Creative Photoshop Effects – Colored Dot Pattern
There are so many things you can do with Photoshop. Recently I came across this cool Photoshop effect where you can turn your image into a ton of tiny colored dots like this one.
To begin, open your image in Photoshop. This is my original image.
Solid Color Layer
Add a solid color adjustment layer under your image by going to the adjustment layers in the bottom right corner. Choose the color that fits with your image and you can always come back and change it later. For my image, I chose black.
Mosaic Filter
To add a Mosaic Filter, go to the filter tab in the menu bar up top and choose Pixelate -> Mosaic. This will turn your image into colored squares like mine below. I set my cell size at 5px but you can do what is best for your image. I’d start around 60 and go from there. The more detailed your image is the smaller number you’ll most likely want. Just remember the number you choose as it will become important later.
Create Dot Pattern
Now you are going to create a new document. The size of this document is going to be the same number that you chose to make your cell size for your mosaic filter. My document will be 5x5px. Create a black circle and then invert the colors with the invert adjustment layer in the bottom right corner. Mine looks very pixelated because it is so small, but that’s ok.
With your ellipse layer selected go to Edit in the Menu bar and click Define Pattern. You can name your pattern if you want, I named mine 5x5px Dot. Then click ok and close the document. No need to save if you don’t want to.
Fill Layer Mask
Select your image in the layers panel to the right and add a layer mask. Select the layer mask and go to Edit and then Fill. Change the Contents to Pattern and select the dot image for Custom Pattern. Click ok. Now you have a dotted image.
Optional Edits
Now that you have the dots on your images there are a few things you can do. You can add a stroke to the dots to help define them. Select your image and go to Effects below in the bottom right and click Stroke. The size is up to you and what fits your image. I only needed 1px since my dots are very small.
Last thing to do is to edit your image. Bring out the colors with the Saturation Adjustment Layer, lighten your image with the Brightness Adjustment Layer or the Levels Adjustment Layer. Find what fits for your image.
Once you’ve mastered this, try something besides dots.
Like I’ve said, make sure you modify my settings according to what your image needs. I learned about this effect here and adjusted where needed.
