Foggy Window Effect in Photoshop

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I'm using 2560x1440 pixels for the document size. After that I
filled tha background layer with a dark grey. This part will be necessary to create the water drops.

Step 2

Go to Window>Brushes to create the brush for the water drops. Follow the image below for the settings but
it's important to change the shape to an ellipse and also for this first part the brush has to be very soft.
Step 3

Add a new layer and group this layer into a

folder. Then change the Blend Mode of the
folder to Color Dodge. With the Brush Tool
(B) and white for the color, paint with the
Brush Tool some drops. As you can see the
blurry edges of the little objects sort of melt
with one another depending how close they
are. That is really important to make the
drops more realistic.

Step 4

Select the background layer and the group with the drops and merge them
into on layer. After that go to Image>Adjustments>Levels. Change the
Black Input to 124 and the White to 161. The values might vary
depending on the drops, so just make sure that you get rid of the blurry
edges.

Step 5

With the Magic

Wand Tool (W)
select the black
area, then go to
Select>Similar to make sure all the black areas get
selected. Then delete this area.

Step 6

Import an image to use in our design. The one I'm using is courtesy from Thinkstock and you can find it
here. Duplicate this layer because we will use it a few more times with different blur values.
 Step 7

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 pixels for the Radius.

Step 8

Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Color
Overlay. Use a dark grey for the color
and change the Opacity to 60%.

Step 9

Now put the water drops in front

of the image and let's apply some
layer styles to give them the
realistic effect we want.

Step 10

Go to Layer>Layer
Styles>Blending Options and
change the Fill Opacity to 0.
After that select Inner Shadow.
Use white for the color and
LInear Dodge for the Blend
Mode, for the Opacity use 50%, for the angle 90º, then for the Distance use 3 pixels and for the Size use 5
pixels. Also change the Contour mode to the Cone one.
Step 11

Select Bevel and Emboss. Change the Depth to 350%, the Direction to Down, the Size to 7 pixels, the
Soften to 5 pixels, then over the Shading options use 54º for the Angle and 42º for the Altitude. Also
change the Gloss Contour to the Cove Deep one, the for the Highlight Mode use 80% with white and
Color Dodge for the Blend Mode, then for the Shadow Mode use Multiply with black and 50% of
Opacity.
 Step 12

Select Inner Glow then for the Blend Mode use

Darken with 40% Oapcity and black for the color.
Change the Source to Edge and the Size to 25 pixels.

Step 13

Now select Color Overlay and use (#907f72) for the

color with Color Dodge with 45% Opacity.

Step 14
The last layer style option will be Drop Shadow. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode, black for the Color
and 20% Opacity. Change the Angle to 90º and use 9 pixels for the Distance, 5% for the Spread and 10
pixels for the Size.

Step 15

Make the photo without blur visible again and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 5 pixels this time.
Then over the Layer Palette click with the right button of the mouse on the thumb of the water drops layer,
then select "Select Pixel" to select just the water drops.

Select the photo that we applied the 5 pixles Gaussian Blur and go to
Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. This way the image with 5 pixels
blur will be only visible beneath the water drops.

Step 16

Select the layer mask that we created in the previous step and go to
Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Use -90º for the Angle and 80 pixels for the
Distance.

Step 18

After the motion blur, go to

Image>Adjustments>Levels. Change
the black and white inputs again to get rid of the blurry edges caused by
the blur. You will have an effect like the image below as if the water
drops were running down on the window.
Step 19

Duplicate the layer with the photo that we

applied the Gaussian Blur with 5 pixels for the
radius only and delete the layer mask. The with
the Horizontal Type Tool (T) add a text with a
handwriting font, or if you have a tablet or is
really good with the mouse you can write with
your own handwriting. Again select just the
pixels of the text like we did in the Step 15. Then
mask this new photo with the shape of the text,
so again the photo will be visible only beneath
the text area.

Step 20

Add a new layer and with the Brush Tool (B) and
the same brush we created the water drops, add
more water drops and especially over the text area
like the image below. To apply the same layer
style of the water drops, just click with the right
button of the mouse over the water drops layer and
select Copy Layer Style, then on the new layer
with the small water drops click again with the
right click of the mouse and select Paste Layer
Style.

Step 21

Duplicate the photo again and delete the layer

mask, after that go to Layer>Layer Mask>Hide
All. Select the thumb of the layer mask and go to
Filter>Render>Clouds. Make sure you had black
and white for the colors. This will apply a cloud
texture to the foggy window effect, that will make
it more realistic.

Step 22

Select all layers and duplicate them,

after that merge all the duplicated
layers into one. You can also use the
keyboard shortcut
Command+Alt+Shift+E. Then go
to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use
20 pixels for the Radius.
 Step 23

Change the Blend Mode of this blurry

layer to Overlay with 40% opacity.

Step 24

Duplicate the previous layer and just

change the Blend Mode to Screen, keep
the same 40% of Opacity.

Step 25

Add a new layer on top of the others and fill it with a radial gradient using dark grey and light grey for the
colors. Also use Multiply for the Blend Mode.