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How to Create an Animated Watercolor Photo Reveal for Instagram Stories in Photoshop

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Read Time: 4 min
This post is part of a series called How to: Instagram .
Instagram Stories: How to Create a Color Story
How to Decorate Photos for Instagram With Drawings: Photoshop in 60 Seconds

In this tutorial, we will create an animated photo reveal effect in Adobe Photoshop for Instagram stories, which can be used with any image.

I created the animation for Animated Creative Portrait Reveal Stories Template the same way for my GraphicRiver portfolio.

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Tutorial Assets

1. How to Prepare the Document

Step 1

Use Control-N to create a new document and use the following settings: 1080 x 1920 px; 300 dpi.

Creating new documentCreating new documentCreating new document

Step 2

Go to File > Place and put your image inside the document.

Placing the imagePlacing the imagePlacing the image

Step 3

Resize your image to the borders of the document and click Enter.

Resizing the imageResizing the imageResizing the image

Step 4

Right-Click on the layer, and then click Convert to Smart Object.

Creating the smart objectCreating the smart objectCreating the smart object

Step 5

Create a new group below your smart object in the Layers panel using the Group Layer Icon, and rename it "Mask Layers".

Creating group of layersCreating group of layersCreating group of layers

Step 6

Select the group of layers and create nine new layers using the Shift-Control-N combination.

Creating mask layersCreating mask layersCreating mask layers

2. How to Create a Painting Effect

Step 1

Select your smart object layer and go to Filter > Noise > Median. Use the following settings: Radius: 4.

Adding median effect to smart objectAdding median effect to smart objectAdding median effect to smart object

Step 2

Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Accented Edges. Use the following settings: Edge Width: 7; Edge Brightness: 28; Smoothness: 5.

Adding accented edges effectAdding accented edges effectAdding accented edges effect

Step 3

Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Underpainting. Use the following settings: Brush Size: 2; Texture Coverage: 2; Scaling: 100%; Relief: 4.

Creating underpainting effectCreating underpainting effectCreating underpainting effect

Step 4

Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Dry Brush. Use the following settings: Brush Size: 2; Brush Detail: 10; Texture: 2.

Adding dry brush effectAdding dry brush effectAdding dry brush effect

Step 5

Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Cutout. Use the following settings: Number of levels: 8; Edge Simplicity: 0; Edge Fidelity: 2.

Creating cutout effectCreating cutout effectCreating cutout effect

Step 6

Double-click on the settings icon near to the cutout filter in the Layers panel and change the Blending Mode of the filter to Soft Light.

Changing fitler blending modeChanging fitler blending modeChanging fitler blending mode

As you can see, some of our photo's details are lost after processing the image with filters. The pupils became poorly discernible; to fix this, we will need to create an overlay.

Example of image after processingExample of image after processingExample of image after processing

Step 7

Create a duplicate of your smart object using Right-Click > Duplicate.

Creating duplicate of the smart objectCreating duplicate of the smart objectCreating duplicate of the smart object

Step 8

Now we need to clear our overlay from smart filters. Right-Click > Clear Smart Filter on the second smart object.

Clearing the smart object from filtersClearing the smart object from filtersClearing the smart object from filters

Step 9

Go to Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights and use the following settings: Shadows Amount: 100%; Highlights Amount: 0%.

Adding filters to overlay smart objectAdding filters to overlay smart objectAdding filters to overlay smart object

Step 10

Go to Filter > Other > High Pass and set the following settings: Radius: 9.0 px.

Adding high pass filterAdding high pass filterAdding high pass filter

Step 11

Change the Blending Mode of the overlay to Linear Light and Opacity to 35%.

Changing blending modeChanging blending modeChanging blending mode

This is how our image will look after implementing all the manipulations listed above:

3. How to Create Masking Strokes

Step 1

Right-Click on the overlay layer and select Clipping Mask.

Creating clipping maskCreating clipping maskCreating clipping mask

Step 2

After that, Right-Click on the main smart object and select Clipping Mask again.

Creating second clipping maskCreating second clipping maskCreating second clipping mask

Step 3

Now let's draw strokes with our free brushes set. Select the first layer in the "mask layers" group, and then click to activate Brush Tool and draw a stroke with the first brush from the set.

Creating first mask layerCreating first mask layerCreating first mask layer

Step 4

Draw one stroke on each layer using different brushes.

Creating strokes on mask layersCreating strokes on mask layersCreating strokes on mask layers

Step 5

Now, we need to create some texture for the background. Select the background layer and use the Shift-F5 combination, and then select the #ecdccb color in the Color Picker panel.

Filling the background with colorFilling the background with colorFilling the background with color

Step 6

Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Texturizer. Use the following settings: Scaling: 100%; Relief: 2.

Adding texture fitler to the backgroundAdding texture fitler to the backgroundAdding texture fitler to the background

Step 7

Change the Blending Mode of the layer mask group to Multiply.

Changing the blending modeChanging the blending modeChanging the blending mode

4. How to Create an Animation

Step 1

Select all the masking layers while holding Shift, and change the Opacity to 0%.

Step 2

Now we are ready to start creating our animation. Go to Window > Timeline and click on Create Video Timeline.

Creating timelineCreating timelineCreating timeline

Step 3

Open the first layer in the Timeline panel and move the Time Indicator to 0:00:00:00.

Moving time indicator to the start of animationMoving time indicator to the start of animationMoving time indicator to the start of animation

Step 4

Now you need to create the first keyframe. Click on the Timer icon near the Opacity to create the first Keyframe.

Creating first keyframeCreating first keyframeCreating first keyframe

Step 5

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:00:13 and then change the Opacity of the layer to 100%.

Creating Second Key FrameCreating Second Key FrameCreating Second Key Frame

Step 6

Select the keyframes you created, and then Right-Click and select Copy.

opying the framesopying the framesopying the frames

Step 7

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:00:07 and create the first Keyframe.

Step 8

Right-Click on the Keyframe and then select Paste.

Pasting the keyframesPasting the keyframesPasting the keyframes

Step 9

Now, we need to Copy and Paste keyframes the same way we did above for all the mask layers.

Creating keyframes for other layersCreating keyframes for other layersCreating keyframes for other layers

Step 10

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:02:22 and create a new Keyframe.

Creating third keyframe for layer 8Creating third keyframe for layer 8Creating third keyframe for layer 8

Step 11

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:03:07 and then change the Opacity of the layer to 0%.

Creating fourth keyframe for layer 8Creating fourth keyframe for layer 8Creating fourth keyframe for layer 8

Step 12

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:00:07 and create the first Keyframe.

Step 13

Go to Layer 7 in the Timeline Panel and move the Time Indicator to 0:00:02:29, and then Paste your keyframes.

Step 14

We now need to Copy and Paste keyframes the same way we did above for all the mask layers, so that we create a fade animation.

Creating keyframes for other layersCreating keyframes for other layersCreating keyframes for other layers

5. How to Render the Animation for Instagram Stories

Step 1

Our animation is now ready to render. Click on the icon in the upper right corner and then select Render Video.  

Opening render panelOpening render panelOpening render panel

Step 2

Set the following settings in the Render Video panel: Format: H.264; Size: Document Size; Range: All Frames.

Rendering VideoRendering VideoRendering Video

Awesome Work, You're Now Done!

Your video is ready to be uploaded to your Instagram stories! In this manner, we can create an animated photo reveal effect in Adobe Photoshop using smart objects.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial; please feel free to contact me for any help with the techniques we covered. You can also check my Animated Creative Portrait Reveal Stories Template in my portfolio on GraphicRiver.

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