Realistic Looking Snow in Photoshop

In this not so big, but very useful tutorial I will teach you how to create the snow in Photoshop. Hope, it will looks like real snow.


Before we get started I would like you to download stock photo of pine with Christmas ball, which you can download from here. Also you can find some appropriate pictures on Google Images. Open up the picture and begin the tutorial. Begin from the background. As we know the snow under the pine should be darken than on the foreground. Ok, select the Brush Tool and one of the standard brushes in the Photoshop gallery.



Select the color #babecc and begin to make some prints as on my picture below.



Ok, after that reduce brush size to 10 pixels and create the snow between small areas of tree needles and on the cones.



After that I would like to make darker the snow under the pine. For this effect get out the Burn Tool (Brush: 50 ps, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 50%) and make a little burn work. The result should be next:



Ok, time to bring the snow on the medium shot. It will be a little bit brighten as on background, but not so bright as on foreground. Select another standard brush and set up foreground color as #d6d9e6.



Add a few more strokes using this brush.



Now, use another one brush, set up foreground color as #f2f0f6 and create the snow on the foreground. But not create the snow on the pine needles.



After that reduce brush size to 25 pixels and begin to create the snow on the pine needles with white color.



Looks good, isn’t it? Ok, now I would like to add the snow to the picture background. Create a new layer and make a few strokes with white color as on my picture below:



Then use the Blur Tool to blur this layer. The result should be next:



Looks like real snow as for me! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, even just a little bit. Now you’re equipped with the knowledge of creating a nice snow.