How to Make Pictures Look Glossy

By Elyse James

When you have your pictures printed at a photography lab or studio, you are given the option to choose glossy or matte prints. While glossy prints have a slick and shiny finish that many people find visually appealing, others choose matte prints because they do not show fingerprints as easily. If you love the look of glossy photos but are concerned about fingerprints showing, use a PC graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop to give your pictures the illusion of glossy prints, even if the pictures are on matte paper.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and select "File" and then "Open." Browse for the picture you want to make glossy and open it in Photoshop. It will automatically become the "Background" layer in your new document.

Step 2

Press the "D" key on your keyboard to reset your colors palette -- this will automatically set the foreground color back to white and the background color to black.

Step 3

Create a new gradient fill layer above "Layer 1." Select "Layer" then "New Fill Layer" followed by "Gradient Fill Layer." Set the foreground to "Transparent," and change the style to "Radial" using the drop-down menu. Also, set the scale to "150" by entering this number in the box. Press "OK" when you are finished -- this will create a new masked layer on top of your photograph.

Step 4

Zoom out on your image by pressing the "CTRL" and "-" keys simultaneously. Then, create a curved selection on one-half of the gradient fill layer using the elliptical marquee tool.

Step 5

Move the marquee so it covers just over half the image. Press the "Delete" key to delete part of the gradient fill layer. This will leave you with a slightly transparent "glossy finish" in one corner of the photograph. Experiment with the placement of your marquee to create a glossed finish on a certain area of the picture, as desired.

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