Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Learn how to identify and manage light sources, creating a sense of cohesion and realism in your piece.
• Learn how to use photo manipulation techniques to totally transform and photo and blend it smoothly into your composition.
• Learn how to work with masking to extract your images non-destructively and work with light effects.
• Learn how to working with adjustment layers, blending options and other non-destructive techniques.
• & Much More!

Learn how to identify and manage light sources, creating a sense of cohesion and realism in your piece.

Learn how to use photo manipulation techniques to totally transform and photo and blend it smoothly into your composition.

Learn how to work with masking to extract your images non-destructively and work with light effects.

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

Create a new document (900X900px).

Open the ‘cloudy sky’ photo in the resources section for this tutorial.

Paste the sky into the top part of your canvas. I used the transform scaling box to make the height of this sky a little taller, filling more of the canvas:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer, being sure to give you adjustment layer a clipping mask. (Apply a clipping mask to all adjustment layers unless otherwise specified).

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -21 / +4 / -6
Midtones: -39 / +16 / -18
Shadows: -21 / +15 / +5

Step 2

Open the ‘grassy field’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Paste the image into your original document and position it at the bottom part of your canvas:

Apply a layer mask and use a soft, black paintbrush to mask off the top of your grassy field image. The idea is to let it look as if the underlying sky image is the actual sky for this scene.

Be sure to keep the sign post area in tact and don’t mask this off:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your green field layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

19 / 1.00 / 236

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -16 / -8 / -26
Midtones: -22 / +4 / -4
Shadows: -4 / +26 / -25

Step 3

Open up the ‘old boots’ image from the resources section for this tutorial. Cut out one of the boots using your preferred selection method and paste it into your original document, positioning it like this:

We want to get rid of the large lace hanging down the side of the boot. You’ll also notice a small light patch on the bottom left of the soul. This was the second boot in the original image, and we want to get rid of this area too.

Use the clone stamp tool to clone over these areas. Start by option+clicking on your boot layer to select it. The marching ants active selection around your boot will mean that non of your cloning efforts will go outside the edges of your boot shape.

Then proceed to use your clone stamp tool like normal to clone out areas of your boot:

You can see the result of the cloning process below. I also applied a layer mask and masked off the top of the boot using a large, soft black paintbrush (you’ll see why later in the tutorial):

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your boot layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

9 / 0.95 / 244

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -5 / +6 / +2
Midtones: +16 / +11 / +16
Shadows: -11 / +1 / -9

Step 4

Create a new layer underneath your boot layer called ‘shadow under boot’.

Use a medium sized, soft black paintbrush (around 20% opacity) to build up a shadow between your boot and the ground:

Create a new layer ABOVE your boot layers and call this ‘shadow bottom of boot’.

Apply a further shadow underneath your bottom area, but this time overlap the bottom of your boot slightly, blending the boot into the shadowed area:

Step 5

Open up the ‘door’ image from the resources section for this tutorial. Select the door using your preferred selection method and then paste it into your original document.

Go to edit>transform>distort and distort your door so that it fits better with the edge of your boot:

Apply a levels, hue/saturation and color balance adjustment layer to your boot layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

23 / 0.93 / 241

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

0 / -20 / 0

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -56 / -29 / -11
Midtones: -30 / -9 / +12
Shadows: -32 / -6 / +5

Step 6

Right now our door is looking a little flat and not really part of our boot’s structure.

To fix this, create a new document called ‘shadow over door’.

Use a soft, black paintbrush to paint around the edges of your door, creating the effect than the door is concave into the structure of your boot:

Download the ‘bell photo’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Cut it out from it’s background and paste it into your original document.

Position and resize the bell to fit next to your doorway. The colors are already pretty well blended with your surrounding composition, so no adjustments needed just yet:

Step 7

Open up your ‘roof’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract the roof part of the image from it’s background and paste this into your original document.

The roof is roughly at the right angle, so just use your basic transform tools to manipulate it very slightly to fit the top of your boot better:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your roof layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

22 / 0.81 / 247

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +12 / +2 / -2
Midtones: -25 / +6 / -1
Shadows: +12 / -6 / -8

Step 8

Create a new layer called ‘shadow over roof area’. Use a soft black paintbrush to shadow the bottom part of your roof and the top part of your boot. This should help blend them better together.

Step 9

Open up the ‘wooden beams’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Select one of the beams using your preferred selection method and copy/paste it back into your original document.

The colors of the beam are pretty well blended already with the rest of our composition, so no adjustments are needed for now.

Duplicate the beam several times. Resize and transform each beam to fit as a support for your roof structure:

Add a further beam to sit horizontally underneath your roof.

Then create a new layer called ‘shadows blending beams’. Use a soft black paintbrush to add shadows to the top of your beams, blending them better with your roof area.

Finally, apply a layer mask to each of your beam layers. Use a soft black paintbrush to mask off the bottom of each beam, blending it into the leather of your boot:

Step 10

Create a new layer beneath your beams called ‘beam shadows’.

Use your lasso tool and paintbucket tool to create some rough black shadows where you anticipate the shadows cast by your beams to go:

Reduce this layer’s opacity to around 55%, and then go to filters>convert for smart filters. This will allow you to apply filters not destructively. Now go to filters>blur>gaussian blur.

Apply a 3.5 pixels strength gaussian blur:

Step 11

Open up the big ben clock image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract the clock part of the tower, and the square frame surrounding it. Paste this into your original document:

You’ll notice that the clock isn’t the right angle to fit with our rooftop right now. This is a pretty easy fix. Simply go to edit>transform>distort and distort your clock until it looks like the image below:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to your clock layer:

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +11 / +4 / -11
Midtones: +25 / +6 / -16
Shadows: +6 / 0 / -18

I also created a new layer called ‘shadow clock’ and used a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to add some additional shadow around my clock:

Step 12

Time to add a chimney to our roof!

Start by opening the ‘chimney’ image in the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract the chimney and paste it back into your original document.

Position the chimney over your roof, and use a layer mask to mask the bottom of the chimney smoothly into your roof area (using a soft black paintbrush for this):

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your chimney layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

20 / 0.79 / 240

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +16 / +11 / -9
Midtones: -13 / -6 / -9
Shadows: +4 / 0 / -8

Step 13

Download the ‘FanExtra premium brush set: Clouds’ brush set from the resources section for this tutorial.

Create a new layer called ‘smoke’.

Select one of your cloud brushes and use a white paintbrush to give the impression of smoke rising up from the chimney of the house:

To make the effect slightly more subtle apply a layer mask and use a low opacity, soft black paintbrush to mask off areas of your smoke:

Step 14

Now paste in your ‘window’ image from the resources for this tutorial.

Apply a layer mask and use a soft black paintbrush to mask off the area around your window, blending it more smoothly into your boot’s surface:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to help blend the colors of the window better:

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +2 / -4 / -2
Midtones: +29 / +12 / -4
Shadows: +21 / +9 / -15

Step 15

Add some additional lighting and shadowing to your window.

Use a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to paint in shadows around the left edge of your window.

Then use a soft, low opacity yellow/orange brush to give a subtle tint of light coming out of the window:

Step 16

Cut out and paste in your doormat image from the resources section for this tutorial.

You will need to go to edit>transform>distort to distort the mat to fit nicely in front of your door:

Apply a levels, hue/saturation and color balance adjustment layer (in that order).

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings

23 / 0.89 / 224

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -55
Lightness: -25

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +1 / +4 / -9
Midtones: -2 / -4 / -11
Shadows: -5 / +1 / -6

Step 17

To help blend your doormat better, create a new layer called ‘shadow doormat’.

Use a soft black paintbrush to paint in shadows between the doormat and the door, as well as underneath and to the sides of the mat a little.

Download the free grass brush set from the resources section for this tutorial.

Create a new layer called ‘grass’. Use your eyedropper tool to sample a shade of green from the surrounding grassy area. Use several of your grass brushes to create areas of grass that overlap your welcome mat.

Step 18

Copy/paste in the image of the girl sitting from the resources section for this tutorial. Position her so she is sitting on the end of the boot:

Adjust the colors of the girl very very slightly just to fit better with the surrounding composition.

Then create a new layer called ‘shadow under girl sitting’.

Use a soft, mid-opacity black paintbrush to brush a shadow under the girl and slightly covering her right side. This makes it look more realistic that she is actually sitting on top of the boot:

Step 19

Paste in the ‘running children’ image from the resources section for this tutorial:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer. You should aim to make the grass in your ‘running children’ image match the lightest grass in your main composition.

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +8 / +35 / -16
Midtones: +13 / +40 / -23
Shadows: +9 / +13 / -26

You’ll notice that whilst your color balance adjustment layer has turned your grass a nice color, it’s also made your children green. To fix this, simply mask off this area of your adjustment layer, just like you would a normal mask. Simply select the mask attached to your adjustment layer and use a black paintbrush to paint over your children, thus returning them to their original, non-adjusted color:

Now select your ‘running children’ layer and mask off the edges of the image until you’re left with just your children and a little blending grass surrounding them:

Step 20

Copy the ‘red balloon’ image from the resources section for this tutorial into your original document.

Option+click on this balloon layer to select your balloon shape. With your selection active create a new layer called ‘balloon shadow’. Use a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to paint a shadow on the left/bottom side of your balloon, making it more rounded:

Create a new layer called ‘string’.

Select your paintbrush tool, and select a 1px, white paintbrush at 55% opacity. Use your path tool to create a wavy path dangling down from your balloon. In your paths palette right click on your path and click ‘stroke path’, selecting ‘paintbrush’ as the stroking option.

This should stroke your path line with a 55% opacity 1px white line. This is an easy way to create a simple balloon string:

Step 21

Time to start adding some final lighting and adjustments to our piece.

Create a new layer called ‘blue lighting’. You want to give the impression of some of the blue of our sky bleeding across into the boot/grassy areas. This should give the impression of various light sources in the piece effecting one another.

Use a large, soft paintbrush tool (69cbe1) to create a series of soft blue spots along the edges of your boot and grass:

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 10% to make the effect more subtle:

Repeat the same steps on a new layer called ‘green lighting’. This time paint green (456300) light spots along the bottom of your shoe, as if the green from your grass is casting this color upwards:

To make the effect more subtle change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 20%:

Step 22

If you check out the image below you’ll see that our sign post is a strange color. This is caused by the original adjustments on our ‘grassy field’ layer.

To fix this we could always mask off that area of our original color balance adjustment layer. However, we want even more control over our sign color than that!

Create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer (DO NOT APPLY A CLIPPING MASK TO THIS ADJUSTMENT LAYER).

Apply the settings shown below:

Hue Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -55
Lightness: +10

This will cause your sign to become a nicer color, but will also reduce the saturation of the rest of your image, which you don’t want!

To fix this, select the mask associated with this adjustment layer. Fill your entire canvas with black (thus masking off your entire adjustment layer). Then go in with a white paintbrush and paint over your sign area.

This will reveal your hue/saturation adjustments, but only in this specific area, as your reveal your adjustment layer’s mask.

And there you have it, safe, non-destructive blending, with plenty of control!

Step 23

To give a slightly more fantasy look to our piece we’re going to apply a dodge/burn layer.

Create a new layer called ‘dodge/burn’. Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’.

Then use a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to burn your image, and a soft, low opacity white paintbrush to dodge it. You should aim to create a more unified light source, accentuate shadows/highlights where appropriate and just generally bring the feel of your piece together more:

Step 24

As a final adjustment apply a gradient overlay adjustment layer (DO NOT APPLY A CLIPPING MASK TO THIS ADJUSTMENT LAYER).

Select the default gradient overlay ‘orange, yellow, orange’.

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 2%.

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

Create a new document (1000X1000px).

Paste in your sky photo from the resources section for this tutorial, positioning it to fit like the image below:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to your sky layer. For all adjustment layers in this tutorial be sure to apply a clipping mask so that your adjustments only effect the underlying layer, and not your entire canvas.

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +2 / -13 / -6
Midtones: +28 / +4 / -11
Shadows: +11 / -4 / -12

Step 2

We want to create a more central focus for our design.

Start by creating a new layer called ‘vignette’.

Use a large, soft, low opacity (around 10-20%) black paintbrush and brush around the corners and edges of your canvas:

Step 3

Create a new layer called ‘center highlight’.

Use a very large, soft, white paintbrush (around 20% opacity). Create a large white spot of white light in the middle of your canvas.

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. This should create a subtle lighting in the middle of your composition, drawing the eye:

Step 4

Open your main pig image (see resources section for this tutorial).

Extract the pig from it’s background using your preferred extraction method.

Paste the pig into your original document, resizing and positioning the pig like the image below:

If you notice, the feet of the pig appear very flat, as in the original photo they were resting on a flat surface. Now that our pig needs to be floating in the air we need to give the impression of the feet dangling naturally.

To achieve this effect, go to edit>puppet warp. Use your puppet warp tool to create multiple anchor points over the body of you pig. This will hold the pig in place while your warp it’s legs.

Use your puppet warp tool to bring the front legs closer together, and adjust the back legs slightly to give the impression of the legs hanging in mid air:

You can see the outcome of warping below:

Step 5

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your pig layer to help blend the pig better with it’s background:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

26 / 0.87 / 243

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +6 / -2 / 0
Midtones: -26 / 0 / +4
Shadows: +16 / 0 / -9

Step 6

Create a new layer called ‘band’.

Use your pen tool to create a belt type shape wrapping around your pig. Be sure to leave a little opening in the belt, letting a square of the pig’s back show through.

You can fill this area with whatever color you want. I used black:

Download your leather texture from the resources section for this tutorial. Paste the texture into your original document, resizing and positioning it to fit over your ‘band’ area:

We want to give the impression of the leather molding roughly to the shape of the pig’s body. To help achieve this effect, go to edit>transform>warp. Use your warp tool to warp the texture like in the image below:

Ensure that your leather texture is directly above your ‘band’ layer, and then apply a clipping mask to it. This will mean that your texture will clip to the shape of your band, giving the impression of a cool leather band effect wrapping around the pig:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer. This should automatically be given a clipping mask, but if not then apply one.

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +18 / 0 / -16
Midtones: +32 / 0 / -11
Shadows: +2 / 0 / -12

You can see that this has tinted the leather brown:

Step 7

We need to give our leather band area some lighting to make it look more natural.

In your layers palette option+click on your ‘band’ layer. This will select all data on this layer.

With your selection still in place, create a new top layer called ‘shadow band’. Use a soft black paintbrush to paint in shadows at the top and bottom of your band. Use a soft white paintbrush to paint in the middle of your band area.

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘multiply’ and reduce it’s opacity to 50%:

Step 8

Create a new layer called ‘highlight band’.

Use a soft, mid-opacity white paintbrush to brush over the center area of your band to act as a highlight:

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 50%:

Step 9

Create a new layer called ‘gold outline’.

Using your pen tool, create a selection around the square opening in the top of the leather band. Fill this area with ffd800.

Apply an inner shadow and inner glow blending option to your ‘gold outline’ layer:

Inner Shadow Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: 000000
Opacity: 35%
Angle: 120
Distance: 5px
Choke: 0%
Size: 5px

Inner Glow Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 20%
Noise: 0%
Color: 000000
Choke: 0%
Size: 1px

Step 10

Create a new layer called ‘pink fur’.

Download the FanExtra fur brush set from the resources for this tutorial.

The idea here is to apply subtle furry edges overlapping from the pig over the leather band area.

To do this, sample colors from the pig surface, and use these colors to paint with using your fur brush. Apply several brushes to achieve a nice random edge:

You’ll notice in the last image that the size of your fur brushes means a lot of the brush will be overlapping the pig and background, with only a tiny bit of the edge of the brush actually being useful, overlapping the leather band area.

To fix this, add a layer mask to your ‘pink fur’ layer, and mask off all areas of your brush marks apart from the areas overlapping your leather texture:

You’ll notice in the last image there’s still a bit of a seam line between the edge of the pig’s fur and the fur brush set.

To fix this create a new layer called ‘fur blend’. Use a small, soft pink paintbrush to paint along this seam line, blending the two areas a little more smoothly:

Step 11

To make the eye of the pig stand out even more, create a new layer called ‘eye glint’.

Create a tiny white spot over the pupil of the eye. (There is already a white spot here, but you want to make it more intense):

Step 12

Download the wing image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract one of the wings, and paste it into your original document. Use a layer mask to gradually blend the wing into the pig’s back, by masking off the bottom of the wing using a soft, black paintbrush:

Paste in the second wing, positioning this on a layer beneath your original wing. Label the front wing layer ‘front wing’ and the back wing layer ‘back wing’.

The back wing won’t be the perfect shape to start with, so go to edit>transform>distort to distort the wing to fit better:

Step 13

We want to give a tiny bit of movement to our back wing to help simulate the pig flying.

Select your ‘back wing’ layer and go to filter>convert for smart filters. This will convert this layer to a smart object, and let you apply filters non-destructively.

Then go to filter>blur>motion blur.

Motion Blur Filter Settings:

Angle: 30
Distance: 4 pixels

Step 14

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to both your wing layers. This will tint your wings pink, blending them with your pig:

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +9 / -8 / -5
Midtones: +53 / -18 / -57
Shadows: +12 / +1 / -13

Step 15

Duplicate your front wing layer.

Go to edit>transform>distort and distort the wing to fit in the area where it would naturally flap downward to.

Use a layer mask to gradually mask off the top edge of this wing:

Apply a motion blur to this layer to simulate the movement of flapping wings:

Motion Blur Filter Settings:

Angle: -66
Distance: 100 pixels

Repeat this step, creating a second blurred wing for the front wing, distorting this wing to be even further down.

Also create two blurred ‘back wing’ duplicates.

With the second duplicate for each wing (the most downward blurred wing) reduce the opacity of this layer, in order to make it fainter than your first duplicate wing:

Step 16

To finish our wings, we want to blend their base a little better into the pig’s back.

To do this, select a square area of fur from the surface of the pig, and copy/paste this to be a new top layer. Rename this layer ‘fur to wing’ and position your square of fur over the join between your wings and your pig:

Use a layer mask to mask this area of fur, creating a smooth transition between the base of the wings and the pig’s back:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to this ‘fur to wing’ layer, in order to make the colors more accurately blended:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

56 / 0.76 / 247

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -2 / -2 / +4
Midtones: -1 / +6 / +5
Shadows: +32 / +16 / +11

Step 17

Create a new layer called ‘dodge/burn main pig’.

We’re going to dodge/burn our pig in a non-destructive way.

Start by going to edit>fill>50% gray. Once you’ve filled your canvas with 50% gray, change it’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. This will hide your gray fill, but allow you to dodge/burn your image in a non-destructive way.

Simply use a soft black paintbrush (around 10% opacity) for burning your image, and a soft white paintbrush (around 10% opacity) for dodging.

Below you can see your dodge/burn layer at ‘normal’ blend mode and then ‘overlay’ blend mode:

The idea is to blend the pig better with it’s background. Try to identify light sources coming from the sky, and accentuate shadows where needed:

Step 18

To further blend the pig with the background, we’re going to add some soft color overlays as additional lighting.

Select a large, soft paintbrush (color: ffca55) and add several spots of orange light over your image. Again, try to work out where this orange light would be coming from in terms of your background:

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 20% and change it’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. This should give a very subtle orange tone to areas of your pig:

Repeat this technique using additional layers and adding purple/darker orange tones:

Step 19

Repeat the techniques used to create your main pig, and add a second, larger pig to the bottom left corner of your canvas.

You only want part of this pig’s head to be visible, as it’s merely used to create some nice framing and depth for the composition.

The image below shows the pig after adjustment layers, color tint layers and dodge/burning:

Go to filter>convert for smart filters.

Then go to filter>blur>gaussian blur. Apply a 6 pixels strength gaussian blur. This will help give the impression of depth, as the larger pig appears to be closer to us and out of focus:

Step 20

Create a new layer called ‘lens flare’. Fill your canvas with black, and then go to filter>convert for smart filters.

Go to filter>render>lens flare and apply a 50-300mm Zoom flare (100% brightness).

Try to position the lens flare over your pig’s back:

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘screen’ which will hide the black background fill, letting only the lens flare show through. Also reduce this layer’s opacity to 50%, making the effect more subtle:

Step 21

Finally, to finish apply a gradient overlay adjustment layer. We actually only want this adjustment layer to effect mainly our background area, as we don’t want to tint the pig too much.

To solve this problem, simply use the adjustment layers built in layer mask, and mask off the areas over your pig, using a large, soft black paintbrush:

Gradient Overlay Adjustment Layer Settings:

Gradient: default orange to purple gradient
Layer opacity: 10%
Layer blend mode: Normal:

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Learn how to build up lighting effects using a combination of filters and blending options.
• Learn how to create a cool swirling light effect.
• Learn how to work with Photoshop’s shape tools, creating your own custom shapes to add to your composition.
• Learn how to work with masking and overlays to bring your work together into a professional outcome.
• & Much More!

Learn how to build up lighting effects using a combination of filters and blending options.

Learn how to create a cool swirling light effect.

Learn how to work with Photoshop’s shape tools, creating your own custom shapes to add to your composition.

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

Create a new document (1000X600px).

Paste in the ‘clouds’ photo from the resources section for this tutorial.

Position your cloud image to match the image below:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer.

NOTE: For this tutorial unless otherwise stated always apply a clipping mask to all of your adjustment layers. This ensures that your adjustments will only effect the underlying layer, rather than your entire canvas.

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

6 / 0.70 / 255

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -15 / -6 / +6
Midtones: -9 / 0 / +6
Shadows: -11 / +2 / +2

Step 2

Paste in your mountain range image from the resources section for this tutorial. Call this layer ‘mountains’. Position your image like below:

Apply a layer mask, and use a large, soft black paintbrush to mask off the sky area of your mountain range image. The aim is to make it look as if your cloudy sky image and mountain range image are one cohesive scene:

Now apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your mountain image:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

25 / 0.91 / 238

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -11 / 0 / +6
Midtones: -6 / +1 / +4
Shadows: -12 / 0 / -2

Step 3

Create a new layer called ‘raylight’.

Download the FanExtra raylight brush set from the resources section for this tutorial. Apply one of the raylight brushes using a white brush, creating beams of light shooting past your mountain range:

Reduce your raylight layer’s opacity to 40% to make the effect more subtle:

Step 4

Download the moon photo from the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract it from it’s background and paste it into the top right part of your composition.

The bottom right of our moon is looking a little too light for the composition. To fix this, option+click on your moon layer. This will select your moon shape. With your selection active create a new layer called ‘moon shadow’. Use a black paintbrush to brush along the bottom edge of your moon:

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 70% and then change the layer blend mode to ‘overlay’:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to your moon layer.

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -13 / +4 / +16
Midtones: -23 / +9 / +19
Shadows: -23 / -13 / +9

Step 5

Create a new layer called ‘raylight moon’. Ensure that this layer is positioned behind your moon layer.

Apply several of your FanExtra raylight brushes, using a white brush. Try to give the impression of light spreading out from the moon.

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 70% and change it’s blend mode to ‘overlay’.

To make the effect slightly more intense, duplicate your ‘moon raylight’ layer.

Change the blend mode of this duplicate layer from ‘overlay’ to ‘normal’ and reduce it’s opacity to 30%:

Step 6

Paste your ‘man on cliff edge’ image into the right of your canvas:

Apply a layer mask to this layer, and then carefully mask off the sky background using a black paintbrush. Use a smaller paintbrush for the precise edges:

Apply a hue/saturation, color balance and levels adjustment layer:

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -95
Lightness: 0

NOTE: When you create an adjustment layer it already has a mask. With our hue/saturation adjustment layer we want to desaturate our cliff, but keep our man saturated. To achieve this, simply use a black paintbrush and the mask associated with your hue/saturation adjustment layer to mask off your adjustments (just over your man).

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -28 / +4 / +21
Midtones: -19 / +6 / +25
Shadows: -9 / +9 / +16

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

3 / 1.07 / 233

Step 7

Time to construct our escalator to the moon!

Start by pasting in your image of the escalator and resizing/position it to fit between your land mass and moon. Cut out the main background from this image, but leave some of the floor at the bottom of the escalator.

Apply a layer mask to your escalator layer and then use a soft, medium sized black paintbrush to mask the floor area into the grassy cliff top:

Apply a hue/saturation and color balance adjustment layer to your escalator layer:

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -60
Lightness: 0

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -26 / -1 / +19
Midtones: -35 / -1 / +29
Shadows: -22 / +4 / +13

Step 8

We want to apply some lighting to our escalator area.

Start by option+clicking on the escalator layer to select your escalator shape. With your selection still active create a new layer called ‘escalator lighting’. Use a soft black paintbrush to brush over the top of your escalator, giving it shadow.

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’.

Create a new layer called ‘escalator light rays’.

Using one of your ‘raylight’ brushes brush white over the top of your escalator steps, giving the impression that light is beaming down:

Step 9

Open up your ‘rope ladder’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract the ladder from it’s background using your magic wand tool. Then paste the ladder over the side of your cliff:

Duplicate your rope ladder layer and move the duplicate beneath the original. Fill this layer with black (the easiest most non-destructive way to do this is to apply a color overlay blending option):

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 40% to make the shadow more subtle and realistic:

Return to your original ladder layer and apply a levels adjustment layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

128 / 0.23 / 255

Step 10

Open up one of your woman holding onto balloons images.

Cut out the woman/balloons from their background and paste it into your original document. Position the woman just overlapping your moon:

Apply a hue/saturation and color balance adjustment layer:

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -45
Lightness: 0

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -9 / 0 / +16
Midtones: -38 / 0 / +29
Shadows: -21 / 0 / +2

Finally, apply some of your ‘raylight’ brushes over the top of your woman/balloons, using a low opacity white paintbrush:

Step 11

Add a second woman, floating near the edge of your cliff area.

Use the same techniques as step 11 (adjustment layers + raylight brush) to blend your woman:

Step 12

Paste in your final, third woman. She should be larger and positioned in the left of your canvas, floating towards your escalator/cliff area.

Extract her from her background using your preferred extraction method (I used masking).

Apply a brightness/contrast, color balance and then hue/saturation adjustment layer:

Brightness/contrast Adjustment Layer Settings:

Brightness: 100
Contrast: 0

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -18 / 0 / +8
Midtones: -35 / -6 / +11
Shadows: -13 / +11 / +5

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -85
Lightness: 0

Step 13

As demonstrated earlier in this tutorial, adjustment layers automatically have masks attached to them. Our adjustments so far look good, apart from they have caused our balloon to become too bright and desaturated.

To fix this, select the masks on your brightness/contrast and hue/saturation adjustment layers and use a soft black paintbrush to mask off these areas of your adjustments, revealing the brighter pink balloons:

Step 14

Create a new layer called ‘woman white lights’. We’re going to start lighting our largest woman holding balloons!

Using a soft white paintbrush create several brush glow marks over areas of your woman that you wish to highlight:

Change your lighting layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 30%:

Step 15

Option+click on your woman layer to select her.

Then create a new layer above your white lighting layer’s called ‘blue light cast’. You want to give your woman a subtle blue light that is being cast by the surrounding blue landscape:

With your selection in place paint over most of your woman using a blue sampled from the sky backdrop (4173a0).

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 15%.

Then duplicate this layer. Change the duplicate layer’s blend mode back to ‘normal’, keeping the opacity at 15%:

Step 16

Create a new top layer called ‘light ray woman’.

Apply one of your raylight brushes using a white brush. Give the impression of her floating towards the moon:

Change your raylight’s layer to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 35%.

Then duplicate this layer. Keep the opacity at 35% but change the duplicate’s blend mode back to ‘normal’:

Step 17

Download the FanExtra cloud brush from the resources for this tutorial.

Create a new layer called ‘clouds’. Apply several of the brushes over your canvas, giving a more foggy atmosphere to your piece. Be sure to use a white paintbrush.

Apply a layer mask to your clouds layer, and mask off any areas that you feel are too intense:

Step 18

We want to give more cohesive lighting to our piece, so it’s time to add a dodge/burn layer.

At PSD.FanExtra we always like to use non-destructive techniques where possible. To create your non-destructive dodge/burn layer create a new layer called ‘dodge/burn’. Go to edit>fill and fill your canvas with 50% gray.

Switch this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’ to hide the 50% gray. Then use a soft black paintbrush (around 10% opacity) to burn your image, and a soft white paintbrush to dodge it.

Try to identify where light from your moon/sky would illuminate other areas of your composition, and where shadows may be more intense.

The images below show your dodge/burn layer at ‘normal’ blend mode and then ‘overlay’ blend mode:

Step 19

Create a new layer called ‘vignette’. Use a large, soft, low opacity black paintbrush to paint around the corners/edges of your canvas:

Step 20

Download the grungy texture from the resources for this tutorial and paste/position it over your canvas.

Go to image>adjustments>desaturate to grayscale the texture. Then go to filter>sharpen>sharpen more to bring out the details:

Change your texture layer’s blend mode to ‘multiply’ and reduce it’s opacity to 30%:

Step 21

Finally, apply a gradient map adjustment layer.

Gradient Map Adjustment Layer Settings:

Gradient: default blue/red/yellow gradient provided with Photoshop settings
Layer Opacity: 2%
Layer Blend Mode: Normal

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Today we will be creating a composition that blends together various stock images to create a cohesive scene. In addition, we will be using some cool Photoshop tricks to add light effects to the design. Many of these techniques can be applied to your own unique designs – so let’s get started!

This tutorial is in part inspired by Pete Harrison’s awesome composition ‘Super Highway’. Check out his portfolio here.

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

Before we get into the design and start blending things together we will need to do a bit of prep work to get us started. Open the image of the winding road in the mountains from the resources folder. You can use a similar image if you would like but make sure that the perspective matches closely to the other images (like the car) that you want to use in your design.

Double click on the ‘Background’ layer that appears with a small lock icon next to it in the Layers Palette.

You will be prompted with a dialog box asking for you to name the layer – You can call it ‘Background’ again or leave it blank, it isn’t too important.

Once you have entered something in the field you can press the Enter Key or simply click OK from the dialog box. Now your layer should look like this:

Now we can modify or manipulate this layer.

Step 2

Press Command+J while the Background Layer is selected in your Layers Palette to duplicate the layer. Alternatively, you could also just drag this layer down to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the palette. Once you have done that you can turn the visibility of the original layer off so that your Layers Palette looks like the image shown below:

Step 3

What we are going to do next is remove the sky from the image so that we can place our own background into our design. To do this we will zoom in closely to our image and switch over to our Pen Tool (P) so that we can create a path. Follow along the edges of the mountains with the pen and this should go by fairly quickly depending on your level of comfort with the tool.

Once you have traced around the sky, simply close the path and then click anywhere along your path while holding down the Control Key and you should see a dropdown menu where you want to choose ‘Make Selection’ as shown here:

You should now see the marching ants that will indicate the area of the image that is currently selected. Press the Delete Key and it should remove all of the sky, revealing the transparent background below.

You can toggle the visibility of the original layer on and off to see the difference.

Step 4

Next, go to the Image Menu and select ‘Image Size’ as shown here:

We want to give ourselves the option of using this image as a desktop wallpaper so let’s make it about 1280 pixels wide. You don’t have to modify the height of the document as long as you have ‘Constrain Proportions’ checked off in the dialog box. You can go a bit larger with the dimensions, but depending on the resolution of the image you are using you don’t want to run the risk of pixelating it too much.

Step 5

Open the image of the dramatic clouds from the resources folder and import it into your document. Place the layer just below your winding road layer. You may have to scale it up a bit, or scale it down by using the Free Transform Command (Command/Ctrl+T) and dragging the image by one of the corners while holding the Shift Key.

When you are happy with the size and positioning of the sky background press the Enter Key to apply the changes.

Step 6

Next we will open the image of the car and isolate it from its background using the same method we used in Step 3 earlier on.

Once you have removed the background from the car image you can import it into your document. Place it at the top of your Layers Palette and use the Free Transform Command (Command/Ctrl+T) to rotate and scale the image accordingly so that it fits nicely into the piece.

Step 7

With the car layer selected, press Command/Ctrl+M to bring up the Curves Adjustment Dialog Box and apply a curve that looks like this:

The image below shows the car without the adjustment applied:

And this image shows the car with the adjustment:

As you can see from the screenshots, this makes quite a difference and really helps to improve the realism of the image.

Step 8

Next we are going to add a Curves Adjustment to the clouds in the background, but we are going to go about it in a different way. This is another method for applying adjustments. Click on the small white/black icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and it will bring up a menu as shown below:

Choose ‘Curves’ from the menu and once the dialog box appears, set the curve so that it resembles the image below:

By adding an Adjustment Layer this way, it will maintain the quality of the image rather than having a gradual quality loss, which is what can happen when applying an adjustment directly to the image. The difference is that now everything below this Curves Adjustment Layer will be affected and we also have the option of using the mask to remove or add the effect to the design however we would like.

Step 9

So far we have worked on placing our images and we have begun to blend them using Adjustment Layers. Something we will need to do in order to maintain the realism we are trying to achieve is to apply a shadow underneath the car. Double click on the car layer to bring up the Layer Styles Dialog Box and apply a Drop Shadow with the settings shown below:

Once you have set the appropriate values press the Enter Key to apply the changes. You should now have something like this:

Step 10

We will now import the image of the fireworks from the resources folder and once you have it in your document, place it below the car layer and change the Blending Mode to Screen.

With your fireworks layer highlighted/selected, click the Layer Mask icon from the bottom of your palette as shown here:

Switch to your Brush Tool (B) and with a large round brush selected, paint with a solid black color into the Layer Mask of the layer containing your fireworks. The goal here is to brush out most of the streaks at the top of the image as well as the part of the image that is under the front of the car. You should now have something like this:

Step 11

To enhance the lights coming from underneath the car we have another image of some more colorful streaks of light that we will open and bring into our document. Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Screen and do a Free Transform (Command/Ctrl+T) and then click on the image while holding the Control Key to bring up a menu with various transform options. We want to use ‘Warp’ to create more of a swooping motion with the lights as shown here:

You may have to warp it a couple of times, but play around and you will get some interesting shapes. Once you find something you like, move this layer below the car layer and apply a Layer Mask using the same step as before to brush out some of the colorful lights.

Make another selection from the original colorful lights image and import it into your document. From here we will set the Blending Mode to Screen once again and use the warp option to modify the shape of the lights. Place this layer on top of the car layer so that it appears to be in the front, and mask out some of the lights on the front tire so that it looks like this:

When painting into the Layer Mask, use a soft brush at a low opacity when working around the wheels. This will give it a slightly blurred look which would be accurate for a car moving at high speeds.

Step 12

Switch to your Brush Tool (B) and select a 2 pixel hard round brush. Once you have done that, create a new layer at the top of your palette and then switch to your Pen Tool (P).

Zoom in closely to the car and using the pen, begin to trace some flowing lines that follow the shape of the car as shown here:

Once you have drawn a path that is looking pretty natural, hold the Control Key and click anywhere along the path to reveal a dropdown menu. From this menu you will want to choose ‘Stroke Path’ as seen below:

Next you should see another dialog box appear where it gives you the option to ‘Simulate Pressure’ but we do not want this checked off for this particular task. What this will do is make the line thinner or taper off near the end of the lines, but for now we want it to be an even stroke from one end of the line to the other.

Hold the Control Key again anywhere along the path and select ‘Delete Path’ to get rid of the path we made, only leaving the stroke.

Step 13

Make sure that the stroke layer is highlighted in your Layers Palette and click on the Layer Mask icon along the bottom row of icons shown here:

This will add a mask to our stroke layer enabling us to have more control over its appearance. With your stroke layer still highlighted, hold the Command (or Control Key on Windows) and click on the thumbnail of the car on the ‘Car’ layer.

Doing this sill activate the selection around the car or any other object that you do this with. You should still have your top-most layer highlighted so now, switch over to your Brush Tool (B) and with a solid black brush, begin to paint into this layers Layer Mask where you want it to be hidden.

This is a technique that we will be using in the next couple of steps. Before we create any new paths or strokes we will have to remember to set our brush to the type of line we want to create beforehand.

Step 14

Continue to create new layers and create paths with the Pen Tool before applying the brush stroke and deleting the path. When you add a Layer Mask to your brush stroke you can lower the opacity or softness of the brush to create a smoother and more gradual fade like I have done here near the wheel:

Remember, when you create a new path and stroke with the brush, you will want a thinner white brush for thin lines, but when you paint into the Layer Mask you will probably want a larger black brush. You will be doing a bit of back and forth with the Brush Tool (B) but there are a few simple shortcuts that will make it a lot easier for you.

The [ and ] brackets will vary the size of your brush so this is always good to be able to tap a key a few times rather than manually changing the size.

If you tap the D Key on your keyboard you will automatically reset your default black and white colors.

Using the actual number keys on your keyboard will set the opacity of your brush in increments of ten. For example, pressing the 5 Key will set your brush to 50% opacity.

Step 15

Keep experimenting with creating different paths both in front of the car and behind it. We don’t want to overdo it, but a few whispy lines can go a long way.

After spending some time trying different things out I have come to a point where I am happy with the number of curving lines that are in the composition. There are about ten different paths so in order to clean things up a bit I will select my top stroke layer, then hold the Shift Key and select the bottom stroke layer, and then press Command/Ctrl+G to put them into a Group Folder.

Step 16

Next, create a new layer at the top of your Layers Palette and switch over to your Gradient Tool (G). Set it to a Radial Gradient that fades from solid to transparent as shown here:

For the color, we will be using a shade of magenta – #D304FF.

Click your mouse and drag outwards on your new layer to create the gradient. Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Screen and place it towards the rear tire of the car as shown below:

Step 17

Create another new layer and make another Radial Gradient, this time using a bright yellow color such as #FADE06 and set the Blending Mode to Overlay. Place this layer above the magenta gradient that we created in the previous step.

Select another new color – Here I am using #04FFE4, which is a vibrant cyan color. Create a third Radial Gradient above the other two and set it’s Blending Mode to Screen to create a cool blending effect as seen here:

Step 18

Continue the process of creating new layers with Radial Gradients set to Screen using various colors from the light streaks. It’s good to experiment and pay attention to how the colors are effected when they are mixed together.

After covering most of the car with varied gradients in different colors, you will begin to get a cool, chameleon looking paint job that shines with lights. There is no specific order that the colors need to be placed. Playing around at this point is crucial for getting those happy accidents that can sometimes lead to a breakthrough in your design.

Step 19

Select your Background layer in the Layers Palette so that it appears highlighted. Next, click on the black and white icon along the bottom row of icons in your palette and choose ‘Hue/Saturation’ from the list that appears.

Once the settings for the Adjustment Layer appear, move the middle Saturation slider over to the left until it’s set to about -56. We want to desaturate the image a bit, but not completely here so that most of the focus remains on the car.

By doing this we are helping to keep a strong focal point because if we leave the background and foreground bright and saturated, they will compete with one another and it will become difficult to maintain a hierarchy of elements throughout the design.

Step 20

Create a new layer and what we want to do now is add some flares so create a Lens Flare from the Filter>Renders Menu and set the flare’s Blending Mode to Screen.

Next, go back to the Filter Menu, but this time choose ‘Blur>Gaussian Blur’ and apply an effect of about 3.2 pixels before pressing the Enter Key to apply the changes.

Press Command/Ctrl+J to duplicate the flares and place them in a few different spots on the car. You may also wish to use the Free Transform Command to play with the scale of the flares – make some smaller than others and vary the sizes.

Step 21

Select the top layer in your Layers Palette and then select the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom row of icons. Select ‘Levels’ from the list that appears. This will apply a Levels Adjustment Layer that will affect every layer beneath it.

Move the left slider in so that it’s set to 15.

Once you have applied the settings you should have something like this:

Step 22

Next we want to select the clouds layer towards the bottom of the Layers Palette and then once again select the black and white Adjustment Layer icon. Select ‘Levels’ from the list once it appears.

Apply the following settings by bringing in the left slider in order to darken up the clouds and add contrast.

Step 23

Create a new layer just above the clouds layer and switch over to your Gradient Tool. With your gradient set to Linear, add five colors to the palette that cover the range of colors used in the rest of the image. Use some vibrant colors that will go from yellow to orange to blue and then to a magenta color as shown here:

Click in the bottom right hand corner and drag upwards and to the left to create the gradient. Set the Blending Mode of the gradient layer to Color and reduce the opacity to about 35%.

By doing this we are adding hints of color into the sky that reflect the palette that is used on the car.

Step 24

To add a bit more detail to our image I am thinking that incorporating some geometric shapes would add something nice. All I am going to do here is create a few white loops that are sort of scattered around the car as though they are coming off of it.

All you need to do to create one of these loops is to make a circular selection with the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) and fill it with solid white. Once you have done that, go to the Select Menu and choose Modify>Contract. Contract the shape by about 4 pixels and hit the delete key so you are just left with a stroke.

Double click on one of the loop shape layers to bring up the Layer Styles and apply an outer glow using the color #F9FF00. Apply the settings shown below:

Hold the Control Key and click on the small ‘FX’ icon on the shape layer and when the menu appears we want to choose ‘Copy Layer Style’ to copy the glow effect.

Next, click on your other loop layers while holding the Control Key and when the menu appears select ‘Paste Layer Style’ to apply the same effect.

You can change the colors of the glow here by modifying the glow effect of the individual shapes if you choose.

Step 25

Open the nebula stock image from the resources folder and import it into your document. Make sure that it’s at the top of the Layers Palette, just underneath the Adjustment Layer and change the Blending Mode to Screen as shown here:

I have also added a Layer Mask like we did in the earlier steps to paint out the nebula in the sky so that it’s only around the car. This adds a bit of an interesting texture and additional lights that are a nice addition to our image.

Before finishing this piece up I have decided to remove a few of the flares so that you can see a bit more detail in the car and the light streaks as well. Once you have done that and are happy with the composition, be sure to save your work and enjoy the results! Thanks for following along and I hope you have enjoyed this weeks tutorial.

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Learn how to correctly apply, then manipulate Photoshop brushes to construct your piece.
• Learn drawing techniques and apply digital painting tips to enhance your design.
• Learn how to correctly extract your images for professional results.
• Learn how to build up multiply layers of lighting, masking and adjustments.
• & Much More!

Learn how to correctly apply, then manipulate Photoshop brushes to construct your piece.

Learn drawing techniques and apply digital painting tips to enhance your design.

Learn how to correctly extract your images for professional results.

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a surreal photo manipulation called “The Sky Station”. We’ll go through different techniques of manipulating, retouching, masking, using brush, coloring and much more.

Final Image

As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:

Step 1

Open sky 1 stock, crop the bottom of this picture to get a look below:

Step 2

On background layer, i use Lasso Tool to make a selection for dark sky part with feather = 20, then right click it, choose Layer via Copy. Move it up to hide a part of light rays. Name it as “cloud 1″:

Duplicate this layer twice, name them as “cloud 2″ and “cloud 3″ , and erase any unecessary parts:

Step 3

Now we will brighten a cloud part. On background layer, use Lasso Tool to make selection in sky with feather = 30. Copy it into a new layer ( right click, choose Layer via Copy) then set this layer on the top, name it “cloud 4″. Lower opacity to 30%:

Step 4

I want to achieve more dramatic effect for sky so i use another sky stock. Open it and make selection for only sky ( you can use similar images if you can’t download it from Photoxpress). Drag it into our canvas, resize and place it on the top:

Change the mode to Soft light 100% and use layer mask to hide rough edges of this part. Name this layer as “sky 1″.

Step 5

To make this sky part color fit the background I use a Hue/Saturation layer with Clipping Mask options. Choose Layer-New adjustment layer-Hue/Saturation:

Step 6

Drag sky from sky 2 stock into our canvas again. Resize and apply Flip Horizontal for it ( Edit-Transform-Flip Horizontal):

Call this layer as “sky 2″. Put the mode to Soft light 100% and use layer mask to clear any rough edges and a Hue/Saturation layer with Clipping Mask for this sky part. I use different settings for this Hue/Saturation layer:

Step 7

Now we will make the light for center of sky. On background layer, make a selection of sunlight part with feather = 30. Copy it into a new layer in the method used in previous steps. Place it on the top, name it “cloud 5″:

Move it to the center part of picture and transform a bit, add layer mask to hide some parts:

Duplicate it and transform it’s shape and with layer mask again, make a similar look like this below. Call it “cloud 6″:

Don’t worry if the light does not look good. We’ll do some steps to make it look better later.

Step 8

On background layer, i copy a dark sky part ( make selection , feather = 30) and paste in into a new layer which is set on the top. Place it to hide the sunlight on the right. Because we copy this part from background layer so when it’s put on the top, the light of sun still there. Use layer mask to clear it. Call it “cloud 7″:

Duplicate it ( call it “cloud 8″) and with same technique, we see the light there is reduced.

Step 9

Create two new layers with Soft light mode 50% and i use soft brush with color #c1c2c2 . Paint on dark parts of sky ( the top left and bottom right) to brighten them a bit.

There is a part of light in the center that needs to be fixed. Create a new layer and use soft white brush painting on it then change the mode to Soft light 100%:

I want to reduce the intensity of light in the center so i make a new layer and take brush with color #dad2c9. Paint on the light and around it. Lower opacity to 50%:

Step 10

Open building image. Use any tools you like to make selection for it then copy it into a new layer. Drag it into our document and situate it at the bottom center of picture:

As you see i just use the top of this building, call it “subway”. And you may notice that it’s too bright from background. So i use a Hue/Saturation layer with Clipping Mask to reduce brightness and change a bit of color :

Don’t down lightness too much as you can loose the contrast. We will do another method to make it darker in next step.

Step 11

Create two new layers with Clipping Mask. Take soft black brush and paint over this subway. Put the mode as Soft light 100% and 50%.

Step 12

There are some parts of subway that are darker than the rest. Make a new layers ( Clipping Mask) and use soft white brush painting on them. Change the mode to Soft light 100%:

As you see the main light source comes from center so the top part of subway which catch light needs to be a bit brighter than the rest. Make a new layer ( Clipping Mask) and use soft white brush with opacity and flow 50% painting on it. Set the mode to Soft light 50%:

Step 13

In an additional step to create light for subway, i use Inner Shadow effect. Right click subway layer, choose Blending options:

Notice that i put the settings of Angle as 90 to fit the light direction from background.

Step 14

Open traffic light stock. First make a selection for this part of it and copy it into our main document. Because it has a big size so we can easily resize and transform it. I stretch it longer and narrower:

Add layer mask for this part and erase the bottom with black brush:

Name it as “iron column”.

Step 15

Copy the light part and place it at the top of column, always remember to resize to make a suitable size. Call this layer “lights”.

Step 16

In this step we’ll make shadow for Traffic light. The light from background comes from behind this subject so it must have a shadow in front. Select column and lights layer, right click and choose Duplicate Layers. After that, right click these layers again, choose Merge Layers. Move this layer under column and lights layers, name it “traffic light shadow”. Apply Flip Vertical, transform and move it under the bottom of the column then reduce the lightness of it to -100 by Hue/Saturation ( hit Cmd/Ctrl+U to open this dialog). Lower opacity to 40%:

You should take care of the angle of this subway. The shadow should be on the same angle and shorter than the length of the column.

Step 17

To change color of “lights” to fit the background i use two adjustment layers with Clipping Mask:

Curves:

Hue/Saturation:

Step 18

The red light looks pretty dark so i want to enhance it. Make two new layers ( Clipping Mask), use brush with color #d5102e painting on the red part. Change the mode of these layers to Soft light 100%.

Step 19

I still want to fix this part of lights. Create a new layer above “lights” layer, name it “light 1″. Choose lights layer, make a selection as shown below:

Press Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy it then choose “light 1″ layer, press Cmd/Ctr+V to paste into. Move this part down to hide the part we want to fix. You should have a similar result like mine:

Step 20

Now we will add more light for traffic light layers by Inner shadow effect. I use different value of light intensity for each of these layers:

We have result:

After adding light we have an unwanted light part at the bottom of column:

To fix it, right click column layer , choose Indicates layer effect then Create Layer. Inner shadow effect now appears as a normal layer with Clipping Mask:

We can add layer mask for this layer and use black brush to clear any unwanted light effect:

Step 21

Open train stock. Extract it and place it into our canvas, resize and transform it. Apply Flip Horizontal to get a look below:

Call it “train 1″. Now our work is to remove all texts of train and then add the ones we like. Create 3 new layers with Clipping Mask. On each layer i make selection around the texts which need to be removed then fill it with approriate colors ( #141c1e, #1c1417, #888661).

I add Layer Style for the part below after filling to get rid of flat effect:

Step 22

Now we will add name and number to the train. Make a new layer ( Clipping Mask), hit T to active Type Tool, i use Candara font ( you can find it if you use Window Vista or Win 7) but sure you can use any fonts you feel approriate . Choose color #cccbbb and type “SKY 2 EXPRESS” with 11 pt as shown below:

Hit Warped text mode and choose Arc then put the settings below:

Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T and choose Warp mode to make a suitable curve for these texts:

Create a new layer and i use Impact font ( a default Window font) with 22 pt and same color ( #cccbbb). Type any numbers you want and transform it as the screenshot below shows:

Step 23

I make a Hue/Saturation layer ( Clipping Mask) to reduce saturation of the train to be fit the background:

Step 24

As you know some parts of train catch the light from background so they must be brighter. Make two new layers ( Clipping Mask) and use soft white brush painting on these parts. I set one layer to Soft light 100% and another to Overlay 100%:

A new layer with the purpose to brighten train head as it’s pretty dark. Use soft white brush on it and set the mode of Soft light 50%:

Step 25

In this step we add more light for the train with a method used before. Right click the train, choose Blending options:

I use a new layer ( no Clipping Mask) on the top to reduce light on some parts of train. Choose brush with color #727369 and paint on them and put the mode as Multipy 50%:

Step 26

Open train stock and move isolated train into our canvas again, place it on the right side, remember to make the size bigger than train 1. Position it to leave only the last carriages visible on the image:

Name it “train 2″.

Add a Hue/Saturation layer with Clipping Mask for train 2:

To brighten it, i use two layers ( Clipping Mask), Soft light mode 100% and paint with white brush:

Add glowing light for train 2 with Inner Shadow effect:

Step 27

To add some mist effect for trains, make a new layer on the top. Set foreground and background color to #f9f9f5 and #babebd. Make two selections around trains with feather = 30. Choose Filter-Render-Clouds:

Lower opacity to 30% and use layer mask to make some parts of train visible:

Step 28

Now we will make special railway for the trains. Open cloud stock and use Magic Wand Tool with Tolerance about 30-35 to click the blue part of sky then hit Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+I to invert selection. Set feather for this selection = 30. Copy it into a new layer then drag into our image, resize and place it beside train 1 as shown below:

Add layer mask to leave some some parts of this cloud visible only:

Duplicate this layer twice, transform and use layer mask and black brush to make our clouds get a look like this:

Step 29

With each cloud layer, i apply a Hue/Saturation layer with Clipping Mask:

Name them as “cloud railway 1″, “cloud railway 2″, “cloud railway 3″ or whatever you like.

Do the same for train 2 . Try to create a different look from train 1. Here is my result:

I notice that the bottom of these clouds which meet light from background a bit dark so i want to brighten it.

Create a new layer on the top ( no Clipping Mask), use soft white brush painting on this part, set this layer to Soft light 100%:

Step 30

Open man stock. Make selection for man only ( don’t take the can) and copy into a new layer. Move him into our document, resize and position him at the top of subway. The right hand is missed so we’ll add one for it. On man layer, make selection for left hand then copy it into a new layer. Apply Flip Horizontal and transform it to be fit the right hand:

Then merge two these layers, rename it as “man”.

Step 31

The man should have two shadows: one is under his feet and one on the subways. Create a new layer under man layer. Use black brush with medium hardness ( 40-50) and opacity about 70-80% to paint under his feet.

To make a shadow of the man on subway, we do the same technique done with traffic light.

Step 32

To change color of the man i use two adjustment layers with Clipping Mask:

Curves:

Hue/Saturation:

Step 33

In this step i will retouch white hair part to make him look younger. Make a new layer ( Clipping Mask), choose Clone tool and make sure that you’ve checked “Sample All Layers” on property bar. Clone over this part:

A new layer with the purpose to remove some muscles on man’s arms with Clone Tool :

Step 34

In this step i use many layers with Clipping Mask option to retouch color and brightness on some parts of the man.

Create two new layers and i use brush with color #b59582 painting on the arms. Put the mode of these layers as Multipy 50% and 70%:

Two layers with Soft light mode 100%, i use soft white brush and paint on hands to brighten them. You can see on screenshot below:

Two layers and i use brush with color #414344 . Set the mode of them to Multipy 50% and paint on the jeans:

Step 35

I use a Hue/Saturation layer with Clipping Mask to reduce saturation of man’s skin:

Step 36

Add light for the man by using Inner Shadow:

I want to make the light in some parts of the man more visible. So i make a new layer ( Clipping Mask) with Overlay mode and fill it with 50% gray:

Use Dodge Tool to brighten his clothes:

Step 37

Isolate suitcase, resize and place it beside the man:

With same technique used before we make two shadows for this suitcase:

Step 38

Use two new adjustment layers (Clipping Mask) to change colors of the suitcase:

Curves:

Hue/Saturation:

Step 39

I use a layer ( Clipping Mask) and brush with color #c1cad8. Paint on the top of this suitcase and change the mode to Multipy 100% to darken it a bit:

A new layer and i use brush with color #c1cad8 but to brighten outside the suitcase. Set the mode of it to Overlay 100%:

Step 40

Make a new layer on the top. Use brush with color #a19b8d painting on trains and clouds parts. Change the mode to Color 50%:

Step 41

I use some adjustment layers to change color of whole picture:

Gradient Map:

Change the mode of this Gradient Map layer to Soft light 70%.

Brightness/Contrast and Hue/Saturation

On Brightness/Contrast layer mask, use black brush to clear the contrast parts:

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Learn how to blend various landscapes into a single cohesive background.
• Learn how to create textures and warped effects from scratch in Photoshop.
• Learn how to build up multiple layers of lighting/coloring to produce a realistic, subtle effect for your piece.
• Learn how to pay close attention to tiny details of your piece, creating an outcome rich in detail and skill.
• & Much More!

Learn how to blend various landscapes into a single cohesive background.

Learn how to create textures and warped effects from scratch in Photoshop.

Learn how to build up multiple layers of lighting/coloring to produce a realistic, subtle effect for your piece.

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

Create a new document (1100px X 800px).

Paste your crumpled paper texture into the top-center of your canvas:

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 50%. Now apply a layer mask and use a grungy, black paintbrush to mask off the edges of your paper, blending it smoothly into the main white background.

Download the Bittbox watercolor brush set from the resources section for this tutorial. Apply several black brush strokes at a very low opacity over your paper texture area:

Step 2

Download the ‘skatepark ramps’ photo from the resources section for this tutorial and paste it into your document:

Move the ramp image to the left part of your canvas and then apply a layer mask. Use a black paintbrush and brushes from your watercolor brush set to mask off the edges of this ramp area in a grungy way.

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your ramp layer (be sure to create a clipping mask for all your adjustment layers so that your adjustments only effect the underlying layer, not your entire canvas).

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

40 / 1.13 / 223

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -6 / 0 / +9
Midtones: -1 / +1 / +18
Shadows: -13 / 0 / +13

Repeat this technique, reapplying your skateboard ramp but to the right of the original:

Step 3

Paste in the circle pit image from the resources section for this tutorial. Call this layer ‘circle ramp’.

Crop and position it to resemble the image below:

Create a layer mask for your ‘circle ramp’ layer, and then use a black paintbrush, and brushes from your watercolor brush set to mask off most of the image. You want to create a grungy effect by erasing large areas of your circle ramp, but leave the back in tact so as to add to the overall structure of your composition:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your ‘circle ramp’ layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

62 / 0.88 / 238

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -6 / -1 / +5
Midtones: -13 / +6 / +9
Shadows: -2 / 0 / +9

Step 4

Paste in your ‘skatepark stairs’ image, positioning the stairs to the left of your ramps:

Using the same techniques as for your ramps, use a watercolor black paintbrush to mask off the edges of your stairs image:

Now apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your stairs layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

15 / 0.95 / 252

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -9, 0, +6
Midtones: -32, -1, +12
Shadows: +6, +11, +13

Step 5

Flip your stairs image and repeat step 4 to apply some stairs to the right part of your composition:

Step 6

Paste your ‘skater jumping’ image into your document and position it roughly in the center of your canvas:

Use your preferred extraction tool to cut out the skater from his background. I used the lasso tool as this is a relatively simple object to cut out:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your ‘skater jumping’ layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

15 / 1.09 / 206

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -8 / +2 / +12
Midtones: -19 / +12 / +8
Shadows: +6 / +6 / -4

Step 7

Open up your ‘skater on rail’ image from the resources for this tutorial. Extract the skater and the rail from their background and then paste this image into your main document.

Call this layer ‘skater right’:

Apply a layer mask to this layer. Then, using a black grungy paintbrush (one of your watercolor brushes) mask off the ends of your railing in a messy way:

This is a great way to add an abstract touch to your composition:

Now, you guessed it! Time to apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your ‘skater right’ layer!

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

17 / 1.24 / 235

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -22 / -5 / +11
Midtones: -32 / -1 / +5
Shadows: +9 / -8 / -11

Step 8

Now duplicate your ‘skater right’ layer. The adjustment layers will now be applied to your duplicate.

Grab the original underlying layer and go to filter>convert for smart filters.

Then go to filter>blur>motion blur, applying a motion blur at 100 pixels distance and 18 degrees.

You’ll notice that the motion blur blurs out our image in both directions. We want to create the illusion of the skater sliding down the railing, not the entire railing being in motion.

To do this, apply a layer mask to your motion blur layer. Mask off all of your blurred image, apart from the area directly to the right of your skater. Basically mask off the blur that’s to the left of your skater/railing, and any blur coming off of the railing itself:

Step 9

The skater is looking good, but I want the railing area to be a little more dark and intense.

Let’s look at how to achieve this in a non-destructive way.

Start by applying a new levels adjustment layer, but this time DON’T create a clipping mask.

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

57 / 1.00 / 233

By not applying a clipping mask your adjustments will effect your entire canvas.

However, we’re going to use specific masking to fix this!

Start by selecting your layer mask, and then filling your entire canvas with black. This will mask off your entire adjustment layer, masking your adjustments invisible.

Then simply use a white paintbrush to paint over your railing area, revealing your adjustment layer in this specific area only:

Voila! Non-destructive adjustments via specific masking!

Step 10

Repeat the exact same techniques used for your ‘skater right’ to apply another skater in the left part of your composition:

Step 11

It looks a little strange to have the railings floating in the air right now, even as part of an abstract grungy piece.

To fix this, select and copy/paste the support railing part from the ‘skatepark rail’ image in the resources section for this tutorial. Ensure that this layer is beneath your ‘skater right’ layers.

Currently the railing support isn’t angled correctly to fix underneath our railing image.

To fix this, simply go to edit>transform>distort and distort the support to fit. Also apply a layer mask and use a grungy black paintbrush to blend the bottoms of your supports into the main background:

Now apply a levels adjustment layer to your support railing, being sure to give your adjustment layer a clipping mask.

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

70 / 1.00 / 243

Step 12

Repeat step 11, adding a support to your left railing as well:

Step 13

Create a new layer called ‘watercolor marks’. Position this layer below your skater layers (including the right/left skaters), but above your background layers and ‘railing support’ layers.

Use your watercolor brush set to apply a range of different blue brush marks over your canvas:

Create a new layer called ‘dodge/burn’. Create a selection that covers all of your watercolor brush marks and fill this with 50% gray (edit>fill>50% gray).

Now change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. Then use your watercolor brush set and apply a series of white/black marks (using a low opacity brush). This effectively dodged/burns your image in a non-destructive way.

Below you can see the dodge/burn layer at ‘normal’ blend mode:

Now create a clipping mask for your ‘dodge/burn’ layer. This means that your dodge/burn marks will only be shown over your watercolor marks:

Now change your dodge/burn layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’:

Step 14

Select your watercolor marks layer and dodge/burn layer and hit option+g (control+g on a pc). This will group your two layers together into a layer folder.

Now apply a layer mask to your layer group folder (you can apply masks to layer folders, not just individual layers). This means that your layer mask will effect all layers within the folder.

Mask off your layer folder until it looks like the image below. The idea is just to tone down the blue marks, and blend them smoothly into your main background:

Step 15

Create a new layer called ‘watercolor splatters’. Ensure that this new layer is outside of your layer folder from step 14.

Download the FanExtra detailed watercolor brush set from the resources for this tutorial.

Apply several of the splatter brushes from the set behind your skaters. You want to use the paint splatters to accentuate their movement and energy:

Step 16

We want to add one more ramp structure to the front of our composition to try and complete it.

Paste in the top of a ramp area from one of your resources photos, positioning it at the front of your composition. Ensure that this layer is above all of your watercolor/splatter layers:

Apply a layer mask and mask off the bottom and sides of this new ramp area, blending it smoothly into the background:

Now apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer (giving each a clipping mask).

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

79 / 0.87 / 201

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -12 / 0 / -2
Midtones: -1 / -49 / +13
Shadows: -15 / -6 / -4

Step 17

Create a new top layer called ‘dodge/burn’.

Use the same technique as your earlier dodge/burn layer. Fill your canvas with 50% gray (edit>fill>50% gray) and then change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’.

Use a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to burn your image, and a soft, low opacity white paintbrush to dodge it.

The images below show your dodge/burn layer at ‘normal’ blend mode and then ‘overlay’ blend mode:

Step 18

To finish your image, apply a final two adjustment layers. Be sure NOT to apply clipping masks to these layers, as you want your adjustments to effect your entire canvas:

Curves Adjustment Layer Settings:

Curves: (see below)
Layer opacity: 50%

Gradient Map Adjustment Layer Settings:

Gradient: default: black to white gradient
Layer opacity: 15%
Layer blend mode: Normal

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial