In this tutorial I will show you how I created a fantasy photo manipulation called "You Can Not Frost The Time" with using several Photoshop tools such as Color Range, different blending modes, and more. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

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Tutorial Details

• Program: Photoshop CS and higher
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Estimated Completion Time: About 4 hrs

Preparation

Before we start download all the necessary pictures (sky, pier, body of the deamon, ice, grunge texture, head of the deamon, waves 1, waves 2, waves 3, waves 4, skull, hourglass) and brushes (birds, fog, lighting, abstract glow, water splash).

Step 1 – Blending The Background

Open the pictures of the sky and the pier and drag them into the new document. Name the layer with the pier "PIER" and place it above the sky.

Now add the Layer Mask to the “PIER” (You can find the button Add Vector Mask in the Layers palette). Now grab the Brush Tool (B), select a soft round brush and pick black for the color. Make sure that the vector mask is selected (just click on it) and start painting over the areas you want to disappear.

You should use a smaller brush around the horizon to make the blending more precise. After this step your picture should be similar to that shown below.

Step 2 – Adding The Demon

Open the picture of the body of the deamon, drag it into the manipulation and name it "BODY." Now open the picture with the head, grab the Marquee Tool (M) and select the area of the head. Now select the Move Tool (V) and drag the head into the photo manipulation. Name the layer "HEAD." Press Command + T. It allows you to rotate with the layer. Set the rotation so it will be the same as the rotation of the demon’s neck. When you’re satisfied, press Enter.

Now we have to blend the head. Add the vector mask to the “HEAD” and with a black brush paint over the areas you want to hide, which means the background of the stock image and also parts of the face which are already covered with the ice. Also, hide the eyes because we cover them with the skull shortly.

If you’re not sure what to hide and what not to, then review the image below.

Open the picture of the skull and select the hole instead of the eyes (there are many ways to select something, you can use whatever you are comfortable with). Then drag them into the manipulation and place them instead of the eyes.

Create a new layer. Using the Brush Tool (B), pick a cyan color and paint two dots instead of pupils. After this step your photo manipulation should look like the image below.

Step 3 – Adding Ice

In this step we will add ice above the demon’s head and hand. Open the picture of ice. Now go to Select > Color Range… and set the value Fuzziness to about 170. Color Range is a useful tool if you need to make selections based on their color or tonal value.

After you set the Fuzziness, press OK and the tool makes the selection. Press Command + C to copy the selection, click on your photo manipulation and press Command + V to paste the ice. Now press Command + T and resize it to the proper size (I resized it to 25%). Change the Blending Mode to Hard Light (you can find the Blending Mode on the top of the Layers palette).

Add the vector mask to the “ice” layer. Grab the Brush Tool (B) and load the abstract glow brushes. If you don’t know how to add brushes you can look at this tutorial. It’s better to use shaped brushes instead of classical rounded ones because this way you get a more natural result.

Now paint with black on the vector mask over the part which you want to disappear. During the process you should change the size and opacity of the brush to get more variations.

Now we will do the same process with the head. Use Color Range to select the ice. Copy it into the manipulation, then change the blending mode to Hard Light, add the vector mask, and blend it by using a glow brush. You should end with something like the image shown below.

Step 4 – Shading The Head

So far the head is flat and it doesn’t look very realistic. In this step we will add some highlights and shadows to fix it.

Create a new layer and fill it with a gray color (#808080) and change the blending mode of the layer to Overlay. Now using of Dodge Tool and Burn Tool add the highlights and shadows. By adding this new “gray” layer you are working using nondestructively, which means that you can always go back and make changes. If you use dodge and burn directly on the “head” layer, then you aren’t able to fix anything later.

Step 5 – Adding The Hourglass

Open the picture with the hourglass and make a selection of it. Then drag it into the manipulation, change the size and rotate it (Command + T) so that it has the same direction as the hand. Add a vector mask and select a small round brush, set the opacity of the brush on at a low value of around 15%, pick a black color and start to paint over the parts of the hourglass that should be semi-transparent (mainly glass).

Now we will add the movement. Copy the “hourglass” layer and place it under the original layer. Now go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur… and set the value on 12, then press OK.

One more thing which has to be done is adding shadows. Create a new layer under the layer with movement. Fill it with #808080 color and change the blending mode on Overlay. Now select a soft, round brush, pick black for the color, lower the Opacity on 20%, and paint the shadows around the hourglass and under the hand.

After this step your image should look like that shown below.

Step 6 – Adding Water Splash

In this step we will add the water around the demon. We’ll use Color Range as we did it in the previous steps.

Found some stock photos with waves. I used these – waves 1, waves 2, waves 3, waves 4 from sxc.hu and also these water splash brushes.

Open the photo with waves, go to Select > Color Range and set Fuzziness on the value you’re comfortable with. It’s the same as selecting ice in Step 3. Just remember that the white parts will be selected and the black will not, gray will be semi-transparent. You should place some waves in front of the demon and also some behind, so it will look realistic. For inspiration on how to place waves look at the animation below.

Continue Learning…

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a fantasy landscape using some simple and easy techniques. Everyone with basic Photoshop skills can succeed to recreate this simple image using the most important thing in this kind of photo manipulation – the right stock. So let’s go!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or a larger version here.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Organizing the Assets

As I’ve said before the most important thing in a landscape photo manipulation is the right stock, so pick it carefully. I’ve chosen the following stock:

• Waterfall 1: by jesuino
• Waterfall 2: by brbankston
• Waterfall 3: by dracoart-stock
• Cliff 1: by polinife-stock
• Hills: by cat-in-the-stock
• Sky 1: by resurgere
• Cliff 2: by bloodydawn
• Sky 2: by resurgere
• Castle: by hislightrq
• Cliff 3: by gracies-stock
• Statue: by almudena-stock

Step 1

Open the Waterfall 1 picture and place it as shown below.

Step 2

Open the Waterfall 2 picture and go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Crete a layer mask, then use a basic brush with smooth edges (black color) to erase some of the parts you don’t need.

Step 3

Open the Waterfall 3 picture. Place it at the bottom of the picture, then create a mask and erase some of the edges with a brush just like you did in the previous step.

Step 4

Open the cliff image. Cut it out with the Pen Tool and place it as shown so it will cover the left part of the waterfall that didn’t look good.

Step 5

Go to the first waterfall layer. Pick the Lasso Tool and select the waterfall’s bottom part like in the picture below. Then press Command + J. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal and place it like you see in the image below. Now create a mask and with a basic brush and erase some of the edges.

Step 6

Open the Hills image. Press Command + T and transform it so it will fit the image. Create a mask and erase some of the edges.

Step 7

Drag the Sky 1 picture into the working document. Create a mask and erase the bottom edges so it will fit next to the hills.

Step 8

Go to the second waterfall layer and with the Lasso Tool select a part of the water, then place it as shown below so the first waterfall will look bigger. Create a mask and erase some of the parts. Set the layer’s Opacity to about 75%.

Step 9

Go to Adjustment Layers > Gradient Map and apply it as shown.

Step 10

On the Gradient Map’s mask erase everything but the water.

Step 11

Create a new layer. Pick the Clone Stamp Tool and make some minor fixes to the right waterfall so it will blend in. Pick some grass to cover the waterfall as well.

Step 12

Create a new layer. Select the Blur Tool and sample all layers. Use it on the water.

Step 13

Create a new layer. Pick the basic brush with smooth edges (white color) and draw some lines on the water. Start with some thin lines and then draw them thicker and thicker. Next go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur, then set the radius to about 25 pixels.

Step 14

Drag in the Cliff 1 picture. Set the Opacity to about 50% so you will see where it fits. When you’ve placed it in the right place you can increase the Opacity back to 100%. Create a mask and leave just some parts that fit with the rest of the landscape.

Step 15

Open the Sky 2 image and place it at the top of the Photoshop working document. Create a mask and erase some parts of the clouds so it will look foggy. We will use the same clouds picture in another step later in the tutorial as well.

Step 16

Cut out the Castle and place it in the middle of the composition. You don’t need to cut it out perfectly, just create a mask and cover the parts you don’t like. Don’t erase them with the Eraser Tool, as you never know when you need to get something back.

Step 17

Go to Adjustment Layers > Hue/Saturation. Set it to: Hue of +7, Saturation of -65, and Lightness of 0. Clip the layer to the “castle” layer by holding the Alt key and pressing the right mouse button between the two layers.

Step 18

Go to the Adjustment Layers > Levels. Make the settings as in the image below. Create a clipping mask as explained in Step 17.

Step 19

Go to Adjustment Layers > Hue/Saturation. Set the Hue to +13, Saturation top +11, and Lightness to -9.

Step 20

Go to Adjustment Layers > Levels. Make the settings as shown below.

Step 21

Open the Cliff 3 picture and place it in the working document. I did this because I wasn’t satisfied with how those rocks looked, but this isn’t a mandatory step. Create a mask and erase the parts that don’t fit.

Step 22

Cut out the Statue and place it on the cliff. Create a mask and hide the right part so it will blend in.

Step 23

Go to the “cliffs” layer and duplicate it twice by pressing Command + J two times, then clip them to the “statues” layer. Set the blending mode of the first layer to Overlay and the second one to Multiply (Opacity set to 50%).

Step 24

Go to Adjustment Layers > Levels and make the settings as shown below. Clip this layer to the “statue” layer.

Step 25

Create a new layer. Pick the Clone Stamp Tool (select all layers) and apply some grass from the cliffs to the darker parts of the statue.

Step 26

Open the white clouds again, decrease it’s size, and place it on the statue. Create a mask and cover the parts you don’t need. Set the Opacity to about 90%.

Click for full Tutorial…

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a futuristic looking photo manipulation using some special tools, such as the Background Eraser Tool and how to blend pictures properly using Match Color Adjustments and Lighting Effects. So let’s start!

Final Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Photoshop CS2
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Estimated Completion Time: 3-4 hrs

Preparation

Before we start let’s download all the pictures we will need: road, bigger factory, smaller factory, woman, mist brushes and texture. The picture of sky is not available for downloading but you can use any sunset you find.

Step 1 – Blending the Background

Open the picture of the road and of the sky you’ve chosen, then drag them into the new document. Name the layers "Road" and "Sky." The layer "Road" should be above the "Sky" layer.

Now you have to flip the pictures. To do that go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Do it with both layers. Add a vector mask to the "Road." You can find the button Add Vector Mask in the Layers palette (F7).

The good thing about vector masks is that all the steps you do are reversible. If you use the Eraser Tool instead it’s very hard to get back erased parts. But if you use vector masks, then you can always paint with a white color instead of the black, and the hidden parts will appear again.

So as I said, add a vector mask, press B to pull up the Brush Tool, choose a soft, round brush and pick a black color. Start to paint over the areas you want to disappear. After this step, you should have a picture similar to the one below.

Step 2 – Adding the Bigger Factory

Open the picture with the bigger factory and drag it into the manipulation. Call the layer "Bigger Factory" and place it above the "Sky" and "Road" layers. Flip the picture as you did with the previous layers. Now we have to remove the blue sky. Use the Background Eraser Tool to do this.

Good thing on the Background Eraser Tool is that you don’t have to mask all the parts of the factory with the Lasso Tool or with the Pen Tool. Set the tool as in the picture below.

Click carefully on the blue sky. It will disappear, but the factory will stay. You can change Diameter and Tolerance to get a more realistic result. Don’t worry if some parts of the factory will be a little transparent. It will look like some reflection from the sun, but still be very careful.

The more patient you are with the blending, the more realistic the whole manipulation will look. After this step, you should have something like the image below.

Step 3 – Adding the Smaller Factory

Open the picture of the smaller factory, drag it into the manipulation, flip it, then name the layer "Smaller Factory." Place it on the top of the layers.

Now choose the Background Eraser Tool again and paint over the sky area. One of the good things about this picture is that there is some artificial mist, as we’ll be adding some more in the next steps.

In the stock picture of the factory the whole smoke is not shown. To add it and make it round press S on your keyboard for the Clone Stamp Tool. Press Alt and (still pressing it) choose some area with the smoke. Paint some more smoke to make it nice and rounded as shown.

Step 4 – Blending the Factory

As you can see the factory is too dark. To fix that add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer and lower the contrast to about -20. Click directly on the adjustment layer and create a clipping mask from it. Thanks to the clipping mask, the adjustment layer affects only the "Smaller Factory" layer.

The factory is fixed, but I think it would be better if the smoke had some more contrast. Let’s add one more Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer. Now increase the contrast to the value of +40, then clip the mask again.

We want to affect the smoke only, and not the whole factory. To fix it press B on your keyboard, choose a soft, round brush with a black color, then paint over the vector mask of the factory (not the smoke!). The result of this step should be similar to the image below.

Step 5 – Fixing the Road

If you take a look at the previous picture, you can see that the road is too dark, it has the wrong lighting, and also the colors don’t fit. All these problems will be fixed in this step though.

At first we’ll improve the colors. Right-click on the layer "Road" and choose Duplicate Layer. I usually make a backup of the layer if the next step is not reversible and I don’t know if I will like the result later.

Click on the new "Road copy" layer. Go to Image > Adjustments > Match Color… and set the values on the palette as shown below.

Thanks to Color Match… your picture should look like this one.

Much better isn’t it? Now we’ll add Omni Light. Go to Filters > Render > Lighting Effects and set it similar to that shown below.

The result after this step is shown below.

Step 6 – Adding Mist

To create a more dreamy atmosphere we’ll add mist. Add the mist brushes you downloaded. If you don’t know how to add brushes into the Photoshop, then review this tutorial.

Select a bright yellow color from the manipulation. Create a new layer and start painting fog. Don’t paint it too much – we want just small, light touches. If the mist doesn’t look realistic, then you can lower the Opacity or change the blending mode of the layer to Screen or Lighten.

Step 7 – Sharpening

In this step, we’ll make the picture more sharp. Press M for the Rectangular Marquee Tool, then select the whole image. Got to Edit > Copy Merged, and then Edit > Paste. It will paste the merged image with all the visible layers.

Now go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask… and set the values as shown.

Step 8 – Color Adjustment

Now it’s time for the first color adjustment. We’ll add more violet colors to create a bit of a futuristic or unrealistic look. Add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer on the top of the layers, then set it as shown below.

Click here for full Tutorial…

In this tutorial, we will learn how to manipulate a simple photo into a flooding torrent of a scene. We’ll use some relatively simple techniques to give this image a semi-realistic, stylized feel. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Step 1

With the main image opened, use the Clone Stamp tool to remove any unwanted entities, like the elderly couple walking. Try and clone areas around the couple so it doesn’t look odd and mix your usage of soft, and heavy round brushes to define those edges.

Step 2

Next you will want to cut around the edges of the roof tops so we can add in our stormy sky. Use the Polygon Lasso Tool for this. Don’t worry about accuracy, as we’ll be blending everything later, just make sure that the sky is cut out. Once selected, unlock the “background.” Now double-click the layer, then rename it to “backdrop” and hit Enter. Delete the sky.

Step 3

Open the Stormy Sky image and place it underneath your “backdrop” layer. Then press Command + T to Free Transform), hold Command while you drag the bottom corners inwards to add some perspective to the sky, don’t forget to resize if necessary. Apply the transformation when you are happy.

Step 4

It doesn’t look very nice does it? That’s because we’re not done yet. Open and place the wave image in the center of the image. Now use the eraser, and a soft brush on it. Get in close and erase the bits you don’t want. Don’t worry if your messy, as the tidying comes later.

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and use the settings shown below.

Now comes the complicated bit. What you’ll need to do is add all the water files to you’re image and one by one, free transform them to flow with the perspective of the water then erase the hard edges.

You might also need to duplicate some files in order to fill up areas. Always remember to play about with the textures using the distortion method in free transform and a soft eraser. The more you do, the better it will look. You can see the phases of building up the flooding water in this image.

Step 6

Now we have our water sorted, merge all the “water” layers into one single layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and use the following settings.

Your water should now be nice and blue and match the “wave” layer from earlier. Now merge the “wave” layer with the “water” one.

Step 7

Remember the tidy up I mentioned a while back? Well its time now. Turn off the “water” layer so you are left with just the backdrop and the sky.

With the Burn Tool selected at highlights and at 50% exposure, and a soft brush set, start burning the rooftops and the sky around the rooftops so they appear darker.

Open the derelict1 image and place it at the right side of the street in the distance. Use a soft eraser to remove those sharp edges. Merge it with the “backdrop” layer.

Step 8

Let’s tidy up some more. Turn on the “water” layer sand and start tidying around the edges using a soft eraser. Then select the Smudge Tool and a 20px charcoal brush using the settings below.

Start smudging the edges of the “water” layer creating very small splashes and more defined edges to realistically create the effect of water hitting a surface. This might require patience and a steady hand, but time will pay off. It might also be wise to duplicate the layer before smudging as you don’t want to use all your undo’s.

Step 9

Next, select the backdrop layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and use these settings.

And your piece should now be coming together. Its still a little off, but there is a lot more to do, so lets move on!

Step 10

Time for the splashes. Now this is the hardest step of the tutorial, and requires a lot of patience, but persevere and you will find that patience is in fact a virtue (I know, silly right?).

Open up the splash1 and splash2 images and carefully cut out the splashes themselves one by one. Place them onto the canvas. Now use the Warp Transformation (Edit > Transform > Warp) to get the arches you need to create effective splashes, and erase any unwanted areas.

You’ll need to do this for the two cars and for where the water hits the wall down the buildings of the street.

You might also benefit from smudging the edges of the splashes to give them more movement, as well as adding some white brushing to a new layer and smudging it. Now merge all your “splash” layers.

Step 11

Getting there right? Now you need to do some tweaking to the colors of the image. This can mean anything from water, to the sky or the buildings. In my example, I think the water is a little too blue, so I’m going to desaturate it a little.

Basically use this step for any odd bits and bobs to tweak your image to make it look more streamlined. Be creative, and more importantly, make it look tidy. I lowered the saturation of the water a little, and added some red to the buildings.

Step 12

Now we’ll work on the fog. Its sounds daunting but its actually fairly simple to do. Select a blue color from your water using the Eyedropper Tool. Now select the Gradient Tool and use the following settings.

You will need to create a new layer underneath you’re “water” layer and create the gradient so it blocks out any backdrop behind the water.

Duplicate the layer (Command + J) and place it on top of your water layer, at about 30% opacity. Set this layer to Multiply.

Step 13

This next step is to add rain. There are lots of tutorials on the web that show how to create rain. Here is one that goes into great detail, which you could check out. We’ll keep it relatively simple in this tutorial though. First, create a new layer and fill it with black. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and use these settings.

Then Filter > Blur > Motion Blur> and use these settings.

Then Image > Adjustments > Levels and use the following settings.

Set the Layer to Screen and use a soft eraser to erase the bottom and top of the Layer, then go to Edit > Transform > Free Transform the “rain” Layer so it covers the whole screen.

Step 14

It looks a little bit empty in the middle of the water doesn’t it?

Open up the car image and place it somewhere in the distance, underneath the “fog” layer. Resize the images and erase the edges carefully and use the splash1 image to give some life to the car.

Step 15

Now is the fun part. You’ll need to create a few gradient maps first. Click the Adjustment layer button located at the bottom of your layers window and select the Gradient Map option. Then Click the little arrow in the top-right of the box and select Pastels as shown.

Use the following settings. Finally, set the layer to Multiply at 100%.