Let It Snow - Winter Photoshop Action and Brush Collection Tutorial

We're going to talk a little bit about using the Let it Snow Action and Brush Collection for Photoshop, Creative Cloud and Photoshop Elements. Excited? We are too!

First thing's first, let's talk about installing your new Photoshop Snow Actions.  It's really very easy to install actions in Photoshop, promise!  First, find your Action Panel in Photoshop. If you don't see it, navigate to your Menu>Window>Actions and voila, your Actions Panel will appear. 

Next click on the little menu icon at the top right of your panel and select "Load Actions" from the dropdown. From there you can navigate to where you have your Pretty Photoshop actions saved on your computer. If you haven't saved them anywhere yet, you should find your download folder containing your actions in the Recent Downloads. Once you find your actions, simply double click on the file and they will automatically appear in your Actions Panel and are ready to use! 

Let's get ready for the fun part...It's very simple to use this collection, and tons of fun!!!  You can add snow quickly and easily just by clicking on Snow Flurries or the Snow Flakes actions and hitting Play at the bottom of the panel.  You will automatically see the action appear above, in your layers panel.

Depending on your image, after you play a snow action, your snowflakes may appear large or small or sometimes you might see more on one side than the other. This is normal, you can just delete that layer and try again because this happens vary randomly.  The smaller your file is the bigger the flakes will be and the bigger the flakes may be the smaller the the image may be.  So just play with it and see how it looks. Most importantly, have fun!

Of course there are other fun actions you can try to complete your winterland scene,  like Snow Flurries, Snow and Sleet, Snow Shower heavy, and more!  Play each one and see how they each compliment your image differently, don't be afraid to mix and match! In fact the examples shown in this post are a mix of 2 or three different snow actions (at varying opacities) and a snow brush was used for a custom look as well!

If you want to be able to brush them off of certain areas of your image, you can quickly add a mask by navigating to your menu>layer>layer mask>reveal all (make sure the proper layer is selected first).  Next make sure your brush tool is selected and black is set to the foreground color.  Lastly, just paint over the areas of your image you wish to remove some of the snow flakes.  You might want to do this if a snowflake falls directly over your subject's face or another focus of your image.

Let's not forget about adding creative actions to complete the look, in this collection you will find,  Purple Frost, Misty Blue, and Cool Breeze–all perfectly equipped to turn your summer scene into a winter one...or just give that winter photo a little more pop!  There are so many combinations of Photoshop Actions in our Let it Snow collection that it's sure to compliment any photo that needs that extra wintery touch.

Quick tip: If an action plays and appears too strong, you can always lower your opacity in the top Options bar.  Also, if you have skies in your image, you can play the Gray Clouds action, brush it on your skies and make them cloudy, this will make the snow pop!  Yes, we've truly thought of everything!

One of my favorite ways to winterize a photo with this collection is by using the Kill the Grass action.  It works wonders on taming the green and giving your image a creamy, winter feeling.  Just grab your Brush tool from the Tools Panel and paint on your image where you wish to dull the greens, it's like magic!

OK guys, last but not least, there are snowflake brushes in this collection.  Yes you read that correctly, not only can you apply snow through one of our carefully crafted actions but you can custom paint the snow onto areas of your image where you wish to apply! It doesn't get more custom than that! 

To load your brushes, select your Brush tool in the Tools Panel. Next, click on the brush menu icon in the options bar on the top or bottom of your screen.  Select >Load Brushes. Now you can navigate to where you have your brushes saved on your computer.  If you didn't save them, you will like find them in your recent downloads folder.  Close your Brush menu and go back in, your brushes will appear and they are now ready to use!  You may have to restart Photoshop to see your brushes appear, this is normal too.

Have fun playing with your new Let it Snow Winter Photoshop Action and Brush Collection. We know you are going to fall in love with it the first time you use it!