Pop Art Research Blog | R. Tyson Photography

The original image. Image licensed by Photoshop Essentials.com from iStockphoto.

And here’s the pop art effect we’re aiming for:

Step 1: Draw A Selection Around The Main Subject Of Your Photo

Step 2: Copy The Main Subject Onto A New Layer

Step 3: Add A Solid Color Fill Layer Below The New Layer

Click the New Fill Or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

This brings up Photoshop’s Color Picker. Go ahead and choose any color you want right now for the background. It doesn’t matter which color you pick because, as we’ll see later, you can always go back and choose a different color any time you want. I’m going to choose a light blue for now:

And I can now see in my Layers palette that I have a solid color fill layer between my Background layer and the “threshold” layer:

Step 4: Use The Threshold Adjustment To Remove The Detail From The Main Subject

Photoshop’s “Threshold” dialog box.

Step 5: Select The First Area Of Your Subject To Colorize And Copy It To Its Own Layer

Selecting the girl’s hair with the Lasso tool.

Give your new layer a descriptive name.

The girl’s hair is now copied onto its own layer above the “threshold” layer.

Step 6: Continue Selecting All Areas And Copying Them To New Layers

Continue selecting each area you want to colorize and copying it to its own layer until you’re done.

Step 7: Colorize Your First Section With A Solid Color Fill Layer

Hold down “Alt” (Win) / “Option” (Mac) and click the “New Fill Or Adjustment Layer” icon.

Then, while still holding Alt/Option, select Solid Color from the top of the list:

While still holding Alt/Option, select “Solid Color” from the top of the list.

Also, make sure you select the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option this time:

The solid color fill layer now added above the “hair” layer.

The girl’s hair is now filled with orange.

Step 8: Change The Blend Mode Of The Solid Color Fill Layer To Multiply

Change the blend mode of the fill color layer from “Normal” to “Multply”.

Now the black areas in her hair are visible once again:

Step 9: Continue Adding Solid Color Fill Layers For Each Section

The image after adding a solid color fill layer to each section.

The pop art effect is now complete, and the nice thing is, I can now go back and change any colors I want, as we’ll see next.

Step 10: Change Any Colors You Want Whenever You Want

To change any of the colors, double-click on the color swatch icon for the fill color layer you want to change.

This will bring the Color Picker back up. Choose a different color, and then click OK. You can change any or all of the colors in the image whenever you want. I’ll go ahead and change all of the colors in my image.

The same effect using different colors.

And again, here’s the same image with different colors: