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 view a larger version here.

Step 1

First of all, I want to make clear that the image with the face that I’m using here, is an personal image of my self, Face Image. I would recommend you to get this image for this tutorial, for you to follow me step by step, also you can use any other image you like. It will be easier for you to choose an image that has a Black Background, in order to use this effect in a similar way.

In this tutorial, Im also using a brush set, that I found really useful. You can find it on Deviantart or from obsidiandawn.com. I also used a stock image of Fireworks that helped me to get the effect of an explosion. Before you get the Brush Set and the Fireworks image, please do not forget to credit the Artists.

Step 2

After you downloaded all the needed material, it’s time for us to start. Open the Face Image, press Alt + Double-click on the layer so you can Unlock it. Rename the layer "Face." Now you have to create a New Layer by pressing Command + Shift + N, below this one and fill it with Solid Black, rename the layer "Background."

Step 3

Go to Brush Tool (B), select one of the brushes from the set you downloaded before. I recommend you select one that has more letters. In this case, I used number 22. Before you apply the brush, be sure you create a new layer using Command + Shit + N, then select the new layer so the brush will apply on it. Also for the brush size, the Master Diameter has to be set for the maximum, which in this case is 2500 px. Later after you got the idea, you can play more with the brush sizes.

Step 4

Now it’s time to work a bit more, select the "Layer 1", hold Control Key, Command-click on the layer "Layer 1," you will see that all the letters of the brush are selected.

Select the Layer called "Face," be sure the letters are still selected, and copy the selected pixels from the layer, then paste. You will see an automatic layer is created below "Layer 1" and layer "Face." I call that layer “Cameleon” because it has the same colors as the Image. You have to Delete "Layer 1," or you won’t see any difference. If you hide the layer "Face," you will see that the letters become the same as the Face Image.

Step 5

In Step 3 and Step 4, I explain how the letters from the brush are colored as the image of the face. You now need to repeat those steps as many times as needed until the face becomes clear. In this case, I repeated the steps eight times, and I got the image below as the result.

Don’t forget to group all the layers (Layer > New > Group). Rename the group "Letters" and then select all the layers, drag them and drop them into the Group.

Step 6

To make more clear that the letters are overlapping each other, you need to apply shadow on them. Select one of the layers that is inside the Group "Letters." Double-click on it and choose Blending Options, then set the Drop Shadow with a Blend Mode of Multiply, Opacity 90%, Angle 30, Distance 8px, and Size 5px.

By applying this on one layer, you can copy this effect by Right-clicking on that layer and choose Copy Layer Style. Select all the layers that are inside the group, then Right-click again in one of them and choose Paste Layer Style. You will see that all the layers get this shadow.

Step 7

Everything now is done. This was the whole trick. Now it needs only the retro colors and the explosion effect to finish the design.

Create two layers (Command + Shift + N), call them "Blue" and "Orange." Fill the "Blue" layer with (#080d4c) and fill the "Orange" layer with (#ffc600).

The Opacity of the "Blue" layer has to be 50 %, and the Blend Mode, Lighten. The Opacity of the "Orange" layer has to be 6%, and the Blend Mode, Lighter Color. Be sure that the "Blue" layer is on top.

Step 8

Now we’ll make the lights. Select the Brush Tool (B), choose a normal brush Circle with a Master Diameter of 150 px. Choose two colors (#00fffc) and (#00ff4e) for the lines.

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N), and start to draw with the brush from the upper-left corner to the right-lower corner, as I did in the image below.

Step 9

Select the layer with the lines you drew. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Be sure the Angle is -45 degrees, and the distance is 998 px.

Step 10

This time go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. The Radius has to be 124px. After you’ve applied the Blur, go on the Blending Mode of the layer and change it from Normal to Lighten, also reduce the Opacity to 50%.

Step 11

Create a New Layer. Choose the Brush Tool that we used before to draw the lines, and draw something similar to the image below with this color: #ff0066.

Step 12

Now go Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Be sure you have selected the rough layer, the one with Pink Light. And be sure the Radius is in Max 250.0 px. Go to the Blend Mode of the same layer and change the Mode to Screen.

Step 13

Now open the image with the Fireworks that you downloaded in the beginning. Go to Hue/Saturations (Command + U), and change the Hue to -98. You see that the color of the image changed into a Pink. Press Command + A to select all the pixels of the image, Copy the Image, and then go to our project and Paste it there. As you see, a new layer is created. Rotate the image as shown in the second image below.

Step 14

Change the Blend Mode of the image to Linear Dodge.

Step 15

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N). fill it with Solid Black, go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare, and set the Brightness to 89%. Also, choose 35 mm prime, and try to move the light in the same place as shown below.

Step 16

Go to the blend mode of this layer, and from Normal Mode change it to Screen. Also, by moving and rotating the image, you can get something similar to that shown below.

Conclusion

Now save this project, and after you get the finished image you can play with the Brightness and the Contrast until you are satisfied with the result.

I Hope you learned something new and had fun. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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Psdtuts+ - Adobe Photoshop

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Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial How to Create a Surreal Scene of Flying Bombs on Fire and the video version is below.

Introduction

This is my first tutorial. Although I’ve done many lectures in person, I’ve never attempted to move my teachings to the web. The way I structure my tutorials revolves around my primary goal: to not only show you how to do these things, but make you understand why you are doing them. It is one thing to just be aware of how to achieve a certain effect, but to full understand it leads to your own personal modification and application of the things you’ve learned. In turn, making you a better designer.

Throughout the course of this tutorial you’ll see small paragraphs of text that start with "Note:" These paragraphs are just short helpful tips related to whatever technique we may be using. For seasoned photoshop veterans, they’ll most likely be common knowledge, but for beginner to intermediate Photoshopers, they may prove to be quite valuable. Well, with that out of the way, let’s start making our composition!

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 - Choose Your Images

Choosing your images is a key part of making a successful composition. Anybody can just run out to Google Images and snag whatever they want, but we’re better than that aren’t we. Sites like Stock.Xchange (sxc.hu) and Stockvault.net offer tons of outstanding stock photos that are free! Unfortunately, sometimes the images you find on these free sites don’t match your vision. Oftentimes, you may end up having to go to sites like iStockphoto to purchase professional images for a fee. But we’re in luck! For this composition all of the images are free!

When selecting images for a composition, keep one thing in mind: You need to be looking for images that have the same, or very close to the same lighting as each other. Items in your composition need to have the same lighting for your composition to feel plausible.

Granted fantasy scenes aren’t necessarily intended to be realistic in the first place, but using images that have different lighting in the same composition can literally ruin the entire thing. One type of lighting that is sometimes an exception to this rule is lighting that is neutral. An example would be a cloudy gray day, where all the lighting is the same. This may need very little or no sprucing to make it fit your composition nicely.

Now, let’s take a look at what we’ve got to work with here. Here are the images we’ll be using for this design: Desert, Cloud 1, Cloud 2, Fire, Bomb, and Red Smoke.

Step 2 - Setting Up Your Document

Let’s begin by creating a new document. I chose 10in x 8in for this composition. If you don’t have a computer with enough power to handle that, then use something smaller but with the same dimensions, 5in x 4in will work.

The first thing we are going to do is get our finishing effects made and out of the way.
Start by making three Gradient Map Adjustment layers with the following properties.

Now, make a new layer, and fill it with 50% gray (Shift + F5 > 50% Gray). Click Filter > Noise > Add Noise with the Amount: 400, Gaussian, Monochromatic. Set the Noise layer’s blend mode to Overlay, and set it’s Opacity to 40%

Now select all four of your effects layers, and make them into a group. Make the new group of layers invisible by clicking the Eyeball icon in the layers palette.

Step 3 - Desert Image Cleanup

Drag and drop the Desert image into the new document. The horizon on this guy is bowed a bit, and is tilted a little off center. So start out by scaling the image so it takes up the whole frame of the document. You should end up with something like the image below.

Place a guideline along the horizon, we’ll be using this as our guide for straightening out the horizon.

Rotate the image to make the horizon match up as best you can with the guideline. Make sure that the guideline isn’t touching any of the sky or mountains though. We’ll be editing that out next.

Get rid of your guide and then use the Marquee Tool (M) to make a rectangular selection.

Using the Clone Stamp Tool (S), clone the sky across the line of the horizon. You may need to select a few random parts to make sure it doesn’t look like there are two of the exact same cloud formations in two different parts of the sky.

Next, create a Curves Adjustment layer and use the settings shown below.

Note: Using adjustment layers is a GREAT way to apply various effects to the items in your composition, but the awesome thing about adjustment layers is that you can go back and tweak the settings at any time.

Applying the effects right to the raw item itself is all well and fine if the adjustment will not have to be touched again throughout the comp process. However, if you continuously apply effects to the raw item, each time it degrades the quality of the item ultimately resulting in loss of pixel information. So, in a nutshell, adjustment layers are good to use.

Step 4 - Bombs

Open up the Bomb image. Using the Magic Wand Tool (W) with the settings shown, select the white area of the image. Select Inverse (Command + Shift + I).

Note: There are tons of ways to make selections. Most of the time, we’d go in with the Pen Tool and trace the bomb, and make the path into a selection. In this case, however, the bomb is on a nice, solid white background and the bomb already has nice solid lines, so in this case we’ll use the quick and easy Magic Wand Tool.

Drag and drop your newly selected bullet into your comp window and resize as shown below.

Create a curves adjustment layer with the settings shown. Then make the curves adjustment a clipping mask (Command + Alt + G).

Note: Clipping masks take the effect layer that you’ve created and apply it only to the layer underneath it. Practice with these. Once you get the hang of them, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without them.

Select both the "Bomb 1" layer and its curves clipping mask by holding the Command key and selecting them both in the layers palette. Duplicate this bomb twice. Make sure you keep each bomb’s curves adjustment layer as its own clipping mask. Move and resize as shown.

Step 5 - Smoke

Now that we’ve got our bombs where we want them, lets add some smoke! We’ll start by creating our own smoke using custom brush settings. Create a new layer, and use the brush settings shown.

Note: Custom brush settings are also a great tool for designers to use. It’s extremely versatile and is valuable to learn. My best suggestion, would be to just go in and start playing around with different settings. Experimentation is one of the most efficient ways to learn Photoshop because you’re learning along the way.

Next, using the brush settings we previously set up, paint in a line of smoke. Drop the "Smoke 1" layer’s Opacity to 70%.

Note: When using the "Scatter" brush setting, it randomly generates where your brush spots will end up. So to get the exact spray of smoke you want, you may have to make a stroke, undo it, and try again until you get it just right.

Duplicate your "Smoke 1" layer and apply a Motion Blur (settings shown) to give the bullet a better sense of motion.

Duplicate the "Smoke 1 Copy" layer twice. Select the three "Smoke 1 Copy" layers using the Command key like we did before. Now Merge the Layers (Command + E) to combine them into one layer.

Note: You can also use Shift in this case to select the whole range by clicking on "Smoke 1 copy," holding Shift, and clicking on "Smoke 1 copy 3."

Hit (Command + T) to bring up your transform controls. While holding the Command Key, drag the corners of your transform box to the settings shown below to stretch the smoke out. Drop the "Smoke 1 copy 3" layer’s Opacity down to 50%.

Select the "Smoke 1" and the "Smoke 1 copy 3" and Merge Layers (Command + E). Duplicate this layer twice (Command + J twice). Rename your new layers if that helps you keep things organized.

Move and resize each of the two new smoke layers and put one behind each of the two remaining bombs. You should have something close to the image below.

Apply a Layer Mask to each of your two new smoke layers. In their layer masks (you’ll have to do each separately), apply a black to transparent gradient starting from the tail end of the smoke, ending at the base of the bomb, as shown.

Step 6 - Clouds

Now those clouds in the background sure look boring. Lets make things a little more interesting. Open up the Cloud 1 and Cloud 2 images. Drag the cloud image that has grass at the bottom of the image into the composition. Line the bottom of the tree line up with the horizon of our desert image.

Use the Marquee Tool (M) to select the bottom half of the “cloud” layer. Hit Delete and check your results against the image below.

Now add three adjustment layers, Curves, Hue-Saturation, and Color Balance, all with no effects. Using our nifty Command selection method we’ve been using, select the three new adjustment layers in the layers palette. Make them all Clipping Masks (Command + Alt + G).

Now that we’ve got them all made into clipping masks, lets add some effects using the settings below.

Now, click and drag your other cloud layer into the comp. We’re going to try and use the large cloud formation from this image to create an opening in the clouds for our text to go in.

First, put a layer mask on the “New Cloud” Layer, and paint with a black, soft edge brush so that the only thing left visible of our “New Cloud” layer, is the biggest cloud puff, as shown.

Now we’re going to get the color of this cloud to match the color from the clouds behind it. So, add three new Adjustment Layers: Curves, Hue-Saturation, and Color Balance. All with no effects. Select all three of the new Adjustment Layers, and turn them into clipping masks (Command + Alt + G). Then apply the settings shown below.

Now that we’ve got that taken care of, lets put the same thing only smaller on the other side. Select your “New Cloud” Layer and all three of its Adjustment Layers. Click Layer > Duplicate Layers > OK. Now we’re going to flip the duplicated layers horizontally. So using (Command + T) open up your Free Transform Tools. Right-click inside the transform box, and hit Flip Horizontal.

Resize the “New Cloud copy” layer, and clean up its layer mask so you have something similar to this.

Remember those effects we set up in the very beginning? Well, lets make them visible again (by clicking in the empty box where the eyeball used to be in the layers palette) and have a peek at what we’ve got. You should have something like this.

Looking good. Lets get our type in there. For the purpose of this design, the theme is relatively strong and we want to compliment that with a nice bold font. After generating your words, and resizing them how you’d like, add the layer style shown to your text. Move and resize your type to fit inside the big blotch of cloudless sky. Set the blend mode to Lighten, and the layer Opacity to 35%.

Step 7 - Fire!

Lets put some flames on these puppies. Start by opening up your Fire image and dragging it into the composition. Set the “Fire 1″ layer’s blend mode to Screen. Move and resize it so you have something close to this.

Create a curves adjustment layer for the fire, and make it a clipping mask. Use the settings shown.

Duplicate your fire twice, and move one set of flames to each of the remaining two bombs.

Put a layer mask on the large flames, and using a black, soft-edged brush, paint out parts of your flames in the mask as shown.

Open up the Red Smoke Image. Drag it into the comp. Desaturate the “Front Smoke” layer (Command + Shift + U). Set its blend mode to Multiply, and its Opacity to 50%. Move and resize so you have the following result.

Step 8 - Rain

There are a ton of ways to make artificial rain, This particular method, although not the most realistic, is really great practice with duplicating, merging and changing layers. Start by making a new layer. Select a small, white, hard-edged brush. Make a single point by left clicking once. Hold the Shift key, and click somewhere diagonally below your original point.

Add a motion blur to your new artificial rain drop. Set the “Rain” layer’s blend mode to Overlay.

Now, to make sure that all the rain is going at the exact same angle as all the other droplets, just duplicate (Command + J) your initial droplet, move it around the screen, possibly change the opacity around and/or resize it. And repeat this process until you’re happy.

Usually if I’m doing something that requires a lot of layer duplication, I’ll merge (select layers, Command + E) the finished product into one or two layers to keep the clutter down. At this point, you should have something along the lines of the image shown below..

Step 9 - Finishing Touches

We’re almost there! The end is in site! Lets wrap this sucker up! Lets start by adding a vignette to generate a better focal point. Make a new layer. Now, using a black to transparent Gradient (G), draw from the corners of the comp to around just outside the general vicinity of the bombs, as shown.

Now the text is good, but we can make it great. To make the text seem like it’s behind the clouds, lets put a layer mask on our text layer, and using a large, soft edge brush, paint out the areas that are in or around any clouds. To leave you with this.

Now, let’s make it look like the bombs are casting a shadow on the ground! Start by selecting all of the layers that comprise all three of the bombs, that means the bombs themselves, all three fire layers, all the smoke layers, and the smoke wisp in front of the big bomb.

Duplicate them. Then, after you have a copy of all two billion layers, merge them (Command + E). Using Hue-Saturation, take the lightness all the way down to -100. Apply a Gaussian Blur to the layer ( Filter > Gaussian Blur) with a Radius of 6.0 pixels. Flip the layer Vertically. Set the layer Opacity to 60%.

Conclusion

And we’re done! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, but most of all, I hope you learned something useful. Whether it’s just a new way to do something you already knew how to do a different way, or a whole new skill. I hope you took something away from this tutorial. Thanks for reading and keep practicing!

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GraphicRiver - Modern Web UI Set

FlashDen - AS2 XML Free Photo Gallery

AudioJungle - Audio Logo Pack 04

ThemeForest - ‘Nice & Clean’ Site Template

VideoHive - Float

You’ll have to decide which are so overused they’ve become dull, those which still have life in them, and those that you can breath creativity into. This article is complete with a smorgasbord of resources and tutorials to show you how to pull these ideas off well and increase your stack of resources as well. Let’s have some fun!

A - Abstract Renders

Often artists make excellent 3D renders and use Photoshop to add a quick background and lens blur. It sounds easy to blend a 3D renders with a photo, but many artists don’t put that extra effort into it. 3D Shards, people, animals and correct lighting help make the piece more photo-realistic. Dynamic blur is a good technique to show a sense of speed or distance and is not used enough.

Resources:

• MrRoBiN Abstract render pack - Similar to what’s used in the piece below!
• Basic C4D tutorial - Abstract Renders in Maxon Cinema 4D (C4D)
• How to Integrate 3D Images into Dynamic Scenes - Psd Plus tutorial

Artist: MrRoBiN

B - Blender

"Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite" it is the most advanced 3D program which is currently free. Cinema 4D and 3D Max cost huge amounts of money, so this is perfect for those starting in 3D design.

It is becoming increasing more popular with the credit crunch in most countries. "It can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, com positing, and creating interactive 3D applications."

Resources:

• Download Blender
• Modeling a Human Head Part 1

Artist IceVampyr

C - Comic Strips

Comic strips can be drawn, made in 3D, painted and photo manipulated, so know wonder they are very popular on the internet. Some artists go for simple drawings with short funny punch lines, some go for books and make very high quality pieces.

It’s often the ideas that are overused, rather than the graphics! There are some great comics out there, such as the “Cyanide and Happiness” comics, which use simple art and short snazzy punch lines, but are great to keep reading.

Resources:

• More Cyanide and Happiness comics
• Garfield comics

Artist: Kris-wilson, for Cyanide and Happiness

D - Digital Geometry

Being able to create amazing 3D text quickly in Cinema 4D or any other 3D program has great advantages. They look much better than a simple bevel and emboss effect in Photoshop and often are the main focal in these works.

They are often completely overused by novice graphic designers, although practice does makes perfect. It is very hard to get an outstanding look from 3D text, but when it is done well, it sure pays off.

Resources:

• Fresh 3D text tutorial - on DigitalArts
• New way to create 3D text tutorial - on Computer Arts
• Flaming meteor text effect - an old but still great PSD tutorial

Artist: Nick Ainley of shinybinary.com

E - Expert Photography

When you can take a photograph of an object, which looks Photoshoped, you are clearly an expert or a very lucky photographer. Photography is an important step in creating most pieces of art, or at least finding photos to use for your digital manipulations. Taking your own picture may take longer, but they should be easier to edit and you can also take photos in front of a green screen allowing for easier extraction.

Resources:

• 23 Magical Photographs To Believe That Are Not Photoshopped

F - Fonts

Your computer often has a set of default fonts that many use, rather than downloading more each time they make something new. Times New Roman and Trajan Pro are often used. Check out great sites such as dafont for some amazing free fonts to add to your collection. Or if you need better tracking, alternate glyphs, or other pro font features, then you may want to purchase some fonts.

Resources:

• 1001 free fonts
• Lynotype.com

Check out justcreativedesign for their list of fonts you should know.

G - Gradients

Photoshop comes with a set of default gradients but it’s good to learn how to make your own. There are countless pieces which are colored by these default color, so consider opening up your gradient palette. Black and white, orange and purple and rainbow colors are some of the most common to break away from.

Resources:

• Free Gradients from myPhotoshopbrushes
• Working with gradient maps at Digtal Photography School

H - Honest Products

This is the photo manipulation of turning everyday products into the true reflection of what you are actually getting. "Sometimes, though, a company tries to create a brand that doesn’t really reflect what the product is really like." This is where Photoshop comes in and you can change the product to your true reflection of it. This is a concept you can have some fun with.

I - Impossible Objects

The Pen rose triangle, also known as the Pen rose tribar, is an impossible object. It appears to be a solid object, made of three straight beams of square cross-section, which meet pair wise, at right angles where the vertices of the triangle form. Have fun making your own impossible objects.

Resources:

• How to draw the impossible triangle

J - Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is the use of differing colors coming together to create different moods in a piece. An example of this would be blues and reds coming together, blue portraying ideas of life, peace and happiness which would juxtapose the red colors symbolizing death, blood and conflict, etc. These pieces can be found in space manipulations, as it is easy to split the colors into two.

Other examples:

• Speed space by Superiorgamer
• Gambit by Lotay
• Fiery Photoshop Space Explosion Tutorial here on Psdtuts

Artist: Matkracken

K - Kuler

Adobe Kuler is a well known program, it makes it possible to create, share and explore new color schemes. Kuler is not an overused graphics technique, it is more of a overused graphics tool. It is great for beginners to explore the world of color, as well as experts to try new ideas and keep their work fresh and original.

Resources:

• Download Kuler
• Explore color themes
• Using Adobe Kuler to Enhance Your Photoshop Color Workflow

L - Light Bulbs

What can we manipulate inside a light bulb today? How about a fish tank? There are a large amount of people seeing what they can place inside light bulbs. Fish, forests, spiders, people and cats have all been done. What is going to be next? This is fun to do, as light bulbs represent ideas, so placing things inside them work well for fusing conceptual elements.

Artist: mceric

M - Movement

On a digital camera you can turn the exposure time up, which allows for you to capture light streaks and movement. A good SLR camera will often cost you a good deal of money, so it’s more affordable and easier to stay inside Photoshop to add these effects.

Resources:

• How to create intense light streaks in Photoshop
• How to Create an Interplay of Abstract Light Streaks - Unique Psdtuts+ light streaks tutorial

Painting with light by stoiclee

N - Nebulas

Where you find a planet you almost always find a nebula. They are often placed in via brushes, but more talented artists can paint their own. The easiest and most realistic way to add a nebula is to get free images. The Hubble telescope web site takes many thousands of pictures of galaxies and is the highest quality source you will find, though be careful and make sure you read the terms of use first!

Resources

• Nebula Brushes - For the easy way out use these great brushes.
• Nebula stock images- Collection of stock images, you have to pay but they are sure worth it.

Artist: thalesduarte

O - Omega Code

The band Omega Code will release a limited number of 2300 posters, which are going to be printed and distributed around the globe along side their music.

23 artists were invited to illustrate, among them you can find names like Joshua Davis, Si Scott, Mike Cina, Michael Paul Young, Mate Steinforth, Matthew Curry, Nelson Balaban, Tom Muller, Motomichi Nakamura, Danny Franzreb, Robert Lindström, Andreas Pihlström, Chris Hewitt, Hello& Hikimori, Sebastian Onufszak, Animatório, Colletivo, Nacionale, Unstru, Tomás Peña, João Oliveira, Peter Jaworowski, Umeric and Doomedo.

The Omega Code symbol is the four overlapping triangles and one of the most popular graphics icons this year. Check out the bands web site. Check out other uses of the triangles here.

Artist: R0GUEART

P - Planets

Blending planets into a photo manipulations is hard work. Many artists make the photos and planet look like two separate layers. The most common solution to blending planets in is to add a thick layer of clouds or to place an amazing fractal on top.

Resources:

• Lunarcell - An amazing plug-in allowing "fractal, reality-based, or just strange worlds in seconds."
• Planet Renders - Don’t have time to make your own? These high quality brushes are perfect.
• Create Spectacular Concept Art in Photoshop - tutorial on this subject on Psdtuts+

Artist kire1987

Q - Quietus

Quietus is another term for death. Death is often placed inside photo manipulations in the form of skulls. They appear most commonly in a vector format, but you can manipulate peoples faces with skull photos. As well as looking cool, skulls are also a great way to scare a viewer. Adding skulls at the bottom of a dark pit suggests that someone or something is murdering people - always fun!

Resources:

• Vector skulls
• Skull stock photos
• How to Create a Hellacious Flaming Skull in Photoshop - a flaming Skull tutorial on Psdtuts+

Artist: iRoot made this spooky wallpaper

R - Reflection

Often if an artist has a space to fill, adding a completely pointless text reflection is perfect - right! Often a simple flip and reducing opacity occurs, but this is totally incorrect. In ordered to do a proper text reflection you have to take the lighting and the surface into consideration, you have to get the correct perspective. It does take some practice to make a good reflection.

Resources:

• Basic text reflection tutorial

Create a Layered Glowing Text Effect on Psdtuts+

S - Splatters

A splatter brush can save almost any artist in Photoshop. If you have ran out of ideas, grab the splatter brush, and you get a instant background! They are also very good to use as clipping masks.

Resources:

• 500+ splatter brushes
• Splatter vectors

Examples of use:

• Splattergraphics.com
• Merged with photos
• As a background

Or as a T-shirt like above, made by me.

T - Trees

Trees seem to appear in loads of photo manipulations today. They are a good way of showing nature, as well as beauty within a piece. Often the tree flows out of an object or wraps around an object.

Resources:

• Tree vectors
• Free stock images

"The music nature" is a striking piece by Ethernity

U - Understanding Physics

Understanding physics is one of the hardest things to do in graphics design, often when photo manipulating you are looking to make something impossible or out of this world. When you need to manipulate a picture on earth, getting the physics correct is important. For example, making reflections in puddles, speed of cars, lighting, gravity (not having objects floating), airbrushing and clouds all correct in one piece is hard work.

Resources:

• Photoshop Disasters
• 12 worst Photoshop mistakes

V - Vectors

"Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on mathematical equations, to represent images in computer graphics." Vectors are very common but take a lot of time and practice, when starting out don’t choose the most detailed object you can find!

As we can see we have another artist who has based their piece on the idea of the shape of a triangle, and then have images appearing to pop-out, or have everything contained within a triangle. There are almost endless ideas which you can use with triangles. Play around and find what is right for you.

Resources:

• Go media - They are worth every penny.
• GraphicRiver - Growing collection of stock vectors

Artist: recycledwax made this fantastic vector

W - Water World

Placing objects underwater has never been such fun as with Photoshop! You can take almost any scene you imagine and place it in the depths of the ocean. Add a couple of fish with some bubbles, and there you have it!

Resources:

• Flood plug-in
• Learn to flood cities in Photoshop tutorial
• Learn How to Digitally Paint an Underwater Galaxy - Psdtuts+ advanced underwater tutorial

Artist: Mandrak made this fishy work

X - X-lines

I was struggling to find anything for X then a friend told me about something he called X lines. These are the abstract renders in general shape of an X. Although there doesn’t seem to be a name for them, they are common to see in many pieces. If you know the proper name for them, please let me know in the comments!

Artist: Strangeprogram

Y - Yes it is real….

Some people like to manipulate pictures and make them so real that people cannot tell. They give them a false backstory to go with them as well. These pictures can end up in the news before someone figures they are fake. This story was posted with the picture below:

"There was a family on holiday in Australia for a week and a half when husband, wife and their 15 year old son decided to go scuba diving. The husband is in the navy and has had some scuba experience. His son wanted a pic of his mum and dad in all their gear so got the under water camera on the go. When it came to taking the pic the dad realized that the son look like he was panicking as he took it and gave the ‘OK’ hand sign to see if he was alright.

The son took the pic and swam to the surface and back to the boat as quick as he could so the mum and dad followed to see if he was OK. When they got back to him he was scrambling onto the boat and absolutely shitting himself.

When the parents asked why , he said ‘there was a shark behind you’ and the dad thought he was joking but the skipper of the boat said it was true and that they wouldn’t’t believe him if he told them what it was.. As soon as they got back to the hotel they put the pic onto the laptop and this is what they saw"

It took a long time before anyone figured that it was fake and in fact just a photo manipulation.

Resources:

• Read more about the shark
• The accidental tourist

Z - Zip It

Again where is it possible to add a zip? It is as simple as finding a picture of a zipper and then using the clone tool to create a zipped edge against something. Then add a picture in underneath. Easy and effective, and it makes for a very common manipulation. Awe, so cute, kittens in live alligators luggage!

Credit goes to Caveatscoti for this gruesome picture.

Conclusion

I hope you had fun with this post! There are some ridiculous and overused graphic concepts shown here. Though you’ve likely found a couple nuggets of visual awesomeness as well! It’s up to you to wade through all the clutter of digital graphics and find that creative spark, which ignites your artistic passion!

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Learn to Combine Graphics and Techniques in this Psd Plus Tutorial

It’s time to finish off this illustration with part II of this two part series, as we get back on track with including any final elements. I’ll show you how to draw a few artistic doodles, integrate stock photos and use awesome online goodies.

Plus members can Log in and Download! If you’re not a member, you can of course join today! Below is the final image we’ll be finishing up in this tutorial.

Precise and Detailed Instructions Inside

Plus members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from the tutorial.

PSD Plus Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here called ‘Plus’ that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Net Plus and Vector Plus, too. If you’re a Plus member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed to stay up to date with the latest Photoshop tutorials and articles.

This fun photo treatment can be performed by almost anyone in short order, once some basics are understood of how the brain processes images. Let’s get to it!

Background 1: Understanding the Mind’s Eye

The mind is an interesting construct. I’m sure you have spent some time looking at optical illusions. Why do they work? Why is it that we see some things that aren’t really there?

At the risk of sounding a bit Zen for an image editing tutorial, the answer becomes clear when you remember that you are not actually experiencing reality when you look at the world. Instead, you experience an internal representation of data from your sensors (in this case your eyes).

When you were very young, your brain wrote the software that it uses to process image data from your eyes. The more reference data this software collected, the more solid its view of how things look became, and (importantly for this effect) how those different things appear in varied situations.

Background 2: Effects of Depth of Field on Perception

Your brain developed a fairly simple set of rules that it uses to determine what looks right with regards to size and position. Here are some of them that are pertinent:

1. Objects close to us have higher resolution than objects far away.
2. The object that has your central focus is seen clearer than one that is on the periphery of vision – even if the peripheral object is nearer to your eye.
3. The further away a scene is from you, the flatter it appears and the less detail it contains (comparatively) to close-by objects.
4. Very clearly defined objects are either: very close or very large.

Depth of field is a term that many of you will be familiar with. It describes how far away something can be and remain in focus. You can easily see its effect if you hold your hand flat in front of your eye, so you can see past it. Close an eye, then focus on something across the room and you’ll see that your hand fuzzes up a bit, switch focus back to your hand and it will be crisp while the background blurs.

What we do in this effect is selectively alter depth of field so specific parts of the image are blurry when they would not be in a real scene. We either break or flop the processing rules above, and your brain attempts to make sense of what it sees.

Background 3 – Effects of Lighting, Color and Detail on Perception

Also important to your software are the representation of lighting, color, and details in an image. Here are some rules your brain uses when it processes these variables from an image:

1. Real scenes are more detailed than man-built models. (Think of the difference between matchbox cars and real cars).
2. Real objects vary in their coloration more than model objects, and are often weathered. (toy companies use this often now, in battle-damaged toys, to increase their realism).
3. Lighting conditions are different between real objects and model representations. (Most models are seen indoors, under direct artificial light as opposed to in full spectrum sunlight).

Two notes before beginning. First, when I recommend specific feathering values (like 50px) I am basing these values on the images included for PSD Plus members. If you are using your own images, or the 600px wide versions here, your values may need to be lessened somewhat.

Second, I suggest saving the various selections we’ll make whenever this tutorial creates a selection area. I’ve saved them in the PSDs that come with PSD Plus membership, but it is a generally good practice that can save you a lot of time on any project, especially when making complex masks you might need again. The save selection dialog looks like the image below, and is accessed via Select > Save Selection.

Image 1: Applying the Diorama Technique to a Landscape Image

This is a picture I shot in Shinjuku, Tokyo in October 2008. Your brain is telling you a few things about it:

1. Almost all the picture is in focus, but there is not a ton of close-up texture and detail; the data was probably collected far away from the image contents.
2. It knows that you are mostly looking at large things – cars, buildings, et cetera; since they are small in this image then you must be far away.
3. The objects at the fore have slightly higher detail than objects further away, and the loss of detail is consistent with landscape references you’ve analyzed before.

Combined with the depth of field information it has gathered, your brain comes to this conclusion: You are looking at a scene of large objects, taken from far away.

Now that we know what rules our software uses to come to this conclusion, it’s time to break them.

Step 1: Selecting a Focal Point

Choose a portion of the image that you’d like to highlight. There is really just a single rule here: the selected focus should be in the mid-ground. Here, we will use the trucks on the street. Follow the instructions below.

Step 2: Creating and Feathering a Selection

There are several types of selections we can use for this technique, but in this case we’ll use a shifted oval. Since Photoshop doesn’t allow rotation of selection marquees, we have to use a path and then make it a selection.

Convert the work path to a selection.

Invert the selection and then apply a Feather, as indicated below.

Step 3: Applying Simulated Depth of Field

We’ll use the Lens Blur filter to blur the image in the area outside our focal point. The Lens Blur filter works outside the selection (i.e the selected area is left alone while the area outside the selection takes the effect), so do not invert this selection.

Step 4: Applying Lighting Effects

First, we open the curves dialog (Command + M or via Image > Adjustments > Curves). Drag the curve slightly upwards to blow out the image.

Next, we use the Omni light to simulate an all-over artificial light. You can access it from Filter > Render > Lighting Effects.

Step 5: Adjusting Color

Toys and models frequently have deeper color and are more vibrant than their real-world counterparts – partly because they are not subjected to the same dust and weathering and partly because kids like bright colors. This is easy to achieve by pumping up the vibrance and saturation a bit. Set Vibrance to +30 and Saturation to +40.

Step 6: Final Step for Image 1

You might notice that the previous step pumps up the blue in this image to a distracting level. After applying the Vibrance/Saturation settings, we fix this by using auto-color under the Auto-Color menu (Command + B), and our first image is complete!

Image 2: Applying the Technique to a Flightline of Airplanes

This image is an US Air Force file photo of F-22 Raptors on a flightline. It can be found here. What makes this image look real as opposed to a diorama of the same scene?

1. There is a high level of detail in all the objects shown.
2. The background is very detailed for how far away it is.
3. The lighting is consistent with sunlit aircraft.
4. The nearest aircraft is the most detailed, with rear aircraft losing details, as expected.

Really, it’s no different than our street scene. Where our execution will differ is in the precision and number of our selections. Where in the city scene it was enough to select a single feathered ellipse, here we must take care to mask the details of the aircraft in the middle, which will be our focus.

Step 1: Removing Detail

The image has far more detail than a model would generally have. Use the Clone Tool and Patch Tool to cover up excessive details like rope lines, tarmac imperfections, etc. You can work a quick and dirty in the back and foreground, since heavy blurring is on the way in later steps.

Step 2: Defining our Selections

On this image we will be defining four distinct areas for treatment – the fore, mid, mid-back, and far-backgrounds will each have their own masks.

Making the Foreground Mask

The foreground mask contains the foremost aircraft, as well as the ground beneath it. Use the polygon marquee selection tool to select an area as shown below, then invert the selection (Command + I) to make sure that everything in the foreground is selected.

Use Lens Blur with settings similar to those shown below. I’ve used a mild specular highlight setting to increase the brightness of some of the higher tones.

Use Command + D to deselect. Select the Pen Tool, and draw a path like below, then turn it into a selection like you did in the “Shinjuku Street” example. Feather the selection 50 pixels, invert the selection, then apply a Lens Blur with a radius of about 47. That’s all for the foreground.

Making the Background Masks

The far background mask contains the buildings and grass, but not the rearmost airplanes. The mid-back contains the rear tarmac and the rearmost planes.

Use the Polygon Select Tool to make a selection as shown, then invert the selection (Command + I). You don’t have to be super precise here; make sure you leave a little room around the vertical stabilizers of the rear aircraft.

Use the Refine Edge (Command + Alt + R) dialog to make sure that the far background does not intrude on the tails of the aircraft.

Apply a heavy Lens Blur (with a radius of 55) to the far-back selection. Invert the selection again. Use the Polygon Select Tool, with the Alt modifier key held down, to subtract from the selection so it looks like the marquee below. Try to be fairly precise near the vertical stabilizers and wings of the mid-ground aircraft, as we won’t be doing too much feathering here.

Feather this selection just 5 pixels, then invert it. Apply Lens Blur again with a 25px radius. Finally, Deselect using Command + D.

Step 3: Lighting and Coloring the Image

Open the Curves Adjustment Tool (Images > Adjustments > Curves or Command + M). Adjust the curve upwards to blow out the image slightly, as in the last exercise. Don’t overdo it.

Next, I’m going to use a wide spotlight from the Filters > Render > Lighting Effects menu, with the focal point located on the mid-right aircraft and with the direction of the light pointing the same direction that the sun points in the original shot.

We’ll pump the vibrance a little less this time, using the Image > Adjustments > Vibrance dialog. I used a setting of Vibrance 18 to make this final image. I did not modify the saturation, since the tarmac has a significant amount of brown in it as well as gray. Increasing the saturation would make it pop out too much.

Step 5: Final Detail Removal for Image 2

You may wish to spend a moment using the Blur and Clone Tools to reduce additional detail. In this final image, I spent a few seconds blurring out some of the details on the mid-ground airplanes (mostly small coloration differences on the tops), and cloning an unneeded shadow on the roof in the far-back. The final image two is below.

Afterword 1: Which Images Work Best with This Technique? Which Don’t?

Images taken from an angle and from above tend to work best for this effect, although I’ve seen some great examples from straight down as well. Shots taken directly from the side, and which lack good fore-mid-back separation, are not generally good candidates. A crowd of people taken from a balcony will work great. A picture of a person against a brick wall would be a poor choice.

Additionally, images that contain very few recognizable objects are not good. Also, many objects that are of similar size won’t usually work either. For the illusion to work, you brain has to process a disconnect, and if there is not anything it can reference, your brain will decide that the image is normal, and see it as such.

A normal person will almost always refer back to what they expect an object to look like. If you take a picture of an abnormally large object (say, a giant prop coffee cup), and photograph it in isolation, very few people will say “oh look, you took a picture of a giant coffee cup!” To the last, anyone asked to guess its dimensions will say it is a normal sized cup of a few inches across without the benefit of a contrasting reference point.

A good example of using this technique in reverse can be seen in any “I Shrunk the Whatever” style movie. You have probably never seen a normal-sized person next to a 40 inch tall coffee cup and donut sitting on a football field sized table. You have seen many reference images of a regular cup and donut. Having been primed that the movie is about people getting shrunk down, your brain creates an instant mental image of a very small person next to these common objects. Sometimes called forced perspective, we are using this technique in reverse when we miniaturize our scene.

Lastly, images with people in them where the people’s faces are clear and visible don’t lend themselves well to this technique. You are just too well programmed to see faces as real. Heck, we see faces even when they aren’t there half the time. When dealing with people in your images, it is preferable to blur their features a bit even if they are the object of focus think about action figures when going for this effect in shots where people are present). But in general, I recommend staying away from using people as your subjects.

Afterword 2: What Ruins the Effect?

Being too aggressive with blurring, hard edges between blurred and unblurred areas, blurring where none is expected (as in the vertical stabs of the middle aircraft in the last example) will all decrease the effectiveness of the illusion.

Being too over the top in your lighting and coloring will drop the brain out of thinking that it is a photo of a miniature scene and into thinking that it is a doctored image. Mostly, it becomes a distraction that the viewer will fixate on instead of giving in to the illusion.

Leaving excessive details can detract from the technique as well. Don’t go overboard, but do eliminate or reduce things not commonly seen in miniature – pavement cracks, distressed colors, etc.

In closing, the number one killer is choosing a bad source image. You will know quickly (within the first blur usually, or just on looking at it after you’ve done a few) whether an image is ripe for miniaturizing. If the effect isn’t popping after a short effort, analyze whether it’s your technique that is the issue, or just a bad choice of source material.

Thank You & Teach the Teacher!

Other than that, have fun with this! If you do some of these of your own, or have other suggestions on how to improve or add to this technique, please add them to the comments, with links to your creations. Tutorials are a two way affair, and I hope to learn from you, and hope you’ve learned from me.

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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. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Preparation

All the photos I’ve used are taken from the stock.xchng site. Let’s take a look on them, before we start: the city, the flag, the texture 1, the texture 2, the texture 3, the grass texture, the can, the can 2, the banana skin, the old newspaper, the grass, the bushes, the bushes 2, the plants and the clouds. Also I’ve used one set of brushes, found on DeviantArt: Birds Brushes.

Step 1

Open the city image, which you intend to use, and save it under a different name. The first thing to do in order to achieve the appearance of the deserted, empty city, is to remove all signs of life, like people and lights. Use the Clone Stamp Tool and Brush Tool, which we’ll be useful for finishing the details. Both tools should be soft-edged and have a size of 5 to 10 pixels.

Step 2

Now, in order to create the appearance of destruction, several actions need to be taken. First, change the appearance of the dark, blue banner (center-left of the image). Use the Brush Tool to erase most of the gold letters, and use the Clone Stamp Tool to remove the lower part of the banner.

Step 3

Open the flag image, and separate the flag from the background. Go to Select > Color Range to select all the blue pixels and press Delete. Use the parameters as in the image below.

Select the Eraser Tool (large size and hardness set at 0%) and remove the side part of the flag.

Finally, make the image monochromatic (Image > Adjustments > Black & White).

Step 4

Place the flag onto the surface of the main image. Use the Move Tool to move the layer into the appropriate position and the Eraser Tool to remove the unnecessary pixels.

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and set up as shown below.

Step 5

Use the following tools to finish the work here: Clone Stamp Tool, Eraser Tool, Brush Tool, Burn Tool, and Dodge Tool.

Also select the Brush Tool and treat all other banners and flags in a similar way.

Step 6

Transform the windows now. Use the Brush Tool to remove some of the glass and alter the details. Apply some transformations with the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and Move Tool if you want to.

Step 7

Review the whole main image looking for areas where changes need to be made. When transforming the details, first mark them using the Polygonal Lasso tool, and subsequently cut out, paste in as new layers and transform them with the Move Tool. Use the Brush Tool during the process, if necessary.

Step 8

The last stage of creating an impression of destruction is removing flowers from the street. Paint all the flowers over with black, using the Brush Tool. Make up the missing parts of the flower pots with the Clone Stamp Tool, and add the shadows using the Burn Tool.

Step 9

Now we need to work on the textures. Create a new layer and go to Filter > Vanishing Point to apply the texture 1 onto the surface of asphalt. If you don’t know how to use this filter, I recommend you read Alvaro’s tutorial Getting to Grips with the Vanishing Point Filter before starting this step.

Step 10

Change the Blending Mode of the layer to Multiply. Select the Eraser Tool and remove the unnecessary parts of the texture.

Finally place texture 2 onto the sidewalks in the same way.

Step 11

Overlay texture 3 over the buildings, in the way similar to the sidewalks and street, but do not use the Vanishing Point filter.

Step 12

The last texture to be overlaid on the street surface is the grass texture. Contrary to the previous ones, in this case set the Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 13

Now we will use a large number of stock photos. They will help make our image more detailed and interesting. Place the images of the can, the can 2, the banana skin, the old newspaper, the grass, the bushes, the bushes 2 and the plants in the document, resize them and erase the backgrounds.

Select the Burn Tool and apply some shadows.

Next select the Brush Tool, change its Blending Mode to Color. Alter and adjust the new elements so that they coexist better with the texture and color of the main image.

Step 14

With a Brush Tool already selected, change its Blending Mode back to Normal and add the settings in the Brushes Panel as shown below.

Paint some blades of grass, trying to make this as realistic as possible.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation using the settings below.

Step 15

At the end, use the Brush Tool, Burn Tool and Blur Tool in order to add more flora, and make the image more appealing and consistent.

Step 16

Select the Burn Tool and add some hard shadows on all the walls.

Use the Brush Tool with the Blending Mode set to Color to add some
green smudges.

Step 17

Change the Blending Mode of the Brush Tool back to Normal once again, and add the settings in the Brushes Panel, as shown below.

Using a green color for the brush, add some flora on all the buildings.

Use the Burn Tool and Dodge Tools to make highlights and shadows. This will enhance the effect of three-dimensionality.

Step 18

Add some green and flora on cars, boards and flower pots using the same methods. Look at the third image to see all the successive small steps of working on the white road sign.

Step 19

Import the photo of the clouds into the document and place it in the bottom part of the image.

Next add a Mask to the Layer. Use the Pen Tool or the Magic Wand Tool to make a selection on the sky, next go Select > Inverse and Fill the selected area (of a mask, not an image) with black (using the Paint Bucket Tool).

Step 20

Go to Image > Adjustments > Black & White and use the default settings.

Use the Burn Tool and the Dodge Tool to change the contrast of the clouds, if you want to. Finally, select Brush Tool to paint the clouds with a new hue. First set the brush to a big size (about 150 pixels), hardness set to 35%, and Blending Mode set to Color, and use some pastel shades.

Step 21

Without changing any of the brush settings, add some warm colors to the buildings and streets. At this point, your image should look like the one below.

Step 22

Download the Birds Brushes set and open them in Photoshop. Add a few birds in the sky using a proper size.

Step 23

Now it’s time to add final effects to your image. At this moment you must have only one layer. Simply save your work as a JPG or go to Layer > Flatten Image to do that. Next go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and add the settings represented in the image below.

Step 24

Last but not least go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and set up as shown.

Conclusion

Well done! You’ve now seen the whole process of turning an image of a lively city into a state of decaying ruins. Let us hope this will never happen in reality. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial How to Create a Flying Land Illustration On Fire and the video version is below.