| Rain is bad for cameras, but it can be excellent for photographs. People do not often take pictures on
cold, rainy days, but by combining a couple of filter effects, you can take a sunny photo and make
it look like you braved the worst of weather.
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Download the rain.zip 1 MB ZIP archive, extract and open rain.jpg, then save it as a
PSD file, adding a new layer, and filling
it with black. Start building raindrops
by choosing Filter > Noise > Add Noise
and setting Amount to 400%. Click
Gaussian for an uneven, more realistic
distribution, and check Monochromatic
so colors won’t be added. Right now, the
image looks more like a staticky television
screen than a rain shower, so you’ll
need to take some extra steps to make
convincing rain.
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If you zoom in and examine the noise
you added, you’ll see it’s really just a lot
of white squares on a black background.
You need to add some tonal variation
to the noise, so apply a 1-pixel Gaussian
Blur. This doesn’t make anything look
especially different, but now if you press
Command/Ctrl–L to access Levels and
drag the black slider to the right, interesting
things begin to happen to the noise.
Variations get very exaggerated, with
many areas disappearing completely.
A shadows setting of 100 gave me the
look I wanted.
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You’re still left with white dots on
a black field, so choose Filter > Blur >
Motion Blur. The higher the Distance,
the harder the rain will seem to fall, but
it won’t be as obvious. I chose a Distance
setting of 39. The Angle determines
the direction of the rainfall. I’d suggest
always creating at least a slight angle
to prevent the blur from looking like a
texture. Set a higher Angle to simulate
blowing rain. I went with an Angle of
–72. To combine the rain with the original
image, set the blending mode of the
rain layer to Screen.
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Now it looks like rain, but more like
a shower on a sunny day. Select the
Background layer, and add adjustment
layers for an overcast appearance. Here,
I lowered Saturation on a Hue/Saturation
adjustment layer, changed overall tone
with a Color Balance adjustment layer,
and made the rain more obvious with a
subtle Curves adjustment layer. Lower
the layer opacities if the adjustments look
too obvious.
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There are still bright contradicting
areas, such as the sky and the sun on the
buildings. Add a new layer directly above
the Background layer, and set the blending
mode to Darken. Use a large, soft,
black brush set to 5% Opacity to paint
over bright areas that betray the scene.
Paint with single mouse clicks to add a
realistic mottled effect in the sky, and
vary the brush size in between clicks.
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The final effect is shown at left (click to enlarge). By experimenting with the settings
used in Steps 2 and 3, you can achieve
other effects:
- Finer rain: Make the Levels setting in
Step 2 higher.
- Snowflakes: Set the Motion Blur in
Step 3 to a smaller Distance.
- Starry night: Increase the Levels
setting in Step 2 and skip the Motion
Blur in Step 3.
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Doug Nelson is a freelance writer,
technical editor, and founder of
RetouchPRO.com, an online community
for photo retouchers.
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