by Diego Sanchez
August 13, 2018
Diego prevents carpal tunnel syndrome in designers worldwide by making incredible time-saving Photoshop actions and mock-ups.
27 Awesome Photoshop Overlays (Updated 2023)
Photoshop Photo Overlays
Overlays are a great way to add character and balance to your photos, easily. They can be used to add light, lens flares, snow, rain, noise, fog, and many other different types of effects. The best part, is that they can be used on all versions of Photoshop, Gimp, Affinity Photo, or any other image editor that supports layers and blending modes.
What is a Photo Overlay?
A photo overlay is just an image or a texture that is added to a photograph. They can be also seen as an extra layer which contains a certain effect and is placed on top of photographs.
How do we use them?
Using Overlays is a very simple process, you just need to open your image in Photoshop (or other editing software) place the overlay you want to use on top of your image and change the blending mode of the overlay to your liking.
Where to find them?
You can find overlays to your photographs all around the internet, in fact almost any image could be used as an overlay (sky, snow, rain, etc) but the images you may find sometimes are not ‘overlay ready’ because they have extra elements that you may not want to be on your photograph, but here you will find 26 Photoshop overlays ready to be used.
Falling Feathers Photo Overlays - $6
Add a pop of fun to your next photo session with these realistic falling feather overlays. This pack includes 20 different overlays you can easily add with a few clicks in Photoshop.
Confetti Rain Photo Overlays
There are 25 amazing confetti photo overlays in this back. The fun overlays add an element of fun to any image and are adjustable. You can even use multiple overlays to add even more texture to your images.
Lens Flare
Perfect for adding realistic lens flares to your photographs. They can be used to enhance any type of scene and add a bit of atmosphere to your photos.
Falling Leaves
Create your Fall masterpiece in minutes with this gorgeous Photoshop collection. Choose individual leaf overlays authentically created from "real leaves", or use one of the easy grouped leaves overlays.
Heavy Rain
These overlay textures are perfect for adding realistic rain conditions to your photographs. They can be used to enhance a dark night scene, create an dramatic mood or just generally add a bit of atmosphere to your photos.
Particles
Add a fun touch to your photos with these particle overlays! There are 20 different overlays included in the set, and they can be combined for almost unlimited options and combinations.
Grunge
Apply vintage effects to your photos instantly with these high resolution overlay textures. Just place the texture on a layer above your photo, and experiment with different blending modes and opacities. "Soft Light", "Overlay", "Multiply" and "Screen" almost always produce beautiful effects with these textures!
Firefly
Easily add beautiful firefly overlays to your photos to emulate a magical fairy scene in less than 2 minutes. Perfect to be used over lanterns or to emulate the sparkle brights of a wood fire.
Snow
This pack features 6 high quality overlays for adding snow to your photographs. They vary from intense snow storms to light flurries and can be toned down by using opacity or cranked up even more by layering multiple overlays on the same image.
Sky
If your photo lack of a good sky background, with any of these 21 sweet cloud overlays you can instantly add depth and interest to your images.
Light Leaks
This pack contains 60 high resolution light leaks, perfect for applying to photographs to achieve a retro effect. The Light Leak pack includes 60 brushes and 60 JPG images ready to be used.
Autumn
Bring out the beauty of Autumn outdoor & nature shots with this complete collection of Actions, Overlays, and Brushes for Photoshop.
Bokeh
This pack features 12 free high resolution bokeh overlay textures. These images were created by photographing various points of light out of focus with a low aperture value and are great for overlaying over night time photos for a dreamy effect or to simply add more bokehlicious goodness.
Dust & Dirt
A set of 10 free grunge dust and dirt overlay textures to create vintage effect on your photos and designs. They are created mixing various photographed dirt textures to achieve authentic dirt noise effect. They are perfect for overlaying on photos, designs and backgrounds for a realistic retro, worn-out or vintage effect.
Mist and Fog
These overlay textures are perfect for adding realistic mist and fog to your photographs. They can be used to enhance a winter morning scene, create an eerie mood or just generally add a bit of atmosphere to your photos. Simply place one of the textures on top of your photo, and set the Blending Mode to Screen in Photoshop, adjust the opacity to add more or less mist.
Light & Sunflare
Add interest, drama, and hazy light to your images or accentuate natural sunlight, sunflare or backlighting with this Light & Sunflare overlay collection.
Noise
This collection of essential noise textures should be a staple in any designers toolbox. Whether you want to add overlays to photos or use them as subtle noise backgrounds these textures will save you time and effort. Unlike the generic noise that you can generate with Photoshop, these textures are provided in 5 distinct intensities, and feature small details (subtle specs of dust and dirt) which add to the realism of the effect.
Confetti
A great collection of 42 Overlays to ensure that your photos have acquired a new charm, artistry and emotionality. Suitable for both amateurs and professionals with excellent results on color and black and white photos.
Dust & Dirt
8 authentic dust and dirt textures created by sprinkling specs of dust, dirt and loose fibres on a flatbed scanner and scanning them. They are included as high resolution inverted white on black jpg images, and transparent .png textures.
Bubbles
Includes natural bokeh bubble overlays, in a wide variety of bubble sizes: teeny tiny bubbles, small bubbles, and large bubble overlays created from real bubble images for the most authentic effect.
Wet Plate
This unique set transports your photos back to the 19th century with an unbelievable effect seldom seen in the digital age. With these textures you can easily achieve the classic look everyone is searching for.
Noise
This set of 30 noise textures was created to make it easy to add noise and grain to your photos. All you have to do is add the texture layer on top of your photo (using Photoshop or another photo editor) and set the blend mode to screen, overlay, or soft light.
Fog
A set of free Photoshop fog overlays to help give your photos some mystery and drama by creating a photorealistic fog.
Light Leaks
This set includes 20 different photo overlays that make it easy to add light leaks. The overlays come in both .psd and .jpg versions. Each overlays is a massive 5400 pixels by 3600 pixels at 300 dpi.
Glitter
This overlay has been designed for adding golden glitter artifacts and Bokeh to your photos, it’s perfect for portraits and landscapes shot outside with rich natural light within them. It works well with sunsets, sunrises and other photos with sun light or light leaks.
Elegance Bokeh
45 elegant bokeh overlays to ensure that your photos have acquired a new charm. Suitable for both amateurs and professionals with great results, the pack includes 45 JPG files at 3500 x 1969 px.
Haze
This set includes a total of 96 different haze photo overlays. With the help of these overlays it is easy to add a haze effect to your own photos. The overlays come in both .png and .psd format. There are 16 different colors/shades of haze, and there are 6 variations for each color.
Medialoot Photoshop Overlays Bundle
This huge bundle contains 100+ overlay textures for adding atmosphere to your photographs. From lens flares, light leaks and bokeh to rain, snow and fog, this overlay kit has everything you need to spice up your photos. All of the textures included are compatible with Photoshop, GIMP, Pixelmator, Affinity Photo or any image editor which supports layers and blending modes.
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