Old paper background with Photoshop in under a minute

There are dozens of Photoshop tutorials to create this effect... long boring tutorials. I've seen one that actually involves walking around with a piece of paper in your pocket for few days then scan it and work on that image. I've seen tutorials stretching on 6-7 pages to achieve this effect. I don't have time for that... nor the will to read tones of explanations. It's just too much for me. Fortunately, Adobe Photoshop will do all the work for us if we apply the right filters in the right order. Now I will show you the fastest way to do it... the way I like it: fast and with great results. You don't believe me you can do it in under a minute? Start the countdown and do as I say...



First open a new document (mine is 400x400 px, but it will work the same with any size) and press Ctrl + D to set the default foreground and background colors. The go to the menu Filters - Render - Clouds.


Go again to the menu Filter - Render - Difference Clouds and apply this effect.


Repeat this effect 3 times, pressing Ctrl + F 3 times.


Now go to the menu Filter - Stylize - Emboss and click it. A new window will pop up.


Apply this filter. You can play a little with the Height and see if you can get a better result. Click OK then press Ctrl + A to select all, go to the menu Select - Modify - Contract and contract the selection with 40 px. Go back to Select - Modify menu and this time chose Feather. Set a feather of 20 px.


Press Ctrl + Shift + I to invert selection then press Ctrl + J (new layer via copy).


On the new layer, set the Blending Mode to Multiply.


Add a Black & White adjustment layer.


Check the Tint box and punch up the Saturation.


Hit OK then stop the clock. How long it took you? There you have it: a nice paper background made with Adobe Photoshop in just under a minute.

Comments

[Stone texture with Photoshop i]

[...] one is even faster than creating a paper background with Adobe Photoshop. It’s just about applying 3 filters in the right places and the right order. Simple as that! [...]

[Condawg]

Ah, scratch my comment on the stone, this definitley looks more like paper. Haha
Should have looked around a bit more there...

Good tutorial.
I love the feather on the shadow.

[Critical]

Tutorial is Good. But Not Best Like Your Site.

[titan]

Looks good. I intend to do something like this and put it as my background at my salesletter. Its useful tips. Thanks for sharing with us. :)

[xxHeartoBreakerx]

Yet another wonderful tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing these photoshop tutorials. They are wonderful! Thanks again!

[Denise O'Brien]

this tutorial was easy to understand, one of the best I have seen

[Diana]

I love your photoshop tutorials. Thank you..

[javier]

This is amazing, im not a heavy photoshop user, i just wanted to make a paper effect for a map i was making and this is perfect, no long and drawn out process i can't follow, simple and easy, thank you

[Biju Subhash]

Nice Tutorial :D
Thank You,

Biju Subhash

[sakar]

I love your photoshop tutorials. Thank you..soooooo Muchhhhh

[Cards]

Looks really blurry. Other than that great background for business cards.
Good job!

[Tom]

Nice tutorial. Well written and very useful. Thanks.

[Jason]

Great tutorial - it was handy!

[Mdogggg]

Love it! Simple and effective. Changed emboss and tint for the effect I wanted. Thanks

[Leslie]

Thanks! Simple and effective as Mdoggg says.

[Michelle]

easiest tutorial I've done, and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much, really needed it asap.

[noni]

Wow, thanks for the tutorial. It's very easy to follow...

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