Photoshop Tutorial : Making Thermal Images
Filed Under (Tutorial)
This is my first Photoshop tutorial. Its a pretty simple tutorial on how to make your photographs look like they’ve been taken from a thermal imaging camera. I will illustrating each step with screenshots.
Step 1
Open the image you wish to modify. I am using a random image I took of my friends.
Step 2
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
Step 3
Apply a Gaussian Blur between 5 - 10 pixels depending on the image resolution. I used a Gaussian Blur of 7.
Step 4
Go to Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map
Step 5
Open the Drop Down box by selecting the arrow next to default black and white gradient. In the drop down box, select the ‘Transparent Rainbow’ gradient which I have encircled below.
Step 6
Thats it. You now have an image which looks like it has been taken with a Thermal Camera. You can play around with the Gaussian Blur values and can invert the gradient for different looks.
Thanks for taking time to read my first photoshop tutorial. Feel free to give your feedback in the comments.
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nice work - i saw it thro google reader just now - keep it up
good idea start
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This was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much
This tutorial is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks =D
Amazing! I looked this up on Google, and I was expecting that this would be a really difficult effect to achieve and you’ve made it so simple! Thanks, man.
Glad to help you out!
Thank you! this is a really simple and easy solution. It is also possible to modify the gradient map to look more like the thermal imaging camera colour range. Instead of the eight colours in the default transparent rainbow gradient try these: Colour 1 R254 G253 B 232 / 2. R254 G 240 B 83 / 3.R247 G139 B27 / 4. R231 G72 B19 / 5. R210 G32 B109 / 6. R191 G6 B 146 / 7. R53 G 1 B 145 / 8. R 1 G 0 B 75. This gives a more yellow orange red magenta to blue spectrum. Not as beautifully simple as your original but once the gradient is saved it is the same process. Thanks again.
Thanks for the tip Alastair, I’m sure it’ll be helpful for everyone.
hi! IM luke im 11 and I’m fairly new to photoshop and was googlin tutorials and i saw ur site. photoshop is amazing isnt it!I think you should reverse the gradient because ppl give off heat other than that its great and keep up the good work plz dont check out my web site lol i forgot my password so its outdated lol ill post here again when its ready!
keep up the good work
Very cool (or hot) effect! It really does look like it was taken with a thermal imaging camera.