In this tutorial, we are going to create a tattoo effect using an image overlay which has been distorted using a Displace filter. The Displace filter makes use of a displacement map to achieve a textured look by placing an image over a grid similar to a texture map. You can learn more about the actual displacement filter by using the Photoshop Help or by referring to our topic on filters which I will include in future posts.

Let’s get started.
We are going to use these two files to achieve our finished look.


The “pretty face” by mingguo and collection of tattoos by tattoofantasy.
Open the two pictures and select the tattoo you would like to use by selecting the black areas using the magic wand tool with a tolerance level of 30. Select additional tattoo parts by holding the shift key and clicking on those areas with the magic wand tool.


Switch to the move tool by pressing V on the keyboard and drag the selection to the face.


With the newly moved tattoo selected, hit Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform mode and position the new tattoo layer on the face as desired.


Press Enter on the keyboard. Notice the white areas surrounding the tattoo? We will get rid of those by adjusting the Levels. Make sure the tattoo layer is still selected and hit Ctrl+L or go to Image menu, select Adjustment and choose Levels. On the Levels dialog box, enter 237, 1.00 and 255 on the Input Levels field values.


Select the face layer and hit Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer and drag that duplicate copy above the tattoo layer.


With duplicate layer still selected, Hit Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate it. Hit Ctrl+L to bring up the Levels dialog box once again. Enter 63, 1.0, and 255 as Input Levels values and hit enter.


Go to Filter menu, select Blur and choose Gaussian Blur. Enter a Radius value of 0.6 pixels and click OK.


Go to File menu and select Save As. Enter a file name and save as psd.


Hide the face layer copy and select the tattoo layer. Go to Filter menu, select Distort, and choose Displace.


A value of 4 for both Horizontal Scale and Vertical Scale should be fine.


Press OK. Select the face layer copy and turn on layer visibility. Set its Blend Mode to Hard Light and adjust the Opacity to 45%.


Go back to tattoo layer and erase some overlapping areas and adjust the opacity to get desired results. You can also add another Gaussian Blur filter to the tattoo layer to get a smoother effect and a more natural look.