Photoshop Tutorials: “The Controller” – Create this Floating Superhero Scene with Sci-Fi Lighting Effects in Photoshop

“The Controller” – Create this Floating Superhero Scene with Sci-Fi Lighting Effects in Photoshop

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 12:55 AM PST

Preview of Final Results

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Tutorial Resources

Man – sunshine114
Sky – Photoxpress
Background – sxc.hu
Explosion – sxc.hu
Fireball – sxc.hu
Crack – sxc.hu
Rocks – Creativetuts

Step 1

Create a new document and fill it with white. You can choose the size you want but in this tutorial I choose the width larger than the height.

Open background stock. Press C to active Crop Tool and make selection of background as shown below:

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Right click this selection, choose Crop to complete this action:

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Use Move Tool ( V) to drag it into white canvas, remember to resize to fit the background:

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Name it as “land”.

I want to remove the pile on the right side so on land layer, use Polygonal Lasso Tool ( hit L to active it) to make a selection on the left side with feather = 20:

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Right click this selection, choose Layer via Copy and we have it on a new layer. Go to Edit-Transform-Flip Horizontal then move it to right side to hide the pile:

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Hide background layer ( white canvas) then press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E) to merge all visible layers ( “land” and “remove pile” layers). Call the new layer as “land 1″ or whatever you want.

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Step 2

Open sky stock. You can use another image if you can’t download this sky from Photoxpress but a dark one with dramatic look is a good choice.

Use Retangular Marquee Tool to make a selection for the part you want and set feather as 20 ( depends on the size of your picture):

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Use Move Tool to drag it into our document, downsize and place this layer under “land 1″ layer but above “land” and “remove pile” one. Name it as “sky 1″:

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On land 1 layer, add layer mask and use soft black brush to remove sky part of land:

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Duplicate sky 1 layer, apply Flip Horizontal for it then move it to the right like the image below shows:

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Name it “sky 2″. Add layer mask to remove some parts to make this sky blend better with background:

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Step 3

To make color of the land fit sky, I use a new adjustment layer for land 1 layer with Clipping Mask. On land 1 layer, go to Layer-New adjustment layer-Hue/Saturation:

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Step 4

In this step I do a bit retouch for background. Create a new layer on the top. Use soft brush with color #373939 and paint on some parts of sky. I vary opacity of brush as shown below:

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Change the mode to Multipy 80%:

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Make a new layer ( Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N) and I use brush with color #9f9e99. Painting on the left side of sky and some parts of background to brighten them. Set the mode of this layer to Soft light 100%:

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To darken another parts of sky I use brush and color #373939. On a new layer, use this brush and paint on sky center. Put the mode as Multipy 50%:

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Step 5

Open explosion stock. Use Move Tool to drag it into our canvas. Press Cmd/Ctrl+T to scale it down and transform it as shown below:

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Change the mode to Screen 100% and add layer mask for this layer. Use soft black brush to remove the rough edges and the part within this explosion:

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Name this layer as “burning circle”.

Step 6

I use a layer with Clipping Mask to brighten this circle. Take soft brush with color #fda25c. Painting around this circle and change the mode to Hard Light 100%:

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