Easy Hostess Gifts - Posterized Photos

Tonight I am off to NYC to visit two of my very best friends, MM & LB. We are celebrating LB's Birthday, MM's engagement...and overall how awesome we are :)

I always like to bring something a little special, in addition to an engagement gift & birthday gift, when I'm visiting friends and family. Of course the easiest gift is a framed photo...who doesn't love a framed photo??

Sometimes standard photos can get a bit boring. But as long as you have photo paper, a printer, and Photoshop...you can turn a standard picture such as these:

Into super cute posterized photos (with just 2 easy steps) like these:

 

All you have to do is open your photograph in Photoshop. 

Step 1: click Image > Adjustments > Black &White
Step 2: click Image > Adjustments > Posterize (and then type in anywhere from 2-4)


If the photo is fairly dark, posterize might not come out clearly. If that is the case close out of the photo, DON'T SAVE, and open again. Follow Step 1, and then:

Step 2: click Image > Adjustments > Threshold > Then drag the cursor at the bottom until the photo looks exactly the way you want it to.

Finally save as a new JPEG file...so you can be sure to keep the un-posterized version :)

Then, pop the photos into simple black frames...and ta-da a super personal, inexpensive and easy gift!

If you are wondering what the type is on the photo above, in Photoshop I added the date of MM's wedding to the photo!