How to create frozen ice effects in Photoshop

Christmas may have come and gone, but winter is only just setting in. And with Winter comes the frosty photos and similarly chilled subjects. In this video from Photoshop wizard Nemanja Sekulic, we see a way to give any object a frozen look. Fantastic for those winter themed superhero shots.

It is quite an involved process, and the video’s nearly 19 minutes long, but it’s very effective. Much of that time is taken up by accurately selecting around the objects you wish to freeze. The rest is largely straightforward and you could probably put much of it into an action. The short version, though…

Cut out your objects and duplicate them onto a new layer
Desaturate them and apply a Plastic Wrap filter to the layer
Invert the layer and set it to screen blending mode
Add a clipped Hue/Saturation layer above and turn it blue
Duplicate the hand layer and apply a frosted glass filter filter
Soften the edges of the object where it meets other objects
Add a glow and some frozen debris flying through the air
Run it through ACR and Nik Effects filters to taste

And then you’re basically finished. Of course, it’s a lot easier said than done. It’s quite a stylised look, but it’s pretty effective, and it can work on just about anything.