunglasses and pretend to be in an 80s movie.

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2 Comments

Nice work, but was it really necessary to destroy the white balance in such a way? IMHO photographers get used to seeing those bluish tones when the camera fails to correct the white balance. But it's not what non-photographer viewers would expect from such a scene if they were actually there.

Exactly what I thought. The white balance here also made me wonder