The break-apart effect is a really cool way to bring your images to life and grab someone's attention. You'll first need to download the Debris Brush, which makes the job a whole lot easier. Time to turn on the magic!

Final Result:

 

Step 1:

Open the image of your subject. Here I'm going for a mime. To avoid space limitations for the effects, you'll need to enlarge the image's black space. Go to Image - Canvas Size and enlarge to any size you like.

Image ID: 4252044 © Igor Korionov 123RF.com

 

 

Step 2:

Create a new blank layer and name it Particles. Then, select the areas you want to "blow apart". Follow this up by feathering the selection (with the Feather command) to soften the edges, which helps to make the effects look more realistic.

 

 

 

Step 3:

Now, select the Debris Brush we had downloaded. Set the Foreground Color (red) as the Background Color (black).

 

Then, simply use the Brush (B) to paint over the parts you want to disintegrate.

 

 

Step 4:

After you're done applying the Brush, your image should look something like this.

 

Repeat the previous step, but change the foreground color to white to make the particles "explode" into tiny pieces.

 

 

Step 5:

Lastly, transform the particles (T) to add in a little bit of motion and shape. You can also make them more dazzling by throwing in some color.

 

 

 

Abracadabra! This is how magic looks like. Hope you had as much fun on this tutorial as I had conjuring it!

 

Here's another image as an example.

Image ID: 1667459 © snehit 123RF.com

 

We're giving away a whopping 48 iPads to our customers, Twitter followers and Facebook fans! Join 123RF's Apple iPad Giveaway Campaign from March 1 till May 31 2010 to win. Also, check out our other cool tutorials below if you'd missed any of them.

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	123RF March Tutorial #2: Creating X-Ray Effects In this relatively simple and quick Photoshop tutorial, we will try to apply an x-ray effect to an image. Basically, all we need to do is just Inverse the image and also play around with some Layer Blending Options.

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Hello, the link to the brush set doesnt work for me. Can you check to see if it is correct? Thanks, Mike

Says mikeatnip on May 3, 2010, 05:05 AM

Tutorials are super - very inspirational and helpful. I'm having same problem as Mike downloading the brush file. May we ask your help in checking that link? Thanks so much.

Says catranchergal on May 3, 2010, 03:50 PM

Hey I found a working link on my own for downloading the brushes:http://qbrushes.net/photoshop-abstract-brushes/debris-brush/

Says catranchergal on May 3, 2010, 04:31 PM

Hi guys, we've just fixed the link. It should be working now. Sorry!

Says john123rf on May 3, 2010, 06:04 PM

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous andneeds to be appreciated by everyone...The above thing is smart and doesn’t require any further addition.It’s perfect ...__________________________________lucas8838Historical Stock

Says lucas8838 on August 5, 2010, 08:56 AM

This tut is clearly written for advanced people.... I followed every step as close as possible & did not come close to what is shown in the final results.As a recommendation, provide more details in your directions..a. the brush has many options, which one was used in the image selectedb. you say set the colors to red & black but the directions say use white, red is never mentionedc. you say use the transform tool..... which one of them

Says wwlphotos on February 16, 2012, 08:39 AM