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In this tutorial I will show you how to increase the size and quality of your holiday pictures.I will use a picture of a really nice landscape. Unfortunately, the only photo camera available was my mobile phone, so the quality of the picture is not very good.
So here is the picture:

First, let`s reduce the noise a little bit in Photoshop. Open the image and go to Filter -> Noise -> Reduce Noise.Here are the settings I`ve used for this picture:

Now, to enlarge the picture I will not use Photoshop. I will use instead Reshade – Image Enlarger, a much better tool then Photoshop when it comes to enlarging images.
So, I will double the size of the picture. The end result should look like this:

Here are the settings that I`ve used (feel free to play with the settings, you may find a better looking image):

Now, open the edited image in Photoshop. Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Shadow/Highlight and play with the settings. Here are the settings that I`ve used:

And the end result should look like this:

In this tutorial I will show you how to magnify a certain part of an image using Photoshop and Reshade – Image Enlarger. We will use a random image of a grape (stock image). Actually, the image is not so important, because we want to show you the technique to use for your own images.

So, let’s begin by opening this image in Adobe Photoshop (File->Open or simply drag and drop the image on your canvas).
Now, let’s create a magnifier, so we can take a closer look at this tasty grape. So, in order to do that, we will create a SET in which we will create the magnifier. So, go to Layer -> New -> Group and click. The name of the set will be Magnifier.

Now, let’s create the magnifier. Create a new layer and name it handlebar (Layer->New->Layer or CTRL+SHIFT+N).
In this layer make a selection using the Rectangular Marquee Tool that will look somehow like mine (this will be the handle of the magnifier, so just make it look like a handlebar – also try to imagine the round magnifying part so that all will look more realistic).

Right-click inside the selection and choose Fill. In the little window that will appear, choose Black in the Use drop-down menu. Do not deselect.
Now, we will have to make this look real. So, go to Select -> Modify -> Smooth. Select a Sample Radius of around 10px. Click OK. You will notice how the selection has now round corners. Right-click in the selection and choose Select Inverse. Hit the Delete key. Deselect. You should end up with something like this:

Let’s give some depth to that handlebar. Go to Layer -> Layer Style -> Blending Options.
Here are the settings I’ve used:

So, we have the handlebar. Let’s make the actual magnifier now. Create a new layer (Layer -> New-> Layer or CTRL+SHIFT+N ) and name it Magnifier. Select the Eliptical Marquee Tool (it is under the Rectangular Marquee Tool if you have trouble finding it). Make a round selection that will look like the support for the magnifier (hold Shift to create a perfect circle). Try to make the selection above the handlebar. Fill it with black (right click -> Fill -> Use: Black -> Ok).Now go to Select-> Modify -> Contract. Select Contract by something around 12px.You should end up with something like this:

Under the Blending Options (Layer -> Layer Style -> Blending Options), choose this settings:

Ok, let’s magnify that grape. Click on the Magnifier Layer Set (NOT LAYER, the Set) and click Edit -> Free Transform (or CTRL+T) and move it above the grape (maybe rotate it a little bit).Our image looks like this:

Now comes the really interesting part. Magnifying the original grape image. As we all know, Photoshop is the best image editor around, but, by being so complex, it has it’s issues. One of them is enlarging an image. It does the job, but it doesn’t do it very good (you don’t really have a lot of options on that). So, we will use a really great tool, that it will do the job better. The Reshade – Image Enlarger.
So, open the original grape image in this software (File -> Open).
I used this settings (feel free to play with those settings and create your own version of the image).

Save the image and open it in Photoshop. Go to Select->All (or CTRL+A), after that go to Edit -> Copy (CTRL+C) and File -> Close (CTRL+W).
Move the image under the Magnifier Layer set. Layer -> Arrange -> Send Backward (or CTRL+[)The layer order should be like this:

Now, go to Edit -> Free Transform and just move the image so inside the magnifier is the “zoomed” part.
Click on the Magnifier Layer. Select the Magic Wand Tool and simply click inside the magnifier (the circle inside). Go to Select -> Modify -> Expand and enter a value of around 2-3 px and click Ok.
Now, click again on the Layer 1 (the one with the zoomed grape). Right click, and choose Select Inverse and then press the Delete key. Do not deselect.
The image should look like this:

Again, right click and choose Select Inverse. Go to Filter -> Distort -> Spherize and choose an amount of around 25-30%. Click Ok.
With the selection still active, create a new layer (Layer-> New-> Layer or CTRL+SHIFT+N) and name it glass. Go to Edit->Fill and choose Use: White and Opacity: 10px.
If you want, you can play with the white reflexions or add some features to the magnifier, but this is optional, due to the fact that the main idea of this tutorial was to show you how to make a general magnifier.
My final image looks something like this:

In this tutorial I will show you how to transform a picture into a painting.

For start, let`s get a nice picture that deserves to be transformed into a nice old looking painting. I used this really beautiful stock picture of a nude. The background is nice, the girl is nice also. The perfect combination:

Usually, this process is time consuming using just Photoshop, but in this tutorial I will use Reshade – Image Enlarger, a software with a great potential not only for enlarging images but for creating amazing effects in no-time.
Another great thing about this software is that the image used doesn`t need preliminary preparations or other steps that Photoshop requires for obtaining the desired effect. In this case, the picture is really good, but you can try all this steps with any picture you want.
So, let`s start by opening the original image (the one above) in Reshade – Image Enlarger. Below you have the settings that I`ve used. But those are not strictly the PERFECT settings. Feel free to experiment. I`ve used THOSE settings on THAT picture. My objectives were:
- less perfection in colors (a painting is not a picture, so it can`t have all the real-life details)
- chubby edges (we do not want perfection in a painting, so the last thing we want from our effect are smooth edges)

So, after using Reshade – Image Enlarger, let`s open the modified picture in Photoshop.

Duplicate the Background layer (Layer -> Duplicate Layer). Name the duplicated layer “paint1”.With the paint1 layer selected, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Variations. Check Midtones button. After that, click on More Cyan and then Lighter. Click Ok. This will reduce the color intensity and it will give a nice overall effect for the picture.

Now let`s add a really fine-tune effect that will make the painting look really cool. Go to Filter -> Brush Strokes -> Spatter and choose a Spray Radius of around 3 and a Smoothness of around 9.
In the next step we will try to add some white edges on the painting, a common feature in old-paintings.
Duplicate the paint1 layer (Layer -> Duplicate Layer) and name it white_edges. Desaturate (Image -> Adjustments -> Desaturate or CTRL+SHIFT+U). Go to Filter -> Stylize -> Find Edges. Invert the black and white (Image -> Adjustments -> Invert or CTRL+I). Set the blending mode to Lighten and the opacity to 50%.
Next, let`s add some texture to the painting. Create a new layer (Layer-> New -> Layer or CTRL+SHIFT+N) and name it texture. Fill it with white (Edit -> Fill, and choose Use: White). Now go to Filter -> Texture -> Texturizer, Texture: Canvas, Scaling: 100%, Relief: 4. Click OK.Set the blend mode to Multiply and the opacity to around 40% for this layer.
The end result should look something like this: