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    Photoshop Tutorials: How to Create a Surreal Scene Full of Life in Photoshop


    Photoshop Tutorials: How to Create a Surreal Scene Full of Life in Photoshop

    Link to Photoshop Tutorials

    How to Create a Surreal Scene Full of Life in Photoshop

    Posted: 22 Oct 2012 12:47 PM PDT

    Preview of Final Results

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    Surreal Photo Manipulation.zip | 39.69 MB
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    Surreal Scene Full of Life Photoshop Tutorial


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    Step 1: Create a new Photoshop file

    Open up a new file in Photoshop using these settings

    • Width: 2500px
    • Height: 1700px
    • Resolution: 300px/in
    • Color Mode: RGB Color – 8 bit

    step-001


    Step 2: Add the background image and clean it

    Let’s start with the background image. Download the ocean stock and open it. Press Ctrl/Command + A to select all the image. Then copy (Ctrl/Command+C) and paste (Ctrl/Command+V) into our project.

    step-002a

    step-002b

    As you can see, the stock image is way too large, so we’re going to have to resize it. To do that, we’re going to use the Free Transform Tool, remember it well because we’re going to use it for the rest of this tutorial. Go to Edit > Free Transform (or press Ctrl/Command + T).

    step-002c

    Now press Ctrl/Command + 0 to see the whole selected area, and while holding Shift, click and drag the bottom right corner of the sky image until it matches the width of our canvas.

    step-002d

    Once the widths are the same, place the image in the canvas using the image below as reference:

    step-002e

    So far your image should look like this:

    step-002f

    Now that the image is in place, we’re going to get rid of those logos. Select the Quick Selection Tool (or press W) and make a rough selection around the bottom logo.

    step-002g

    Now let Photoshop do the hard work for you, press Shift + F5, select Content-Aware and click OK.

    step-002h

    step-002i

    To erase the upper logo we’re going to use the Clone Stamp Tool. Select it (or press S) and click anywhere in the canvas with the right mouse button to change the settings of the brush. The brush size should be 500px and the hardness 0%.

    step-002j

    step-002k

    Now use the Clone Stamp Tool to clone the area in the right (Alt/Option+click) into the logo (click and drag) like shown in the image below:

    step-002l

    Your image should now look similar to this one:

    step-002m

    Now we’re going to add a vignette and some lens correction to the background. Go to Filter > Lens Correction, click in the Custom tab, set the Amount to -25, Remove Distortion to +25 and Horizontal Perspective to -10.

    step-002n

    step-002o

    Your image should now look like this:

    step-002p


    Step 3: Changing the background colors

    In this tutorial we’re going to add all the adjustment layers non-destructively by clicking in the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” like shown in the image below:

    step-003a

    Using this technique, add a Curves Adjustment Layer going to ‘Create new fill or adjustment layer’ > Curves and change the RGB line based on the image below.

    step-003b

    step-003c

    We don’t want the sky to be brighter, only the ocean, so we’re going to change the layer mask of the adjustment layer. Click on the layer mask of the Curves adjustment layer, select a soft brush and paint the sky with black to hide the adjustment layer in that area. Some quick tips:

    • Press D on your keyboard to return the colors of your palette back to Black and White
    • When painting a layer mask, black will hide the layer, and white will reveal it again
    • If you make a mistake while painting a layer mask, you just have to paint the area where you made the mistake with white again
    • You can quickly change between your background and foreground color by pressing X
    • To hide a layer mask, hold the Shift key and click on the mask. Do the same thing if you want to reveal it again

    step-003d

    You should now have something like this:

    step-003e

    Now we’re going to change the sky a little bit. Add a Exposure Adjustment Layer non-destructively and set the Exposure to -20, the Offset to -0,15 and the Gamma Correction to 0,9.

    step-003f

    step-003g

    It’s looking pretty weird, right? But that’s because it’s affecting the ocean as well, and we don’t want that. So click in the layer mask of our Exposure Adjustment Layer and paint the ocean with black this time.

    step-003h

    Your image should be similar to this one now:

    step-003i

    Now we’re going to add a few more non-destructive adjusts to the sky, so we’re going to have to paint the ocean part of the layer mask with black in all of them. Add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer, set the Brightness to +10 and remember to paint the ocean in the layer mask.

    step-003j

    step-003k

    Add a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer and change the gradient colors (click on the gradient) following the image below. Set this layer blend mode to Color and the Opacity to 35%.

    step-003l

    step-003m

    step-003n

    Add a Photo Filter adjustment layer, select the Filter Yellow and change the blend mode of this layer to Color, lowering the opacity to around 30%. Remember to paint the ocean part of the layer mask again.

    step-003o

    step-003p

    If you remembered to paint the ocean part of the layer mask in these three adjustment layers we just added, your image must be looking something like this:

    step-003q

    Before moving to the next step let’s just clean our work area a little bit. Select all the layers we created so far and press Ctrl/Command + G to group them. Name the group Background.

    step-003r




    1 comments:

    1. Please let me know who created the finished art, I love it and wrote a verse from it and wish to credit the artist in the verse. Debbie Guzzi aleezadelta@aol.com

      ReplyDelete

     

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