We’re going to create a nice desktop wallpaper like the type that macs often have.

 

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Step 1

Create a blank canvas the size of your screen resolution (I’m using 1280×800), and add a subtle linear gradient across it. My gradient went from #36abc4 to #109dbb. Duplicate this layer (Ctrl+J).

Step 2

Grab your pen tool (P) and make sure it’s mode is set to Paths, which is located on the top left of the screen after you select the pen tool. Create a smooth curve, by clicking above the picture, and dragging a bit, and clicking below the picture and dragging a bit. Then place points around the left side of the picture until you have a complete path. Right click on the curve and select ‘Make Selection.’ Use the default settings.

Step 3

You should now have a selection around where you made your path. Grab the burn tool, and select a round brush with 0% hardness and around a 125px diameter. Make sure you change to exposure setting to around 25%. Lightly brush on the inner right side of your selection to darken it up a bit.

Inverse your selection (Shift+Ctrl+I), and grab the dodge tool. Set the settings to the same as they were for the burn tool, and lightly brush on the inner left side of your selection. This will lighten up the side a bit. Finally, lower the opacity of this layer until the effect is very subtle. I dropped mine to 25%. Personally, I like my desktop wallpapers to be subtle and minimalistic. If you want something a bit more dramatic than my final result, try bumping up this layer opacity a bit to something that suits you.

Step 4

With the top layer selected, Select All (Ctrl+A), Copy Merged (Shift+Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V). Then repeat steps 2 and 3 several times with varying path directions, dodge/burn exposure settings, and layer opacities.

Step 5

With the top layer selected, Select All (Ctrl+A), Copy Merged (Shift+Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V) again to copy all of the previous layers into a new one on top. Then go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Sharpen More. Then press Ctrl+F to repeat this filter. If this causes it to become too sharp, then undo the last step. Next, grab your Blur Tool (R) and smudge along a few of the edges between intersecting arcs.

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Step 6

Copy Merged and Paste and paste again. Also duplicate the very first layer that we made with the gradient on it. Put the Copy Merged layer on the way top, and put the duplicated gradient layer directly under that one. Then use the eraser tool with a large soft brush and a 30% opacity on the top layer to fade out the ends of some of the arcs.

Step 7

Copy Merged all of the layers and paste on top once again. Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast and darken up this top layer. Then grab the eraser tool with a big soft brush to erase the inside of the picture. You may have to bring up the eraser’s opacity to around 70-100%. Then you can adjust the top layer’s opacity if you need to soften up these dark edges.

Step 8

The rest is just personal preference. You can create a new layer on top, brush it with a royal blue on the left and a sea green/orange on the right and lower the opacity a bit. I Copy Merged and Pasted all of the layers again and added Filter -> Render -> Lighting Effects. Then I lowered that layer’s opacity.

Then you can modify you images levels (Ctrl+L) to bring out more contrast, and adorn your image with text or a logo. The standard ‘S’ shape in the levels dialog box is typically a good way to get a good contrast, while having more control over the output than you do with the brightness/contrast dialog box.

Final

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This psd shows the steps from Step 7 on. I would have included them all, but the file size was way too big, and there wasn’t much to see at any rate.

Download the PSD