distressing items in photoshop

[DanaZ]

I have seen how people who paper scrap will sand items to make them look distressed. Specifially I saw someone do this to a picture that they printed onto cardstock.

Is there a link to a tutorial that would show me how to do this in Photoshop?

[Margie]

ah, i don't know if there's a tutorial or not, but i'll make sure our designers see this, they're so darn good at it!! i used a brush, in a slighly lighter color, but it's been so long i don't remember details! :o

[Lauren]

I do cover this sort of effect in my element making class for photoshop - and I extend on it in the advanced element creation class.- but in essense I do this sort of stuff with brushes as Margie has suggested and also using some of the layer style effects in photoshop

[Meryl]

There are lots of ways to make things look distressed - for paper items brushes are very quick & easy www.misprintedtype.com has some good ones. An image of wrinkled paper can be scanned and saved as a texture to use. I also like to use the burn & dodge tool - you really need to play, experiment & try out!

[Marcee]

Brushes are the best tools for distressing pictures...and backgrounds..in Photoshop you can use grunge brushes..I downloaded some of the brushes that meryl suggested and opend a picture then chose one of the grunge brushes and set it size to cover the entire picture..you can do it 2 diffrent ways..just use the brush as normal..and add dark colors such as dark brown or tan and apply the brush directly to the photo..or you can click on the Burn tool and set it at Midtones and apply the brush that way..here is the effect I got on my daughters photo using just color and a brush and the burn tool.

Distressed Photo (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11540)

You can use more or less brush work to get the desired effect.

Hope this helps explain it some..Please let me know if you need any more help

[elizabethlmccoy]

great answers let me ask you this....Would you say it would be a good idea to make an image like the one marcee shared and then save it and use it as an overlay??? And then you could have instant grunge???

Does that make sense?? Is that something that would work??

[Marcee]

I tried the grunge overlay you can do it for backgrounds pretty well but to have a grunge overlay for photos would be harder because of the diffrent aspects and colors and positioning of the subject is diffrent in each photo...and overlay that works well for one photo might not for another.

Here is a grunge overlay that I made using grunge brushes I designed..Download it and see if it will work for your photos and background..post them in the gallery so how well or not..it works on diffrent photos and backgrounds.

Just place it over your photos or backgrounds..you might need to lower the opacity for it to work on your project.

Grunge overlay (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/quickcrop/GrungeOverlay.png)

[Lauren]

YOu could save it and use it as an overlay but as Marcee said - each photo would need the distressing in different places - thats the benefit of brushes - you can paint them where you want them - having said that - for backgrounds and matts and things an overlay layer would work really well -
Remember you can change the colour of both the overlay and the brushes - sometimes a white or light brush can give a really good distressed /folded/sanded look where as a darker colour gives a more grungy look

[Emma]

I cover distressing in my PS and PSE classes, using stock PS(E) brush and using white for a textured look. I usually use both dark (brown/black/tan etc) for dirt, and white or light tan for scratches.

The grunge brushes you download or make are the best for this technique. Here's an example of long edge brushes used to make fold lines (on their own layer with bevel/emboss style applied), with white an black soft brushes for shading/highlights
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1379

Using a click or fast click and drag usually gives the best results. Also, getting in the Brushes Palette/More Options (PSE)/Brush Variance (PSP) and increasing the spacing and scatter and rotation jitter can be helpful too, depending on the size/style of the brush.

Play, practice (take my class :p ) It's a lot of fun to throw "gunk" on layouts