Ever had someone annoy you so much you wanted to beat them up, but you don’t actually want to cause them physical harm? Well now you can create the after effects in Photoshop! I first did these effects for a school project in which I made myself look like I’d gotten into a pretty bad fight. While doing that project I went looking for tutorials on how to make cuts and bruises. It was easy enough to find bruises tutorials, also figuring it out wasn’t difficult, but I wasn’t able to find anything on cuts. I didn’t want to create anything huge, just some split lips, so that’s all I’ve done in this tutorial, but when I do figure out a realistic large wound I’ll be posting it. For this tutorial there are a lot of steps that work only for this specific photo, settings will change depending on the lighting, skin colour, etc. There are download links at the end of this post if you wish to use this photograph.

This is what we’ll be making

Open up whatever image you’re working on and duplicate the Background layer using CTRL+J and rename the new layer as Safety. Now create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer.

And use these settings to create a base for the bruising around the eyes.

Change the name of the layer to Bruise Base50% and change the opacity to 50%. Invert the mask of the adjustment layer by selecting it and pressing CTRL+I. Select a soft brush and with white paint around the eyes. My mask looked like this.

The full image looked like this.

There will be a few adjustment layers like this. Make another hue/saturation but this time use these settings, rename Brown/Green72% and change the opacity to 72%.

Select the mask and invert it and paint with white around the eyes again, but paint in slightly different areas than before, overlapping is okay.

Create another hue/saturation layer and rename it Brown24% and set the opacity to 24 % and use these settings.

Invert the mask and paint with white again. I only painted around the right (left) eye, and around the top edge.

Create another hue/saturation layer and rename it Red/Brown71% change the opacity to 71% and invert the mask and paint with white. Use these settings.

Make one last hue/saturation layer and rename it Pink/Purple43%, change the opacity to 43%, invert the mask and paint with white around the eyes. Use these settings for the layer.

Select all the hue/saturation layers and put them into a group called bruises.

Now that we’re all done with the hue/saturation layers for the bruises we’re going to make another hue/saturation layer! Bet you thought I was done with them, but NOPE! (Most of this tutorial is adjustment layers). So make another hue/saturation layer and rename it Darken Eyes. Change the opacity to 46% and use these settings.

Invert the mask and paint on the whites of the eyes so that they are darkened.

It’s a very subtle effect but it pays off.

Now create a Curves adjustment layer.

And change the RED Curve by selecting it in the drop down menu on the Curve Adjustment.

Using the same drop down menu switch back to the RGB curve and dark the image by dragging the bottom point to the right.

Rename the Curve Redden Eyes and change the opacity to 42%. Invert the mask and paint on the eyes with a soft brush.

Copy the Redden Eyes layer and rename Right Nostril Blood. Select the two eye adjustment layers and put them into a group called eyes. Fill the Right Nostril Blood mask completely with black so that it no longer affects the eyes. Select one of the crack brushes (download link at the bottom) and paint with white under the right nostril. Switch to black and brush out any parts you don’t wish to keep.

Copy the Right Nostril Blood layer and rename Left Nostril Blood. Fill the mask with black and paint under the left nostril same as you did with the right nostril.

Copy the Left Nostril Blood curve, rename it lower cut, and fill the mask with full black. Select a crack brush and paint a small cut along the bottom lip.

With the curve adjustment selected choose the FX button and apply an Inner Shadow, and a Bevel Emboss. Use these settings.

Copy the Lower Cut curve and rename it as Upper Cut. Once again fill the mask with black and select a crack brush and paint a small cut along the upper lip.

The settings for the FX can remain the same. Copy the Upper Cut layer and rename the copy Upper Cut 2, you can rename the original Upper Cut 1.

Now copy the Upper Cut 2 layer and rename it Extra Blood. Remove the effects and fill in the mask with black. Select a soft brush and paint with white around the nose and the cuts on the lip.

Select all the cut and blood layers and put them into a group called Cuts/Blood. Use CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E to merge all layers into a new layer. Rename the new layer WIP (Work In Progress) and make a copy of it using CTRL+J. Rename the copy Liquify. With the Liquify layer selected go to Filters>Liquify (or use SHIFT+CTRL+X).

Using the settings below use single clicks with the brush to bloat parts around the eyes, nostrils, and lips to simulate the swelling (I really recommend single clicking and building on those slowly, that way it won’t be over done, and can be easily controlled).

Use CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E to merge all the layers to a new layer. Rename this new layer HDR and convert the layer to a Smart Object.

Double click the Smart Object and click yes on the dialogue box that comes up. This will open the Smart Object into its own file that is still connected to the layer in the original. In the Smart Object file go to Image>Adjustments>HDR Toning… it will say that it will have to flatten the image, just click yes it’s okay.

Use the settings below to get the image to how I’ve made it. You can play around with them to get the image to your liking, and just to see what they do.

When you have the settings to how you want them click Okay. Then go to File>Save (this will only save the Smart Object file, not the original PSD, but what’s awesome is that it will save the changes to the HDR layer in the original). Now back in the original PSD use CTRL+SHIFT+N to open the New Layer dialogue box. We’re going to make a Dodge & Burn layer. In the dialogue box change the Mode to Soft Light, check the box to fill with Soft-light neutral color (50% gray), and click OK. Select a soft brush and set the brush opacity to 5% paint with black around areas you wish to make darker (I painted around the bruises, cuts, nose, and other shadows) and paint with white around the areas you wish to make lighter (I just painted in areas to highlight the edges around shadows).

Open the new layer dialogue box and give it the same settings, this time name it Vignette. Right click the new Vignette layer and convert it to a Smart Object, then go to Filter>Lens Correction (or use SHIFT+CTRL+R). Use these settings to create the vignette.

And that’s it. Here’s what my layer panel looks like.

And here is what the final looks like.

I hope you found this tutorial informative, and useful. And that it explained things well. Feel free to comment or send me an email.

Download Links:

RETOUCHED PORTRAIT



UNRETOUCHED PORTRAIT

CRACK BRUSHES