Emboss Yourself Onto This Free Coin Photoshop Template

 

A little while ago I described how to make concentric circles and put text on a circle so I’m not going to go into that here. Instead I’ve popped together a template for the coin which you can download from here. If you use it, all I ask is that you make reference to me somewhere.

Once you’ve got the template it’s time to add your own image.

 

 

 

1. Download the template and open it in Photoshop.

2. Drag in our paste on an image you’d like in the centre of the coin and resize to fit the inner circle. You might find it easier to reduce the opacity of the layer so you can see the circle below, and then raise the opacity once the image is in place.

3. Let’s do something we told NEVER to do, and that’s desaturate the image using the menu command Image > Adjustments > Desaturate

We could used the keyboard shortcut of Shift+Ctrl+u on a PC or Shift+Cmd+u on a Mac.

In this instance this is ok, we’ll only be needing a very basic back and white image so this destructive approach will be ok, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t. Normally we’d use the black and white adjustment layer.

 

3. From the menu choose Filter > Stylize > Emboss.

 

Your settings here will depend on your image but you want the amount to give good depth and the Height to make it stand out enough without making it blurred or have a double image. Once you’re happy click OK.

4. Change the Blend mode of this layer to Soft Light

5. We’re going to be destructive again, let’s live recklessly! Making sure that it’s you portrait, or centre image that’s still selected press Ctl+l (PC) or Cmd+l (Mac). This opens up a Levels adjustment that directly affects the pixels on this layer. If you’d prefer to work non destructively then you can select a Levels adjustment layer and clip it to the portrait image.

6. What ever method you choose you now have the Levels dialogue box appear, bring the two outer arrows in to give yourself lots of contrast but keep the details you want. Click OK when you’re happy.

7. I’m over hanging the inner circle on my image so let’s add a mask. Hold down the Ctrl or Cmd key and hover the mouse over the Inner Circle layer until you get a finger with a dotted square. Click now to make a selection of that circle.

8 You should now have your portrait inside the circle. If, like me you’ve got a couple of black lines from the edge of your portrait, paint with a black brush on the mask to get rid of them.