Use GIMP to Add Realistic Falling Snow to a Photo

In this project you will use GIMP's tools, filters, and effects to add realisticlooking falling snow to an image. I'd like to point out now that most of the settings used in this example are not hard and fast but rather suggested values which you will likely want to modify to get the exact results you want.

If you want to use the image of the snow boarder used in this example, you can download it here. Prepare the background image by adding a little bit of background haze. Create a new layer, Haze. With the Brush Tool , paint a horizontal medium gray (#9a9a9a) straight line over the middle of the image. Use a large Diameter (200) and about 50% Hardness. Apply a 60 pixel Gaussian blur, Filters - Blur - Gaussian Blur... . In the Layers pallet, reduce the Opacity of the Haze layer to about 65-70%.

Next, stretch the Haze layer upwards. In the Tools menu, click Transform Tools, and select Scale ( T). Drag the top handle of the layer up beyond the edge of the image.

Since the haze is in the background, it shouldn't cover the snow boarder and the trees in the foreground. To correct this, choose the Era ser Tool and simply erase the hazy areas overlaying the trees and the snow boarder.

CREATING THE SNOWFLAKES

The method for generating snow combines the Noise and Blur effects. Start by creating a new layer, Snow 1, then fill it with black, Edit - Fill with FG Color (Be sure the color swatches are set to the defaults). Go to Filters - Noise - Noise Generator..., choose the Laplace tab. Luminance noise only should be checked, slide the Scale up to about 30, the Scale adjustment will determine the density of the snowflakes.

Then go to Filters - Blur - Gaussian Blur... and apply the effect with a Radius of about 1.5. Note that the higher you set the blur radius, the bigger the snowflakes will be.

Go to the Colors menu, click Curves... . In this window, you will see a peak area. You can now adjust the contrast of your layer in order to make it look like snow. To do so, bring the left handle to the to the lower left part of the peak, and the right handle toward the middle of the box. Then, click in the middle of the line to create a new handle, and drag it downward.

Set the Blending Mode for Snow 1 to Screen to blend it with your scene. To make the snowflakes more realistic, give the layer a small Motion blur. To do so, go to Filters - Blur - Motion Blur... with Length 2 and Angle 55. If you set the radius too high, the result will look like rain instead of snow.

The project could end here, but the result is dull and and not very realistic because all of the snowflakes are the same size and going in the same direction, which is not the case in reality. Getting a more interesting result requires a degree of randomness. To achieve this, repeat the effect you just did a few more times, each time varying the amount of noise, the radius of the Gaussian blur, and the Motion blur settings.

I created four different snow layers to get the result shown.

ADDITIONAL EFFECTS

Create a new layer, Mask. Fill it with a light blue (#9ca9ff). Add a mask to the layer, Layer - Mask - Add Layer Mask..., use the defaults . Select the Blen d Tool , choose the FG to BG (RGB) Linear gradient in the tool options (Be sure the color swatches are set to the defaults). Starting about the middle of the image, drag the Blen d Tool vertically upward. Set the Blending Mode for the Mask layer to Burn and reduce the Opacity to 40%.

We can also create an effect to simulate snowflakes that would have landed on the camera's lens, or simply for a stylistic feature. Add a new layer, Shape. Select the Ellip t ica l M a rquee Tool and select a big circle in the middle of your scene, fill it with white, the default background color. Deselect, Select - None (A). Then, use the M ove Tool to place it in a corner of your image so it doesn't hide your subject.

Make a couple more layers, making each circle smaller and lining them up coming out of the corner, then select and merge these layers together, Layer Merge Down from the top down.

Give the Shape layer a Gaussian blur of about 100, and set the Opacity to about 55 %.

You can add a vignette effect in order to make the subject stand out a little bit more. Create a new layer, Vignette. Fill the selection with a very dark blue color (#222838). Choose the R ect a n g ula r M a rquee Tool , check Rounded corners in the tool options, set the Radius to about 65-70. Draw a selection in the center of your image.

Clear the selection, Edit - Clear. Deselect. Then, apply a large Gaussian blur, maybe a Radius of 150 or more.

Set the Vignette layer Blending Mode to Multiply and about 40-45% Opacity.

This project is based on this Photoshop tutorial: Aube, T. (2014, February 3). How to Add Realistic Falling Snow to a Photo in Photoshop - Tuts+ Design & Illustration Tutorial. Retrieved from http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/realistic-falling-snow-in-photoshop--psd35279