Halloween Photoshop Tutorial

Halloween Photoshop Tutorial: In this Halloween Photoshop Tutorial, you will learn to manipulate photos, cropping, blurring, and adjusting the photo mode to create a glowingly ethereal spirit.

Halloween Photoshop Tutorial 1– Begin with a background

To create a Halloween desktop wallpaper, open a new Photoshop file with the dimensions: 1024x768. Because of the Halloween theme to this wallpaper, find a dark, empty room image for the background. For this tutorial, we used the photo titled “Empty Room” from Stock Exchange. Copy and Paste the image into your blank wallpaper window within Photoshop (the room layer should appear above a white layer), then resize and position the photo as necessary by clicking on the photo layer and then Ctrl+T (or clicking Edit, Free Transform). Drag the corner of the transform box while holding Shift to resize the image. Then click and drag the image into the position you desire. Click Enter to apply the changes.

2- Feather the Edges

With the room image as the active layer, click Ctrl+A (Select All) to select the entire screen. To create a white fade around the edge of the image, click Ctrl+Alt+D to bring up the Feather menu option. Feather your selection in by 20 pixels. Click OK, and then inverse your selection (Select, Inverse). Press the delete key 2-3 times to lighten the edges as desired.

Halloween Tutorial 3- Darken the Windows

Select the windows using the Polygonal Lasso Tool in Photoshop. With the windows selected, cut and paste the windows into their own layer. Then, click on Image, Adjustments, and Brightness/Contrast. Lower the Brightness and raise the Contrast until you have a satisfyingly dark scene outside.

In the case of this Halloween Photoshop Tutorial, there’s still white around the edge of the window. This time, select just the white edges. Use Brightness/Contrast again to darken the edge. Then, to bring back the wooden look of the window (with the “white” area still selected), add a Texturize “Canvas” filter as in the tutorial image below.

Deselect the window edge (Ctrl+D) and apply a “Film Grain” artistic filter to the entire windows layer.

4- Halloween Ghost

Now, you are at the stage of this tutorial when you add a Halloween ghost to your wallpaper. Find an image of someone in black or dark clothing that you wish to use. Copy and paste the image into Photoshop. Use Ctrl+t to resize the image until the entire character fits within the screen. Select out the individual. With only the character selected, invert your selection and delete the rest of the image.

Duplicate the ghost layer. With the bottom ghost layer active, apply a Gausian Blur (Filter, Blur, Gausian Blur) of around 20 pixels. Set the layer mode to Luminosity.

Duplicate the non-blurred ghost layer again. With the middle layer active, apply another Gausian Blur, this time around 5 pixels. Set this layer mode to Exclusion and apply a white Outer Glow.


Set the top ghost layer (the only one left un-blurred) to Exclusion, then link all three layers. Resize and position as desired.

Tutorial step 5- Ghostly Candles

Find an image of a nicely shadowed candle (for this Halloween Photoshop Tutorial, we used "Candelabra" from Stock Exchange). Copy and paste the image into Photoshop. Select a single candle, including the slight glow around the flame. Invert the selection and delete the excess areas of the image. Set the candle layer’s mode to Luminosity. Duplicate the layer, position and resize until you are satisfied with the number and placement of the candles. Merge candles into one layer.

6- Photoshop Flair

Create a final layer and fill it with black. Add a small Lens Flair (Filter, Render, Lens Flair) to this layer. Set the layer mode to Screen. Duplicate, resize, and position multiple layers until each candle has its own flair. Merge all flairs into one layer.

7- Add Text

Finally, add the text to the wallpaper. For a spooky appearance, choose font type Chiller. Set the text layer mode to Darker Color with a 36% opacity and add a white Outer Glow.

At this point of your Halloween Photoshop Tutorial, your wallpaper is pretty much complete. Touch up any dissatisfying areas and save the project.

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