![]() ![]() Then move the white point to the left of the tall spike of information on the right hand side of the levels scale (somewhere around level 165), this will make these light gray areas of the image the brightest parts. Move the black point towards the right to the first “hill” of level information – this will tell Photoshop that pure black will be remapped to level 80, which is currently the darkest information in the image. Go back to the Adjustment Layer icon and select Levels, in here we will significantly increase the contrast but ensure we don’t lose too much detail. Open the graphic in Photoshop, at the bottom of the Layers Panel click on the Adjustment Layer Icon (what one of my students charmingly referred to as the black and white cookie) and select Black and White – the defaults are fine for this.Ģ. In Photoshop we will change the graphic to pure black and white, improve the contrast and then prepare it for our application in InDesign.ġ. ![]() The original graphic is black and white, with a touch of yellow because it was scanned from an old book. You can download the original graphic here. For this example we will take a turn of the century graphic pulled from the British Library and convert it to a white overlay for a magazine spread. ![]() The end goal is to create a graphic that is one pure color – typically white or black – on a transparent background. Most of the work is the preparation of your file in Photoshop. Read affiliate disclosure here.Overlaid graphics in InDesign lend layering and texture to layouts and is great way to mix in disparate elements to create depth and meaning. If you have any questions or need clarification on any of the steps taken in this lesson simply leave a comment below. Typically, this feature is located in the Layers menu of most design applications. The trickiest part about making a color overlay in Illustrator is locating the blend modes, which for whatever reason is hidden in the Transparency menu. ConclusionĪs I’m sure you could imagine, this technique can be used to make all kinds of unique designs and stylizations, not just overlays. Step 4: Apply color to the overlay by adding a fill color to the rectangleĪt this point all you have to do now is change the color of the rectangle to whatever color you’d like your overlay to be: You can now change the color of the rectangle to make the color of your overlay whatever you’d like.Īs you change the fill color, the color of the overlay will change accordingly.Īnd that’s it! That’s how you can quickly create a color overlay in Illustrator. Your image will partially show through the rectangle: Changing the blend mode will make the image show through the colored rectangle. To turn the rectangle into a color overlay, simply click on the dropdown menu and select the Overlay option. It should have “Normal” enabled by default: Change the blend mode dropdown to “Overlay” Within the Transparency menu you will see a dropdown menu for the blend modes. ![]() To do this, open the Transparency menu, which can be accessed by navigating to: Next, we’ll change the blend mode of the rectangle we’ve created to change how the rectangle interacts with other objects on the canvas. Step 3: Change the blend mode of the rectangle to “Overlay” You can ensure that your rectangle is the same size as the image by copy and pasting the width and height or by enabling snapping and smart guides while drawing it, as demonstrated in the video tutorial. This rectangle will be what’s used as the color overlay, so it’s important that it matches the size of your image and is placed directly over it. You can just leave the default color for the time being. It doesn’t matter what color your rectangle is right now. With your image now in grayscale, grab the Rectangle Tool and create a rectangle over your image: Place a rectangle over your image. Step 2: Create a rectangle and place it over your image If you leave the image’s colors as they are then this method will not work because the colors will clash with the overlay we’re going to create. This step is important because it gives up a neutral base to work from. This will make your image black and white: Before we can apply a color overlay we must first strip away the color data of the photo so that it doesn’t clash with the overlay we’re going to create. Select your image/subject/artwork and convert it to grayscale by navigating to:Įdit > Edit Colors > Convert to Grayscale For this demonstration I will be applying a color overlay to the photo above. ![]()
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