How to Use a Snow Brush in Photoshop — Add a Snowy Texture Overlay to a Photo

Photoshop Brushes

There are so many ways to achieve any particular effect in Photoshop. Adding snow to a picture is no exception. From using pre-made textures to making a custom snow effect from scratch with filters to just using brushes, the (cloudy) sky is the limit.

In this tutorial, rather than showing you how to make a custom snow brush in Photoshop, we will use some of the ones that are available here at Medialoot to add some snow to our winter pictures. But before we begin, and if you want to follow this tutorial exactly as described, please download the following Snow Brushes here at Medialoot: Download.

Step 1

Open the photo you want to add snow to in Photoshop.

Step 2

Go to Layer > New > Layer. Name this layer as "Snow 1" and click OK.

Step 3

Press "D" on your keyboard to reset the Foreground and Background colors and then press "X" to switch the Foreground and Background colors in order to set your Foreground color to white.

Step 4

Select the Brush Tool (B). In the Brush Panel (at the top toolbar) be sure to have the Mode set to "Normal", the Opacity to 100% and select the "Medialoot - Snow Brush 1".

Step 5

With the brush selected, paint in the "Snow 1" layer over your picture to start adding snow.

Step 6

In the Layers Panel, decrease the Opacity of the "Snow 1" layer to 25%.

Step 7

Go to Layer > New > Layer. Name this layer as "Snow 2" and click OK.

Step 8

Select the Brush Tool (B). In the Brush Panel select the "Medialoot - Snow Brush 3".

Step 9

Be sure to have your Foreground color set to white and with the brush selected, paint in the "Snow 2" layer over your picture to add a few more snow flakes.

Step 10

In the Layers Panel, decrease the Opacity of the "Snow 2" layer to 65%.

Step 11

Go to Layer > New > Layer. Name this layer as "Snow 3" and click OK.

Step 12

Select the Brush Tool (B). In the Brush Panel select the "Medialoot - Snow Brush 10".

Step 13

Be sure to have your Foreground color set to white and with the brush selected, paint in the "Snow 3" layer over your picture to add more snow flakes.

Step 14

In the Layers Panel, decrease the Opacity of the "Snow 3" layer to 80%.

Step 15

The following 2 steps are optional, but they will add a bit more of realism to your image. With the "Snow 3" layer selected, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur.

Step 16

Set the Angle to 30º, the Distance to about 30 pixels and click OK.