Using Solid Colors to Create a Matte Effect in Photoshop
This tutorial will walk you step-by-step through using Solid Color Adjustment Layers to create a matte effect in Photoshop.
Step 1.
– Click the Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of your layers panel. (half-black, half-white circle button)
Step 2.
– From the flyout menu, select ‘Solid Color’.
Step 3.
– When the ‘Color Picker (Solid Color)’ box pops up, click to select a three-quarter tone* grey-ish color. Here, I chose a warm (almost brownish) tone. Select OK when done. (The darker the grey tone you select, the less of your image will be affected by the matte effect. The lighter the tone, the more ‘Matte’ your image will be. Selecting a “three-quarter tone” grey is a good balance.)
*50% grey means that the grey tone is exactly halfway between black and white on the color scale, 75% or “three-quarter tone” means that the tone is about 3/4 of the way from white to black on the color scale.
Step 4.
– After selecting the color tone and hitting ‘OK’, you’ll now need to change the blend mode of your Solid Color layer. To do so, click the button in your layers panel that says ‘Normal’, and from the pop-out menu, select ‘Lighten’.
Step 5.
– You will now see the Matte effect applied to your image. From here, you can lower the opacity to your liking, for a more subtle effect, or leave as is if you prefer a stronger matte.
And that’s it! You’re done!
Related Posts:
• Adding a Subtle Vignette in Photoshop
• How to Create a Matte Effect in Lightroom or ACR
• Using Gradient Maps to Convert an Image to Black & White
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