City in the Clouds Photoshop Tutorial

“Cities were always like people, showing their varying personalities to the traveler. Depending on the city and on the traveler, there might begin a mutual love, or dislike, friendship, or enmity. Where one city will rise a certain individual to glory, it will destroy another who is not suited to its personality. Only through travel can we know where we belong or not, where we are loved, and where we are rejected.” In this Photoshop Tutorial, we will learn how to create Photoshop Manipulation. First added some stock images and blended together with Adjustment layers. Next, add birds, moon, and rays brushes. For the final touch added Camera Raw Filter.

Preview of Final Image

Tutorial Resources

Step 1

Now, let’s start by creating a new image file, go to the Menu bar and click File > New, and then input the following values on their respective fields

Preset: Custom
Width: 3080px
Height: 3850px
Resolution: 300px
Color Mode: RGB Color 8 bit
Background Contents: Transparent

Step 2

Now, place Clouds Go to File > Place and select Clouds, then place it to our work canvas and position the image with the transform tool (Ctrl / Cmd + T). Hold Alt + Shift and rasterize like the image below. In Photoshop CC only hold Alt to rasterize all sides together.

Step 3

Add Adjustment Layer "Color Balance"

Step 4

Add Adjustment Layer "Hue/Saturation"

Step 5

Add Adjustment Layer "Curves" and press Ctrl/Cmd + I to invert. Then use Brush Tool(B) Soft Round with foreground color white and paint Highlight parts.

Step 6

Add Adjustment Layer "Curves" and press Ctrl/Cmd + I to invert. Then use Brush Tool(B) Soft Round with foreground color white and paint Dark parts.

Step 7

Next, place City Go to File > Place and select city image, then place it to our work canvas and position the image with the transform tool (Ctrl / Cmd + T). Hold Alt + Shift and rasterize like the image below. In Photoshop CC only hold Alt to rasterize all sides together.

Now create a layer mask and with a soft round brush tool delete the bottom of the image...

Step 8

Add Adjustment Layer "Curves" and press Ctrl/Cmd + I to invert. Then use Brush Tool(B) Soft Round with foreground color white and paint Dark parts.

Step 9

Next, place Mountains Go to File > Place and select mountains, then place it to our work canvas and position the image with the transform tool (Ctrl / Cmd + T). Hold Alt + Shift and rasterize like the image below. In Photoshop CC only hold Alt to rasterize all sides together.

Now repeat the same process from step 7, create a layer mask, and with a soft round brush tool delete some parts on the image.

Step 10

Add Adjustment Layer "Color Balance"

Step 11

Add Adjustment Layer "Curves"

Step 12

Open another photo Go to File > Open and select Man. After you open the image, use Quick Selection Tool(W) and select fish. After the selection area has been created, simply copy (Ctrl / Cmd + C) and Paste (Ctrl / Cmd + V) it to our work canvas. Then position the image with the transform tool (Ctrl / Cmd + T). Hold Alt + Shift and resterize like image below. In Photoshop CC only hold Alt to resterize al sides together.

Step 13

Add Adjustment Layer "Curves"

Step 14

Add Adjustment Layer "Curves" and press Ctrl/Cmd + I to invert. Then use Brush Tool(B) Soft Round with foreground color white and paint Highlight parts.

Step 15

Add Adjustment Layer "Color Balance"

Step 16

Select Man layer and create below a new layer for shadow. Use Soft Round Brush Tool with the foreground color black and paint the shadow. The flow of brush set to 10% and the blend mode change to Multiply with Opacity of 36%

Step 17

Go to File > Open and select Birds, then hold Ctrl/Cmd and click on the layer and after the selection area has been created, simply copy (Ctrl / Cmd + C) and Paste (Ctrl / Cmd + V) it to our work canvas. Then position the image with the transform tool (Ctrl / Cmd + T). Hold Alt + Shift and resterize like the image below. In Photoshop CC only hold Alt to resterize al sides together.

Step 18

Next, place Moon Go to File > Place and select Moon. Then place it to our work canvas and position the image with the transform tool (Ctrl / Cmd + T). Hold Alt + Shift and rasterize like the image below. In Photoshop CC only hold Alt to rasterize all sides together.

Blend mode change to Screen and Fill to 35%.

Step 19

Next, we will add Ray Highlights but first, we need to import brushes. Select a Brush Tool(B) and right-click on the background. Now click on the gear icon and Import Brushes (Select a downloaded brush).

Convert the layer to Smart Object and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 75px. Opacity of layer set to 50%.

Step 20

Create a new layer and change the opacity to 15%. Then use a Brush Tool(B) Soft Round with foreground color white and Size to max(5000px). Then paint to the right side.

Step 21

Add Adjustment Layer "Gradient Map". Blend mode change to Hue with an Opacity of 20%.

Step 22

Add Adjustment Layer "Color Lookup" Opacity set to 35%.

Step 23

When we finished all this, now merge all layers into one. Select the last layer and hold CTRL/CMD + SHIFT + ALT + E. Now we have a final layer, right-click on mouse and select Convert to Smart Object. Then go to Filter > Camera RAW Filter. At its most basic, the Photoshop Camera Raw filter allows you to use the functions of the ACR interface at any time within Photoshop.