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So here is what I’m going to accomplish today, and hopefully you can follow along also!

to this finished product…

Note!! If I don’t mention anything about the layer setting, assume it’s always Normal, 100%. ^^

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Step One

First of all, choose your image. I chose this screenshot of Nagi Sanzen’in from Hayate no Gotoku. It’s about 704x400px, though as long as you have a decent-sized image, it shouldn’t matter.

Crop your image to your liking, I choose 400x120px. Now you should have something like this (with your own image, unless you’re using my example.)

Step Two

Next, I used Sharpen (Filter -> Sharpen -> Sharpen) to make the image a little less blurry and to liven it up a little bit.

Step Three

Now duplicate your base and set it to Soft Light, 100% to brighten it slightly.

Step Four

Add a fill layer (Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Color), I filled it with #000724 and set it to Exclusion, 100%.

Step Five

Add a selective color layer (Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Coloring).

Reds: -97, +100, +60, -27
Whites: -100, -55, -82, 0
Neutrals: -55, -5, -5, +14
Blacks: +67, +100, +100, 0

I set mine to Soft Light, 100%!

Step Six

I want to brighten up a few shades in the picture, so add another selective color layer (Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Coloring).

Reds: +50, +20, +25, -30
Yellows: 0, 0, +100, +100
Neutrals: +50, +15, +20, -10

Step Seven

Go to Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Hue/Saturation, and set your saturation to +15.

Step Eight

If you hit the letter “D” on your keyboard, it should reset your black and white colors, if not, just change it so Black is on the top and White is on the bottom.

Go to Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Gradient and make sure you have a transparent gradient like so:

Hit “OK” and set that layer to Multiply, 45%.

Step Nine

Add text as you please! I decided to add text on the left side, and I used English111 Vivace BT, 18pt, smooth.
“secretly in love” = #FF0000, Normal 100%.
“with you” = #D6B94B, Screen 100%.

Add a border by selecting your entire image (CTRL+A), then Edit -> Stroke 

Width: 1px
Color: #000000
Location: Center
Blending: Overlay, 100%