Combining Reality With A Rotoscope-Style Painting

Step 3: Apply The "Poster Edges" Filter To The New Layer

With "Layer 1" selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Artistic, and then choose Poster Edges.

This brings up Photoshop's Filter Gallery set to the "Poster Edges" filter options on the right (circled in red):

Keep an eye on the large preview area on the left to see what's happening to your image as you adjust the Poster Edges options. For my image, I've set Edge Thickness and Edge Intensity both to 1, and Posterization to 2. These settings work best for this image, but feel free to experiment with the options yourself to see if other settings work better for your image. The object is to make the subject look less like an actual photo and more like a painting. The main option here is the third one, "Posterization", which determines how many different shades of color your image will contain. Lower values tend to work best.

Click OK when you're happy with the results to exit out of the Filter Gallery. Here's my image after applying the filter:

Step 4: Add A Black Stroke Around The Main Subject

We're going to enhance the effect a little by adding a black stroke around the main subject. With "Layer 1" still selected, click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

The choose Stroke from the bottom of the list of Layer Styles that appears:

This brings up the Layer Style dialog box set to the Stroke options in the middle column. Photoshop always sets the default color of the stroke to red (which makes no sense at all). We want our stroke color to be black, so to change it, click on the color swatch to the right of the word "Color":

Photoshop's Color Picker will appear. Click in the bottom left corner of the large square area on the left to select black. You'll know you've selected pure black because the values for the "R", "G", and "B" options on the right will all read "0":

Click OK to exit out of the Color Picker. Then, back in the Stroke options in the Layer Style dialog box, set the stroke Size at the top to somewhere between 2-4 pixels depending on the size of your image. I've left mine set to the default of 3 pixels. Then change the stroke Position to Center by clicking on the down-pointing arrow and choosing "Center" from the list:

After adding the black stroke around your subject (the two people in my photo), your image should now look something like this:

Don't click out of the Layer Style dialog box yet. We have one more effect to add.