PSDFan Extra

Creating the Elegant Photo Manipulation ‘Out of Reach’

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

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

BLUE

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:

Filter: Warming Filter (85)

Density: 25%

Filter: Underwater

Density: 10%

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.

Output : 21

Input : 23

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.

Related Posts

• How to Paint Quick Realistic Fur Using Photoshop
• Create a Queen in the Dark Night Photo Manipulation
• Members Area Tutorial: Get Better at Photo Blending Starting Today