Create a Rugged "Old West" Design

You can’t always work with perfect photos. But with a few ingenious Photoshop techniques, you can turn so-so into something really special. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to add effects to a mediocre snapshot and combine it with a free public-domain photo. The end result is a design that boasts a rugged Western style.
Download the support file folder, called “Old_West_support_files_CreativePro.zip”, then uncompress the folder. It contains two JPG files.
Step 1
Open the support file colorado.jpg in Photoshop. As you can see, my photo of a Colorado mountain range is not the best, but I can still use it in a design.

Step 2
Press Cmd-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the Background layer in the Layers panel. From now on, you’ll be working on a copied layer and will reserve the original layer in case anything goes wrong that an Undo can’t fix.

Step 3
To adjust the levels of this photo, go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and drag the white and gray arrow to reflect the settings in the screenshot below. Click OK.

Step 4
To adjust the color curves for a bit more contrast and depth, go to Image > Adjustments > Curves and adjust the curves so they’re the same as the settings in the screenshot below. Click OK.

Step 5
Now let’s add a hue to this photo. Click the Create a New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers panel.

Step 6
Click the Foreground color picker on the bottom of the Tools panel and select a brown or off-orange color. I chose #ffc208.

Step 7
Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill Layer 2 with this color. In the Layers panel, change the Layer Blending Mode of Layer 2 to Linear Burn.

Step 8
Next, let’s add some title text. I chose Adobe’s Mesquite Standard for an Old West look, and I set the color to white for better contrast against the background.

Step 9
It’s time to add an area for body copy. Click the Create New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers panel. Then click-and-drag a selection with the Marquee selection tool. Make sure to align the sides of the selection with the edges of the title for a balanced design in keeping with the traditional subject matter.

Step 10
Select Black in the Foreground Color Picker on the bottom of the Tools panel and then press Cmd-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to fill the selection with black. Change the Opacity of this layer to 50%.

Step 11
Click and drag a text box within the transparent black area. Change the font to something more suitable for the smaller type size and set the font color to white. I used randomly generated Lorem Ipsum text.

Step 12
Open the second support file, Cowboy 1888.jpg. I found it on Wikimedia Commons, a public domain Web site.
With the Marquee selection tool, draw a rectangular selection around the cowboy and horse. Switch to the Move tool and click-and-drag the selection onto the colorado.jpg file. Photoshop automatically places the cowboy onto a new layer. Move this new layer to just above Layer 1 in the Layers panel. Change the Layer Blending Mode to Darker Color and move the cowboy to the right as shown below.

Step 13
From the bottom of the Layers panel, add a Layer Mask to the cowboy layer. Then choose a large, soft-edged brush and paint with black to remove pixels around the cowboy. This makes the cowboy layer blend better with the background.

Step 14
Now let’s duplicate and flip the cowboy. With the cowboy layer selected, click the dropdown triangle in the Layers panel and choose Duplicate Layer. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal, then hold down the Shift key and drag the cowboy copy to the left side of the text box. Because the background photo is darker on the left side, it makes the left-hand cowboy look darker, too, so lighten that layer’s opacity to 90%.
Your design should now look something like this: