Photoshop Tutorials

Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation of a Monk in the Caves

Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation of a Monk in the Caves
First create a Black & White adjustment layer:
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And on the properties panel, select the “High Contrast Red Filter” preset.
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Then change the opacity of this layer to 27% and this should be the result:
image198
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Create a new layer by clicking on the Create New Layer button (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+N) and name this layer Gradient. Set the blending mode to Soft Light and the opacity to 35%.
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Now get the Gradient Tool (Shortcut G) and go to the Gradient Editor.
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On the Gradient Editor window, create a new gradient going from a blue color to a yellow color. Try to use colors that are similar to these:
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With the gradient we just created, follow the image below to create a gradient in our image. Remember that you won’t see the gradient like in the image below, but I just wanted to show you what it looks like in Normal view.image204 This is the result of the gradient:
image205
Now add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment above all the other layers and set the Brightness to 20.
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This is the result:
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Add a Selective Color adjustment layer so we can adjust all the colors of our image at once. On the properties panel, use the following settings in each of the Colors:
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The result should be something like this:
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Let’s create a new layer with all of our previous layers merged. To do that, hit Ctrl/Cmd+Alt/Opt+Shift+E. Set the blending mode of this layer to Screen, and reduce the opacity to 15%.
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Now with this layer selected, go to Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur and select a Radius of 80px.
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The result should be this dreamy effect:
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Duplicate the layer we just created by dragging it to the Create New Layer button or by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+J. Set the blending mode of this new layer to Soft Light and set the opacity to 25%.
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Here’s the result:
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Now create a new layer by pressing the Create New Layer button (or Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+N) and name it Vignette. Place it above all the other layers.
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Press D to make sure that black is your foreground color, and then hit Alt/Opt+Del to fill your whole screen with black.
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Get the Eraser Tool (Shortcut E), set the size to 2000px, and start erasing the center of our image to create a nice vignette effect to it.
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Here’s how your layers should be looking like:
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Create a new layer again (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+N), name it Lens Flare, set the blending mode to Screen and make sure that it is on the top of the layer stack.
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Now go to Filter -> Render -> Lens Flare and try to create something like shown on the image below. Remember to select Movie Prime and set the Brightness to 100%.
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This should be the result:
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Now add a layer mask to that image and hide some of the Lens Flare using the Brush Tool (Shortcut B) with black.
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This is the result:
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Now for the textures, go to File -> Place and chose Texture 1. Set the blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 25%.
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This is the result we get:
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And for the second and final texture, go again to File -> Place and chose Texture 2. Rotate it (just like when using the Free Transform Tool) and resize it to fit our whole canvas.
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Then change the blending mode of this layer to Soft Light and reduce the opacity to 20%.
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And this is our final result, and the end of our image:

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28 comments on “Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation of a Monk in the Caves”

  4. Please re uploaded PSD file because when i click on download showing 404 error, this is best work for me i want check how did you do this

    Reply

  7. Thanks for this great tutorial. One of the best I found so far. But I do have a question, since one step doesn't work out like it should. I have finished the cave and put the layers in a Group Folder as the tutorial says. The next step would be the cave lighting layer. But when I try to create it, Photoshop won't let me add a clipping mask. For some reason it won't do that above a group folder. To help myself I merged all cave layers into one, that way it works, but of course I can't change any details now, which is a bit annoying. I would be glad if you or someone else could tell me what I've been doing wrong. I use Photoshop CS4.

    Reply

  16. Great tutorial. I loved it, and my end result turned out really well. I learned a tonne about layer masks so thank you :D

    Reply

  21. Thank you for your tutoring.I am very appreciate your time.

    Wish you and your family have wonderful weekend.

    Reply

  23. Terrific tutorials, as ALWAYS!

    And trust me, a lot of users see your tutorials, even if they don't leave feedback.

    Thanks, as always!

    Reply

  25. On the part where you pick random parts from the island, you should have placed the layer inside the main PSD & use layer masks. Duplicate layer, paint in layer mask, repeat.

    Reply

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