How to Get an X-Ray Effect in Photoshop

Photoshop, a popular image-editing software, is a unique software that allows you to add a lot of effects to an image, that can in fact, radically transform it to something it is not. It's great to have a little fun with this software to create different effects and see what the results are like. Among these effects is the x-ray effect it offers. Photo editing just went to a whole new level, with the x-ray function in Photoshop. For those of you who didn't know, Photoshop offers this function that you can use, for some fun or for some serious work. Usually, law enforcement agencies and forensic labs try to make use of this function for some aid with their investigations. While this software cannot provide a complete x-ray vision of a particular image, it can make it slightly transparent that can aid you, in whatever it is you are trying to achieve. Here, we tell you how to get an x-ray effect in Photoshop, so that you can use this effect for image editing whenever required.

Steps Involved

This process will be easier for those of you who are familiar with at least the basics of Photoshop. Though it is not a difficult process, knowing how to use Photoshop will be helpful while applying the x-ray effect to an image. Also, you should have at least Adobe Photoshop CS2 or a higher version to make use of this effect. The steps on achieving an x-ray effect in Photoshop are as follows.

1. Right click on the image you have selected, and select the 'open with - Adobe Photoshop' option to open the image in this image editing software.
2. Once the image has opened with Photoshop, click on the 'Layer' option on the menu, followed by a click on 'Duplicate Layer'. When the layer has been duplicated, rename it so that you know which layer you are working on.
3. On the menu bar, click on 'Image' and then on 'Adjustments'. This will open up another list of options, where you will locate 'Invert' and click on it.
4. Next, on the menu bar, click on 'Layer', then on 'Layer Mask', and select the option of 'Reveal All'.
5. Then, go to the 'Image' option on the menu bar, click on it and then click on the option of 'Apply Image'. This will open up a window with certain properties. The 'Source' will be the name of the file you have saved the image as, or are going to save it as. The 'Layer' will be 'Background'. The 'Channel' will be selected as RGB. The 'Invert' section will be 'Checkmarked', the 'Blending' will be 'Normal', and the 'Opacity' will be '100%'.
6. Once you have made these changes, click on the 'Image' option on the menu bar, and then on 'Grayscale'.
7. Save the image as a .JPG to view it as a photograph.

Whatever the purpose of learning how to x-ray in Photoshop, don't misuse this option you have. A lot of people use Photoshop to attain great effects like creating backgrounds or changing eye color. Beware though, sometimes, these effects may get you into trouble, if you circulate them in the wrong manner. In any case, it is a great way of learning different effects that can be achieved on Adobe Photoshop, and by mastering this method, you could even discover ways of making the picture look more authentic. Good luck with your efforts!