25+ Cool Photoshop Effects Tutorials & Templates

Experimenting with cool effects and finding new techniques to use Photoshop is something that never gets old. And if you’re excited about learning new Photoshop tricks, then this guide is for you.

For designers, the learning never ends. You can always learn new Photoshop effects and try different trends to make your designs look extra special.

We found some cool Photoshop effects tutorials to help you learn a few new tricks. All of these tutorials are free and beginner-friendly. Even if you’re completely new to Photoshop, you can follow these tutorials step-by-step.

Another easy way to create Photoshop effects is to use pre-made templates. We included a collection of Photoshop effect templates at the end of the article. Be sure to check them out as well.

Explore all the tutorials below or use the quick links to jump to a section:

Cool Photoshop Text Effects Tutorials
Cool Photoshop Effects for Portraits Tutorials
Cool Photoshop Effects for Graphic Designers Tutorials
Cool Photoshop Effects for Photographers Tutorials
Cool Photoshop Effects Templates

Cool Photoshop Text Effects Tutorials

Text effects allow you to make your titles and headings look extra cool. And they are fairly easy to implement too.

3D Typography Effect in Photoshop

Many designers use 3D typography effects to add depth and highlight text above all else. With this tutorial, you can also learn to transform your ordinary titles and headings into 3D text. It features easy-to-understand instructions that even a beginner can follow.

Create a Glowing Neon Text Effect in Photoshop

This free Photoshop tutorial will teach you how to craft a neon glowing text effect. It’s one of the most popular effects used by designers when creating posters, social media posts, and even advertisements. After watching the video, you’ll see how easy it is to create this effect.

How to Make Transparent Text Effect in Photoshop

This is the easiest text effect you can use to add a cool look to your typography. In fact, you can learn it in less than one minute. It’s a short but comprehensive tutorial. If you’re new to Photoshop, start with this effect as it’s much easier to learn.

Melting Liquid RGB Text Effect Photoshop

You can follow this free Photoshop tutorial to learn how to create a psychedelic-style melting text effect. It’s a trendy effect used in advertisements and posters. It involves a few steps and techniques to create this effect but the instructor makes it easily digestible.

Cool Photoshop Effects for Portraits Tutorials

You can follow these tutorials to make your portraits and selfies look much cooler with unique effects.

Quick Portrait Dual Lighting Effect In Photoshop

You may have seen this effect being used by designers to create cool posters, album covers, and even Instagram photos. It’s actually one of the easiest effects you can create in Photoshop. Follow the simple steps in the video to learn how it works.

How to Turn Photos into Cartoon Effect

Transforming your photos into cartoon drawings is a difficult process and it involves using advanced techniques. If you’re up for the challenge, this tutorial is a good starting place for you to learn. Keep in mind that you will have to experiment with settings to achieve the best results depending on the photos you use.

How to Create an Instagram Filter Look

Creating Instagram-style filters is one of the most popular options for adding effects to images. The social media look is popular and gives you a little more control in the editing process that just popping on a filter in the native app. This video takes you through how to do it. If you need an Instagram-style filter to get started, you can find one here.

Add Shallow Depth of Field Effect

Add interest and intensify focal points using a shallow depth of field effect in Photoshop. This tutorial takes you through using the lens blur filter and depth maps to achieve the desired effect.

Photographic Toning Retouch Method

Photographic toning is a neat Photoshop effect that adds depth and definition to images. The multi-step process uses gradients to achieve the desired color and tone effect.

Cool Photoshop Effects for Graphic Designers Tutorials

These Photoshop effects tutorials will surely help elevate your graphic designs.

Glow Effect – Photoshop Tutorial

The glow effect is one of the hardest effects to master. But once you learn how to create the effect, you’ll be able to use it to create amazing designs. This tutorial will make the learning process a bit easier for you. Give it a try.

How to Create Halftone Effect in Photoshop

The halftone effect is a great trend you can use to add a classic or vintage feel to your designs. And it’s a fairly easy effect you can create in Photoshop in a few simple steps. Watch this tutorial to see how it works.

Create a Dispersion Effect

Sometimes creating an effect that looks complicated is easier than you think. This 14-minute video shows you how to create a dispersion effect from a photo with Photoshop. It only takes a few steps and one brush to achieve this effect.

Broken Glass Effect

If you want to turn an image into more of an artistic piece with additional elements or a surreal effect you can combine parts of images using layers. If you love the cool glass layer here, you can find that photo from Envato Elements.

Turn a Photo into an Art Effect

There’s nothing boring about this. Turn any image into a neat text-based art effect with this video tutorial. In less than 22 minutes, you can turn any image into a design that could make a cool poster or any other art element. If you want to follow along, you can download the stock image here.

Cool Photoshop Effects for Photographers Tutorials

With these Photoshop effects tutorials, you’ll learn new ways to enhance your photography.

Vintage Faded Wedding Color Grading Effect in Photoshop

This is a cool Photoshop wedding photo effect that adds a beautiful vintage filter with a faded color look. The effect is very easy to create and it will instantly make your wedding and couple photos look much more romantic.

Simple COLOR GRADE Trick To Make Your Photo “Pop”

This tutorial will show you how to adjust and enhance the colors of your photos to make them appear more colorful and professional. It’s a slightly long tutorial but has clear step-by-step instructions that you can follow with ease.

Add a Lens Flare Effect

If you don’t get quite the effect you want when you capture the photograph, you can add a lens flare effect in Photoshop. This tutorial teaches you have to achieve the effect in a non-destructive way so that you can go back and use the original image as well.

Add a Bokeh Effect

A bokeh effect adds an out-of-focus blur to certain parts of an image for a softer feel. This tutorial adds a bokeh effect with some color correcting for a soft, fairy-tale like finished image effect.