Shadowed Pixelation Photoshop Tutorial

The Mosaic filter doesn't have to be a boring effect. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to turn a normal pixel effect into a modern pixel effect that has shadows and depth to it.

Step 1

Begin by opening any photo into Photoshop. It's best if you have a high resolution photo to work with, but if any size will work, even a 500x500 pixel image.

Step 2

Before we begin, we need to resize it to the size we want the final results to be. Because this is a pixelation effect, you need to enlarge the image to compensate for the extra space each pixel takes up. If you don't set the dimensions large enough, you might not see enough details for someone to understand what the picture is. I recommend at 2000 pixels or more for the width and height.

Step 3

The first thing we're going to do for the layers is duplicate it. Press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer. Technically, you don't have to duplicate the layer to apply this effect, but we're doing it because it's good practice to keep a copy of the original layer as the "Background" layer. This way, when you want to use the original photo for anything, you have a copy as the background layer.

Step 4

As with any pixelation effect, you need to pixelate it. So that's what we're going to do. We'll use the Mosaic pixelation effect that you can find in the Filter> Pixelate> Mosaic menu. Once you have the Mosaic filter open, you can set the cell size. Set the size to 15 square and then click OK.

Step 5

The pixel effect is done but it would be a very boring effect if we were just to leave it as it is now. So we're going to make it more interesting with an outline. First, press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer to create a duplicate of "Layer 1". Then, rename this layer to outline. You can rename layers by double-clicking on the text in the Layers pallet.

Step 6

Make sure that the "outline" layer is selected. Now go to Filter> Stylize> Find Edges. As the name says, this filter finds the edges of the image; perfect for the outline we want to create.

Step 7

We want the outline to be white, so press Ctrl+I or go to Image> Adjustments> Invert to invert the image. This will invert the colors (ex. red becomes blue) and brightness (ex/ black becomes white) just like negative film for cameras.

Step 8

To make this layer blend, simply look in the Layers pallet and change the blend mode to Screen. Now you have a pixel effect with an outline. It's very simple and it makes any pixel effect look nicer. But we're not done yet, it would be too simple of a tutorial if we were to end here.

Step 9

Now we're going to add a new effect called shadow. This will create shadows on the pixels to create a sense of depth. Sounds complicate? Don't worry it's easy. Start off by duplicating "Layer 1". Select "Layer 1" and press Ctrl+J or go to Layer> Duplicate Layer. You'll need to move this layer to the top so click and drag the new layer to the top . Now rename this layer to "shadow". Remember, to rename a layer, double-click on the text in the layer.

Step 10

The key to the shadows is the Photocopy filter. This filter creates shadows based on the lightness of each pixel. So a dark pixel will have more shadow and the light pixel will have less. Lets begin: go to Filter> Sketch> Photocopy. Use the settings I have below (which should be the default settings) and then click OK.

Step 11

To make this layer blend into the other layers, change the blend mode to Multiply in the Layers pallet. The Multiply blend mode will show the layer based on how dark it is. So the white parts of the layer won't show up and the black parts of the layer will be visible.

Step 12

So we have the outline and shadow effect - are we done? Almost! Just one more effect that'll intensify the depth created by the shadow. This new effect we'll apply will increase the contrast. First, press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E (sounds tricky to press all those keys). This should create a new copy of everything in a new single layer. Name this new layer "soft effect". It should already be on the top so you don't need to move it.

Step 13

First we'll add a blur with the Gaussian Blur filter. Go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 8 pixels and then click OK.

Step 14

Now change the layer blending mode to Overlay in the Layers pallet. Once you do that, you'll immediately see the effect of this layer. It adds more contrast to the image making the depth look greater. And don't worry, that's all there is to this tutorial. You can experiment by adding more effect but that's totally up to you. We have the basics already but you can add new layers with different effects if you want. There's an unlimited number of effects you can apply so we'll leave that for you to play around with.

Step 15

Here's the final result. We've pixelated the image, but it looks like a cool digital artwork rather than just the blocky effect nobody uses because it doesn't look artistic. Below the image below is a Zoomify application where you can zoom in and view the details of the full resolution image I worked on.