Create a Frozen Scene Inspired by "The Day After Tomorrow"

Preview of Final Results

Tutorial Resources

Frozen Lake(background) - Arctic-stock
Statue - SXC
City - SXC
Foggy Background - Darkdevil16
Boat - SXC
Frozen Lake 1 - Shinigami-stock
Frozen Lake 2 - Shinigami-stock
Iceberg 1 - Equinestockimages
Iceberg 2 - Equinestockimages
Iceberg 3 - Equinestockimages
Iceberg Background - Equinestockimages
Tree Snow Texture - Fenne-stock
Snow 1 - Equinestockimages
Snow 2 - Arctic-stock
Snow 3 - Resurgere
Snow 4 - Resurgere
Icicles - Wonderdyke-Stock
Mountain Cloud - Kuschelirmel-stock

Step 1

This tutorial is a bit long because we need to make all the images have the same color and contrast, but despite all that it is an easy tutorial and these techniques can be applied every time you want to create a winter photo manipulation. So, the first step is to create a new document and then drag in the frozen lake photo.

Step 2

Next, drag in the sky picture and place it in the upper left corner.

Now, as you can see the two pictures look like they don't belong with each other because they don't have the same colors, so we need to fix that. All the layers we will use for this process need to be clipped to the picture's layer, so they won't effect the other layers. Go to the Adjustment Layers-Hue/Saturation and desaturate the picture. Use the settings from the image below.

Next go to Adjustment Layers, select Curves and bring some light into the picture. Erase the upper part on the mask so it will remain a bit dark.

Now that the colors match we need to blend the images together. Create a mask on the sky's layer and with a brush erase the lower edge.

Step 3

Open the Iceberg photo and place it like you see in the image. From this photo we will use only the mountains from the back.

As we did for the picture above, we will create a clipping mask and change the colors and contrast of the picture. Below are some screenshots of the adjustment layers that we will use, including all the presets. 1) Adjustment Layers-Hue/Saturation 2) Adjustment Layers-Curves

Blend in the image by erasing the edges on the layer's mask, with a brush.

Step 4

Open the city photo, resize it so it fits in the background. The image needs to be small so it will look far away. Create a mask and erase everything but the city. You can also cut it out with the pen tool.

Now we need to make the city look frozen and a little foggy. So open the foggy image and place it above the city. 1) Clip it to the city's layer. 2) Switch the Blending Mode to Soft Light.

Next, add some frozen light, by creating a clipping mask with Curves.

Step 5

Open the frozen lake photo and place it in the lower left corner. Now let's add some light so the photo will blend in. Use Curves as a clipping mask. Delete the edges on the layer's mask.

Step 6

Open the other frozen lake photo and place it near the first one.

Next, we will do the same as we did for the pictures above, and this procedure is going to repeat itself for almost all the picture used in this tutorial, only the adjustment layers and the presets will be different, so use Levels and Curves as a clipping mask for the lake picture. After you complete this create a mask and erase the edges.

Step 7

Adjustment Layers-Color Balance. Use the settings below. In this step we will add a bit of cyan to the whole picture.

4 comments on “Create a Frozen Scene Inspired by "The Day After Tomorrow"”

Maidul Islam says:

September 22, 2014 at 8:41 pm

Beautiful, creative and acutely enjoy able!

Elliot says:

December 27, 2012 at 3:04 pm

was keen to do this tutorial but some of the stock files are missing :(

LukaszKacprzak says:

November 18, 2012 at 8:02 pm

FANTASTIC!!! :)

Dunne08 says:

November 18, 2012 at 2:57 am

Wheres the Sky stock image??