Add Snow To Your Photos...

Sure it's cheesey, but sometimes it adds a nice touch, or in my case, it really was snowing by not enough to look cool, just enough to leave flecks in the hair and on the clothes, so I wanted to amp it up a bit. It's REALLY simple - seriously, it is. Here's how:

1) Open your image and add a new blank layer (click the button in the Layers Palette).

2) Now fill your layer with black. Go to the Edit Menu, and select Fill (or shift+F5).

3) Under Contents, change Use to Black.

4) Now we need to add the snow effect (i.e. NOISE). In the Filter Menu, choose Noise, then Add Noise.

5) Adjust to amount to around 150%, check Gaussian and Monochromatic. Click OK.
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6) Now we need to make it not as crisp. In the Filter Menu again, choose Blur, then Blur More.
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7) We need to clean up some of the noise now. In the Adjustments palette, choose Levels.
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8) Adjust to around these settings, you can use the black and white upper sliders to adjust more or less, but you'll want your image to generally look like this.

9) Now let's blend it more. On the Layer 1 layer, change the Blend Mode from Normal to Screen....this will get rid of the black. Note: if you have a Layer and Level Layer, MERGE them.

10) I then took my eraser at 50% and cleaned up on my subject, especially by her face. In this example, I should have played around with the noise "size" of the snow as it was big flakes that day, but you get the idea. I also took my snow level down from 100% to make it blend better.

Of course, if you don't really want to "learn" how to do it, you can download a freebie action at --> http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1042708