Today you’ll learn how to create an atmospheric snow queen scene. This tutorial will teach you all kinds of practical techniques including:

• Combining multiple photos to create a custom backdrop
• Adding custom lighting effects
• Using adjustment layers correctly
• Blending images seamlessly
• Creating a snow blizzard effect using brushes

Final Image

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

Step 1

Let’s start by creating a new file, go to menu bar and click File > New > and then put the following values on their fields:

Width: 1370
Height: 1680
Background Color: Transparent

Step 2

In this step, we will be creating the base background. To start, open the stock ‘Manipulated-Background’ by Intano-Stock in photoshop. Once open, activate the Rectangular Marquee tool by pressing M on your keyboard and create a selection area around the sky. See the image below:

Now that you’ve made a selection area around the sky, activate the Move tool (V) then left click on the image and drag it all the way to our canvas. Position it as shown:

Step 3

Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) or simply click ‘New Layer’ on Layers palette then go to Layer> Create clipping mask (Alt + Ctrl +G) to create a mask. Activate your brush tool (B) with these settings:

Brush Size: 500px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 20%
Flow: 100%

The result:

Next, adjust Hue and Saturation of the image, Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue and Saturation. Follow these settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -38
Lightness: 0

The result should be similar to this:

Step 4

We’ve made the first part of the sky, now we will make it more dramatic. To do that, we will add another background from the stock ‘Dark Background’ by Xan-04. Open the said stock image and once it is open, copy the image and paste it to our canvas. Make sure to put it above the ‘Base’ layer. To do that, just left-click and drag this new layer on top of the base. Once it is on our main canvas, drag the image until you have the same result:

The result of drag:

Next, add a vector mask from the bottom of layer’s patte. Now, activate your Eraser tool (E) with a soft round brush. Erase highlighgted area as shown below:

The result should be similar to this:

Step 5

Now, in this step, we will be adding our subject-the model. First, let’s open the stock image by Faestock. We will be cutting out subject from its original background. To do this, activate Pen tool (P) for an accurate result.

Import it to our working canvas. Activate the transform tool (V) and resize model same as the image below:

Rename the layer to ‘Model’

Step 6

Let’s brighten up the model by adding an empty layer (Shift + Ctrl + N). Rename the layer to ‘bright’. Drag the layer down after the model’s layer. Select a soft white brush (B) with an opacity of 20% and a 100% flow. Gently brush over the body.

The result:

Step 7

Add another empty layer (Shift + Ctrl + N), the layer should be placed on the top of the model’s layer. Enhance the light more by highlighting the edge of the model to bright out the light from the background. Activate the brush tool by pressing B and when it is activated, use the following values:

Size: 6-12%
Opacity: 20%
Flow: 100%
Hardness: 0%

Zoom in and now gently brush the face, shoulder and some part of the skirt as seen below:

The result should be similar to this:

Step 8

Now, we will make the ‘highlighted edges’ to look more natural and so activate your smudge tool and smudge the edges. Look what I did below:

Continue smudging on different parts until you get the desired result.

Step 9

Next, We’ll adjust the Hue and Saturation. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer> Hue and Saturation and create a clipping mask.

Hue: 0
Saturation: -10
Lightness: 0

Now group the layers we have created and name it ‘Model’.

Step 10

Add another empty layer and then activate your brush tool (B) and open ‘Snow White’ by tahliadenae. Choose brush #197 and follow these settings:

Size: 700px-1200px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 100%
Flow: 100%

Apply randomly on the layer and make sure it isn’t aligned or fall into sections or else it will look fake. Delete snow pecks which distracts the image by using the Eraser tool.

Step 11

Now, still the snow layer activated, go to Filter> Blur > Motion Blur. Input the following settings:

Angle: -30
Distance: 5 pixels

The motion blur result:

Group the layers to ‘Snow’

Step 12

Open ‘Amazing lens flare’ by sapphiredesign. Choose lens flare #4 and copy to our canvas. Once copied, resize it and place it like I did below:

Step 13

Next step is changing the blending mode into ‘Screen’. The result:

This will enhance the lighting into our scene. You can always do this where there is a strong lighting on the background to create a dramatic effect.

Group the layers and rename the group to len’s flare.

Step 14

The next step is enhancing the color of our image. We’re giving it a dark artwork finish. Let’s start by adding ‘Solid Color’. To do that, Click on New Fill layer/Adjustment layer button from the layer window when the menu opens, pick solid color. In the ‘Color Picker’ window, enter in #424142.

Step 15

When you have it on the layer window, change the Blending Mode to Soft Light and the opacity should be change at 20%. The result should be smiliar to this:

Step 16

Now let’s create the second ‘solid color’. Set the color to #6d7378 then change the blending mode to Soft Light and the Opacity should be retained at the 100%.

The result should be similar to this:

Step 17

Let’s create the last solid color and set the color to #5b7aa4.

and the result is:

Step 18

It’s time to create color balance adjustment layer from the Create New Fill/Adjustment layer button. Click on color balance from contextual menu and when the color balance boy opens, apply the following:

Shadows: +5,0,-5
Midtones: 0,0,0
Color Balance: -8, +15, +27

The result:

Step 19

Finally let’s enhance the color by creating Photo Filter adjustment layer. Go to Layer> New Adjustment layer> Photo Filter.

Step 20

The last step would be adjusting the curves. Go to Menu> Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Curves. Input the following:

Output: 36
Input: 31

and the final result is:

And We’re Done!

Here is how your final result should look.

Today you’ll learn some handy photo manipulation techniques if you’re just starting out.

This tutorial will teach you how to create a really beautiful outcome called ‘Out of Reach’ in a few simple, clear, straight forward steps.

You’ll master blending various images together, applying adjustment layers, working with masks, brushes, light effects and much more.

Let’s dive right in!

Final Image

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

Step 1

Create a new document (Ctrl + N) and input the following on their respective fields:

Width : 2500
Height : 2200

Step 2

Import the ‘ Salsolastock Mad Sky 4 ‘ in Photoshop. Copy it to the main canvas and change the layer name ‘Main Background’. To rename the existing layer, double-click the layer and enter the new name. Activate the transfer tool (V) and resize the cloud image. The result should be similar to this:

Step 3

Go to Menu Tab, click Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. Create a clipping mask by checking ‘Use previous layer’. Input the following values:

Color Balance Settings:

Midtones: +24, 0, -2
Highlights: +13, 0, +6
Shadows: 0, 0, 0

* Adjustment layers lets you go back and make successive tone adjustments without discarding or permanently modifying data from image layer.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer> Photo Filter. Create a clipping mask and input the following settings:

Filter: Cyan
Density: 25
Preserve Luminosity

To achieve a cooling effect, we will apply another Photo Filter layer. Layer > New Adjustment layer > Photo Filter.

Filter: Cooling Filter (LBB)
Density: 13%
Preserve Luminosity

The result:

Step 4

Import another image, ‘Package Cosmos’ and rename it ‘ Background 2 ‘ , Resize the image until you achieve the same result:

Change the Blending mode into ‘ Soft Light ‘. To make it blend with the cloud image, go to Layer > New Adjustment layer > Hue and Saturation and put the following settings:

Hue: -90
Saturation: -86
Lightness: +15

The result:

Step 5

Open the model’s file and adjust the ‘Brightness and Contrast’. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness and Contrast.

Brightness : 5
Contrast : -50

Use the pen tool to cut out the model.

Import it to our working canvas. Activate the transform tool (V) and resize the model same as the image below:

Step 6

After applying brightness and contrast, go to layer> New Adjustment Layers > Hue and Saturation. Make clipping mask and follow the settings:

Hue : +3
Saturation : -29
Lightness : -1

Now as you notice, the cloth’s color became dull and to restore the bright color, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. Click the clipping mask and input the numbers below:

Colors:
Cyan : +10
Magenta : -2
yellow : -51
Black: -2

Result:

Step 7

We’re done with blending the model into the background, now we’ll move on to creating glow effect. Create an empty layer (Shift + Ctrl +N). Rename the layer to ‘Glow’. Drag the layer down after the model’s layer. Select a soft white brush (B) with an opacity of 20% and 100% flow. Gently brush over the body until you achieve the same result as mine:

Step 8

Create another empty layer, Drag the layer after glow layer. Rename it ‘Glow 2′ Now, activate your brush (B), Select a soft white brush with an opacity of 5-10% and a flow of 100%. Brush around the model’s body for a much better glow effect. The result:

Now group layers we have created by selecting all the layers and pressing Ctrl + g. Once grouped, rename it ‘Model’.

Step 9

We’ll create hair strands for the model’s hair. If you have a drawing tablet, it’s much easier to do but for those who don’t then this technique might be helpful. Open file brush ‘Frozen StarRo’, copy hair #8 layer into our main canvass.

Press Ctrl + T or activate transform tool to change or rotate the strands.

and

To change the shape, right click and choose warp. Duplicate the hair layer a couple of times, rotate, erase to create a hair volume.

Step 10

Next, we will adjust the hair color, Merge all the hair layer and go to Layer > new fill layer > Solid Color. Create a clipping mask and click ok. Now, a color picker prompt window will appear. Input the following in their respective fields:

Result will be:

Step 11

Create another layer, change the blending mode to ‘Soft Light’. Activate your brush (B) and change the foreground color to #bb1a5a. Brush gently to the model’s lips.

After you are done, create another empty layer. Paint gently over the model’s eyelid with a blue tone and pink tones on the cheek. The result:

Step 12

Create an empty layer. Select a soft brush and change the foreground color to black and paint the area indicated below:

As you soon as you finished, the result will be similar to this:

Step 13

Go back to the Model’s layer and add a vector mask which can be found in the layers palette. Open ‘Ink and Paint’ file. Activate your eraser tool (E) and randomly erase the edge of the cloth. I started using brush #66 with 100% Opacity and 100% fill.

TIP: don’t use the same brush over and over. Choose some other brush too and brush on random parts.

The result:

Step 14

Create another layer. Rename the layer ‘paint’ tool with 100% Opacity and 100% fill and select #4468a1 using the color picker. Again, apply brush randomly with different sizes. I started to use brush #1821.

The result:

Step 15

Double Click on the ‘Paint’ layer. A Layer Style window will appear. Input the following settings:

The result:

Step 16

Open the optical lens flare. Copy lens flare # 2 and transfer it to the main canvas. Position it to the model’s shoulder.

Blend the layer to screen.

Go to Image > Adjustment > Hue and Saturation.

Hue: 0
Saturation: -65
Lightness: 0

Delete the left part of the lens flare:

Group the layers and rename it ‘Effect’.

Step 17

Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color.

Mode: Overlay
Opacity: 30%

The result:

Step 18

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color.

Cyan: -46
Magenta: +17
Yellow: -15
Black: 0

Cyan: 29
Magenta: -17
Yellow: -20
Black: 0

The result:

Step 19

Layer > New Fill Layer> Solid Color. Change the blending mode to soft light and opacity of 100%.

The result should be like this:

Step 20

Again, go to layer > New adjustment layer > Photo Filter. input the following on their respective fields:

After Photo Filter, the result we have:

Step 21

Create another layer. Select ‘Gradient Tool’ and make sure you follow the input:

and apply the gradient same as the arrow’s direction. Blend into soft light with 40% Opacity. You should have a similar result:

Step 22

The last step will be creating curves. To do this, go to layer > New Adjustment Layer> Curves.

Final Result:

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.

Just because you’re a beginner to Photoshop doesn’t mean you need to be stuck using the basic tools. With a bit of creativity you can produce some exciting photo manipulations too!

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a beautiful photo manipulation in a series of very simple steps.

You’ll be creating a dramatic scene using basic lighting, adjustment layers and brush application.

Final Image

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

Step 1

Now, let’s start by creating a new file, go to Menu bar and click File > New and then input the following values on their respective fields:

Width – 2500px
Height – 2500px

Step 2

Open the Manipulated BG Stock by intano-stock in Photoshop. Copy it to our main canvas and change the layer name to Main Background. To rename a layer, double click on the words ‘Layer 1′ (you can find that on the layer palette) to prompt a text to appear.

Activate the transform tool (Ctrl+T) and resize the image. The result should be similar to this:

Step 3

Now, we will adjust the Hue and Saturation of the image. Go to Layer > New Adjustment layer > Hue and Saturation. Check ‘Create clipping mask’. Use the following settings:

Hue and Saturation Settings:

Hue : -10
Saturation: -35
Lightness: 0

You should have a similar result:

Step 4

Next, open the Misty Sea Background by little-spacey. Change the name of the layer to ‘Background 2′. We won’t be needing the sky so we have to crop it. Activate the Crop tool ( C ) and crop the following area:

Transfer it to the main canvas. Hit Ctrl + T to activate the free transform tool. Drag the corners and sides to resize the image. Place it onto the left side of the main background layer.

The result should be similar to this:

Next, go to Menu bar and click Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. The result:

Step 5

Activate your eraser tool (E) with these settings:

Brush Size: 350px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 52%
Flow: 55%

Use layer mask and erase over the highlighted area:

The result:

Step 6

Next, we will adjust the ‘Hue and Saturation’ by going to Menu Tab, click Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue and Saturation. Click create clipping mask and then, input the following settings:

Hue and Saturation Settings:

Hue : +32
Saturation : -49
Lightness: 0

Then again, we will have to adjust the Brightness/Contrast with a clipping mask. Once the Brightness/Contrast box open, input the subsequent settings:

Brightness and Contrast Settings:

Brightness : +5
Contrast : -26

After adjusting the Hue and Saturation and Brightness/Contrast, you should achieve a similar result:

Step 7

Finally, let’s brighten the center part of the image and to do that, create a new layer (Ctrl + N). Activate your Brush tool (B) and input the settings shown below:

Brush size: 1500px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 35%
Flow: 100%
Color: #ffffff

Once you’re finished, paint on the center part:

the outcome should be similar to this:

Step 8

Now, let’s group the layers that we’ve created by selecting all the layers and pressing Ctrl + G. Once grouped, rename it to ‘Background’.

Step 9

Import the character on the main canvas and change the layer name to ‘Arrowman’. Extract the male figure from the background using the pen tool. Position the Arrowman as shown below:

Step 10

Create another adjustment layer of Hue and Saturation with a clipping mask and set as shown:

Hue and Saturation settings

Hue : -180
Saturation: -63
Lightness: -7

The result after:

Step 11

In this step, we will have to make use of Layer mask. For me, it’s the most important thing to work on layers in Photoshop. It is located in layer palette (F7).

Now, it’s time to use a layer mask. Click ‘arrowman’ layer and add a layer mask. Be sure that your layer mask is selected then activate your eraser tool (E) and follow these settings:

Brush size: 125px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 26%
Flow: 100%

Now, erase the tip of the toe with a soft brush.

After erasing:

Step 12

Step 12 is optional but I use this technique when I add a model into a scene. Create a new empty layer and name it ‘Light’. Drag the layer and place it under the ‘Arrowman’.

Activate your Brush tool (B) and follow these settings:

Brush size: 80px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 34%
Flow: 100%
Color: #ffffff

Once you are done activating the settings, gently paint all around the body of arrowman. Make sure that it’s not over done so it would look more natural. The reason I use this technique is to make the model stand out, highlight certain areas or make it fit into a background.

The result should be similar to this:

Step 13

Subsequently, make another new empty layer (Ctrl + N) and change the layer name to ‘darken’. Set the Brush tool (B) and put in the following:

Brush size: 1000px
Hardness: 0%
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 30%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000

Use the brush tool (B) to the direction of the red arrow:

The result will be:

Now, let’s group the layers that we’ve created by selecting all the layers and pressing Ctrl + G. Once grouped, rename it to ‘Arrowman’.

Step 14

So let’s add some snow! Let us start by opening the snow brush ‘snow white’ by tahliadenae. Create a new empty layer and name it ‘snow 1′. Press B to set your brush tool and input these:

Brush size: 1600px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 90%
Flow: 100%
Color: #ffffff

Choose snow brush #197 and start applying random specks of snow. Make sure the specks aren’t aligned and are suitably spaced out.

Notice that there are big ugly specks of snow. We don’t want that because it would distract the whole image so we have to get rid of them using soft brush:

Step 15

Add another empty layer and name it ‘snow 2′ and apply the snow randomly like we did in the ‘snow 1′ layer. Erase also the unwanted snow specks. Once you are done, select ‘snow 2′ layer then go to Menu bar, click Filter > Blur > Motion blur. Follow these settings:

Motion Blur Settings:

Angle : 30
Distance : 45

And the result will be:

Step 16

To add little more depth, we will add another snowflake; this time we will apply larger ones. Add new empty layer and rename it ‘snow 3′, activate your brush tool (B) and input the following settings:

Brush size: 900px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 90%
Flow: 100%
Color: #ffffff

After that, choose the brush #151 and apply randomly to the ‘snow 3′ layer.

This is the result of applying random snowflakes:

Step 17

Like we did in Step 15, we will apply motion blur into this layer. Now, go to Menu bar > Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Input the following:

Motion Blur Settings:

Angle : 25
Distance : 112

The result of applying Motion Blur:

Now, go to layer palette (F7). Click the ‘snow 3′ layer then reduce the opacity to 50%.

Opacity result:

Select all the snow layers and group them (Ctrl + G). Name the group to ‘snow’.

Step 18

Next is enhancing the color of our image. Start off by creating a color balance adjustment layer. When it opens, adjust the following settings:

Color levels : +5, -5, -5
Tone Balance : Midtones
Preserve luminosity: check

Result will be:

Step 19

Now, let’s also adjust the Curves. Click create new fill or new adjustment layer in the layer palette. Do the following settings:

Output: 232
Input: 224

and the result:

Step 20

Finally, create a Solid Color adjustment layer. Follow the settings below:

Blending: Soft Light
Opacity: 100%
Fill: 100%

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.