Discover how to create stunning photo manipulations in Photoshop. In this course, you'll learn everything from photographing models to creating dark conceptual artworks. If you enjoy our photo manipulation tutorials, you will absolutely love this course.
Final Results
Tutorial Resources
- Underwater – WingsOfAhero
Cathedral – Kippa2001(Alternatives)- Dragon – Elevit-Stock
- Diver – ZedsStock
- Fish – DarkAdathea
- Aquatic Plants – DarkAdathea
- Coffer – 1989Juni
Coins – DarkAdathea(Alternative)- Cup – DarkAdathea
- Skulls – kungfufrogmma
Seahorse – Wolverine041269(Alternative)- Bubbles Brush – millertimemsu
- Light Brush – redheadstock
- Snow Texture – EmilyEmilybeth
Step 1
Open the file “Underwater”. This will be the base of our scene.
Step 2
Open the file “Cathedral”. Copy all by pressing Ctrl + A and Ctrl + C. Go back to our scene and paste with Ctrl + V. Transform this layer into a Smart Object by right-clicking on it in the Layer Palette and choosing Convert To Smart Object from the drop-down menu. Press Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform and position the cathedral as shown below. Hold the Shift key while dragging the corners when in Free Transform to resize proportionally. By converting a layer into Smart Object we can resize the layer without actual loss of pixel information. We can also apply various filters that we can edit at a later time.
Step 3
Don’t forget to properly name your layers – organization is key when working with lots of layers. Change the blending mode of the Cathedral layer to Soft Light and lower the opacity to 43%. As you can see this makes the cathedral blend nicely with the scene.
Step 4
We will use layers masks a lot in this tutorial so a short explanation is in order. First, you can create layer masks by going to Layer > New Layer Mask > Reveal All. Second – layer masks allow us to partially or completely hide a section of the layer without deleting the actual pixels of that layer – we are merely “masking” the layer. By painting with a black brush in a layer mask we will hide the painted area. If the brush is at various opacities (smaller than 100%) than we will partially hide that section and achieve a transparency effect that is very good for blending various objects in a scene. White color reveals a section of the layer – so for example, if we fill the layer mask with black (Shift + F5) we will completely hide the layer. Painting with a white brush at various opacities will partially or completely reveal the painted section. Third – make sure to click on the layer mask thumbnail (which is to the right of the layer thumbnail in the layer palette) before painting with black or white. Otherwise, you’ll end up painting over the actual layer which is not something that you may want. So in this step create a layer mask (you already know how, right?). Fill it with black and select the Brush Tool (B). Select the standard round soft brush and set the opacity to 50%. Paint in the layer mask over the center section of the cathedral to partially reveal it. As you go further from the center lower the opacity to 20-30% to fade it into the background.
10 comments on “Create an Awesome Underwater Scene Depicting a Dragon and a Treasure Hunter”
The Cathedral image is broken. Pls fix otherwise great tutorial!
This is awesome !!This is SUPER helpful.I’ve been curious about this. Lovely tutorial too.
I love that end results. I am going to check those links now since some are saying they do not work.
Сегодня взялся за урок и дошёл до 15 шага. Спасибо большое:) Я человек простой из бедной семьи и потому скажу просто. Я балдею от урока!:)) Оставлю два варианта синий и зелёный, оба нравятся:)
Nice work.
That was awesome...I thought I knew most but I still picked up on a few things!
Simple things like Adding colour balance etc via the layers panel.
Thanks heaps!
Where can I post my version? Is it ok to put up on facebook?
Love your result but how do I access the materials to try your tutorial?
Thank you,
Интересно было бы поработать с этим уроком, результат красивый но исходники не работают.
Awesome article. Great content.
None of the image links are working..