Old Postage Stamp Effect in Photoshop

Posted on 15/10/2010 by Gavin Hoey

In this classic Photoshop tutorial I’m going to show you just how easy it is to turn a modern digital image into a traditional postage stamp. We’ll even go as far as creating perforations around the edge of the stamp and adding real post marks.

Along the way you’ll learn a little about familiar tools such as the Eraser, layers and blend modes. You’ll notice I use Photoshop CS5 in the video, but as I mention in the video, the same effect is just as easy to do in almost any version of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
To complete this tutorial you’ll need to download my set of postal images. Here’s the link to the zipped folder. Download and unzip the file and you’ll find all the images I used in the tutorial.

About Gavin Hoey (45 Articles)

Gavin has been a regular contributor to Digital Photo Magazine in the UK since 2003 where he writes “how to...” techniques on photography and Photoshop Elements. His Photoshop lectures are always in demand and he can often be seen popping up at camera clubs all over the UK.

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10 Comments on Old Postage Stamp Effect in Photoshop

Mark // 15/10/2010 at 10:15 am //

Thanks for sharing this Gavin. Cheers, Mark
Orjan // 16/10/2010 at 12:14 pm //

Would be nice if oyu could make a video of how to make the ipression of a envolope like the internationatype with the red/blue edges .

best regards
Orjan ,norway
Orjan // 18/10/2010 at 8:21 pm //

sorry about my spelling errors ref early reply :-/
Leonard F Grant Jr // 13/12/2010 at 9:31 pm //

Cheers Gavin.I will try this postage stamp project and see if I can make a nice job of it. Please keep up the great work. Happy Christmas.
Lisa // 05/02/2011 at 9:07 pm //

Hi there,
I sent an E Mail you you directly – i LOVE this. It is so apropos to a project I envisioned – using one of my photos! Only thing is, I need a USA circular stamp in place of the London one. Dated 2011. Do you have one I can use? Or, can I make one? I have Photoshop cs3
Lisa
car racing game // 13/08/2011 at 1:09 pm //

There are times when certain elements in the photograph becomes an unnecessary distraction. And there are always tools that can help alleviate the situation, like the clone tool, or the heal tool. Introducing the Content-Aware Fill: the easier, faster solution.
Pat // 15/11/2011 at 1:09 am //

Thanks for this tutorial..Nicely done.
Pat
Jan Aymerich // 26/04/2012 at 4:15 pm //

Thanks Gavin for sharing your knowledge, you are a great teacher.
Salud from Barcelona.

Jan Aymerich
Magento Download // 07/03/2013 at 3:50 am //

wow! many thanks for that tremendous short article. I actually beloved it towards core. Hope you keep posting these types of incredible content articles
Daniel Thomassin // 26/08/2013 at 2:55 pm //

Bonjour merci beaucoup pour votre tutoriel ou jais appris quelques petites astuce qui vont bien m’aidais.Je vous souhaite une bonne journée et à vos collaborateurs.

Dan