How to Create the Drake ‘VIEWS’ Photo Effect in Photoshop

Learn how to create a moody blue photo effect in Photoshop similar to the one on Drake's Album Cover for 'VIEWS'.

With the release of Drake’s latest album VIEWS, unveiled was a beautiful collection of photos and meme-worthy images such as this one:

Drake 'VIEWS'

Whether you are a fan of his music or not, one can agree the imagery Drake paired with his newest album is extravagant. In fact, we loved it so much that we decided to take a closer look at the editing.

In this post we will break down how you can create the moody blue VIEWS effect in Photoshop for your own photos.

Step 1

Start by opening any image or design of your choice. For this tutorial I’ll be using a cloudy photo of Toronto from Adventure Awaits Us.

Cloudy Toronto Skyline

Step 2

To help increase contrast and better showcase details, create a Curves adjustment. Draw a similar ‘curve’ to the one drawn below. If you can’t find the adjustments panel click Window > Adjustments and it will appear. There you will find the curves adjustment along with all the other adjustments we’ll be using for this tutorial.

Creating contrast with curves adjustment layer in Photoshop.

Step 3

Next, create a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. Once opened, change the Brightness to ‘-4′ and the Contrast to ’12’. This will help balance the light and darken the image a bit.

Increasing brightness and sharpness with a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer in Photoshop.

Step 4

At this point the effect will look similar to this. Now it’s time to add a little bit of color and fading to the image.

Drake 'VIEWS' Photo Effect Tutorial for Photoshop

To do this you’ll need to create a Photo Filter Adjustment. Once open, it’ll look like this.

Photoshop Photo Filter Tutorial

Click the Filter Dropdown and change it to Sepia. Adjust the density to 40% to get the desired effect.

Sepia Photo Filter Photoshop

Finally, double click the photo filter layer in your layers panel and adjust the opacity to 14%. This sepia effect is just a very subtle way to add some undertones of brown and orange to the image.

Adjust opacity in Photoshop.

Step 5

Next, create a Gradient Map Adjustment to add more prominent color to the image.

Gradient Map Photoshop

Once the gradient map is open you’ll want to select the left color picker. It’s that small box with a triangle on top to the left of the gradient slider. Once you select this, click the color box below and change it to #0a2d59.

Gradient Map Color Picker #1

Then click ‘OK’ and select the right color picker. Once you have chosen this, click the color box below and change it to #dabc81.

Gradient-Map-Color-2

Then click ‘OK’ to select the color and click ‘OK’ again when you see this.

Gradient Map Selection in Photoshop

Finally, double click the Gradient Map layer in the Layers Panel and change the opacity to 55%.

Changing opacity in the Layers Panel Photoshop.

After those steps, the effect will look like this:

Drake 'VIEWS' Photo Effect Tutorial for Photoshop

Step 6

For the final touches, we just need to add one more adjustment. Create a Vibrance Adjustment Layer and match these settings. Change the Vibrance to ‘-3’ and the Saturation to ‘-7’. This will desaturate the image slightly and blend the colors together.

Vibrance Adjustment Layer Photoshop

Final Image

That’s it. After a few simple adjustment layers and some opacity changes, you’ve just completed the VIEWS by Drake photo effect tutorial for Photoshop. Here is the final before/after.

Create the Drake 'VIEWS' Photo Effect in Photoshop.


Winter Actions for Photoshop

Looking to save a little time creating moody, cold effects for your photos? Check out ColdPress!

 

 

 



Have any questions? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you out.

You can also check out the rest of our tutorials here for more photo editing tips and tricks.

Special thanks to Michael Mahoney for his assistance with this post. Be sure to read more of his articles on Medium.

3 Replies to “How to Create the Drake ‘VIEWS’ Photo Effect in Photoshop”

  1. Bee says:

    Once again a really cool tutorial for moody grey cityscapes. Thank you.
    Bee x

Leave a Reply