Create a Vivid Winter Aurora Landscape

Step 18

Open foreground image. Use Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to select the ground :

Drag this selection into our picture, place it at the bottom:

Duplicate this layer, flip it horizontally and use Warp Tool (Edit-Transform-Warp) to bend it:

Step 19

Make group for the foreground layers. I name them “1” and “2”. I use three adjustment layers to darken and alter color of them:

On Curves layer mask I use brush with very low opacity (10-15%) to reveal some parts of the ground. On Levels layer mask I use brush with 100% opacity to erase the front part of the ground (which is nearer the light from the sky ):

Step 20

Extract the bear and place him onto the contour of the left mountain:

Step 21

To make shadow for the bear, I make a new layer under the bear one. Hold Cmd/Ctrl while clicking bear thumbnail layer to load his selection:

Go to Edit-Fill (or press Shift+F5) and fill this selection with black. Choose Edit-Transform-Flip Vertical then convert it to Smart Object. Use Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform this shadow as the screenshot below shows:

Lower opacity to 50% and use layer mask to blur the bottom of this shadow:

Go to Filter-Blur-Gaussian Blur and choose radius as 3 px:

Step 22

To correct shadow on the bear I make a new layer with Clipping Mask. I use color #c5bf9f (similar color of the bear) and paint over the dark parts:

Step 23

I use some adjustment layers to change color and darken the bear:

On Curves layer mask I use brush to erase some parts as I don’t want them too dark:

Step 24

Make some adjustment layers on the top to change color and contrast of the whole picture:

On Levels layer mask I use brush to erase the sky part, mountain edges and front part of foreground:

Step 25

To create a stronger focus and contrast I make a new layer on the top. Apply Radial Gradient with default colors (black and white) and change the mode to Soft Light 100%:

Step 26

To make reflected light from the sky to the scene, I add two layers on the top. On the first I use brush with color #f79ead with opacity from 40% to 80% to paint on the sky, the edges of the mountain, on the bear, ground and trees. Set the mode of this layer to Soft Light 100%:

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