How to Create an Elf Photo Manipulation with Adobe Photoshop

Make a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to change the light and shadow on some details around the neck and shoulders.

Add a new layer and use a soft brush with the color #9b786c to paint on top of the neck .

Step 13

Create a new layer , change the mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to continue refining the details on the model.

Step 14

Make a new layer and use a small brush with the color #96c3cf to paint on the eyes of the model.

On a new layer, change the brush color to #b0e2ef to paint on the bottom of the eyes. Alter the layer mode to Overlay 100%.

Create a new layer and use a soft brush with the color #5c6d72 to paint on top of the eyes. Change the mode to Multiply 100% to make shadow for these areas.

Add a new layer and use the color #c7f0fb to paint reflection of the eyes. Change this layer mode to Color Dodge 100%.

Step 15

Create a Curves adjustment layer on top of the layers and decrease the lightness. On this layer mask, paint on the face and the both sides of the hair to reduce the dark effect there.

Make a Color Balance adjustment layer and change the Midtones settings. Paint on the skin on the right of the neck and body to remove the effect on this area.

Step 16

Drag the forest image into our working document and resize it to fit the size of the canvas. Convert this layer to a Smart Object. Add a mask to this layer to reveal the model .

Step 17

On this layer, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 6 px.

Step 18

Make a Curves adjustment layer (set as Clipping Mask) and bring more light to the middle. On this layer, paint on both sides so they won't be affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 19

Open the armor image and take the armor with the neck and a part of the face to add to the body of the existing model. Use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T) to rotate it a bit.

Add a mask to this layer and use a hard black brush to remove the neck and the top of the shoulders to make them hidden below the hair.

Step 20

Create a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to change the light and shadow on the middle of the armor.

Step 21

Use a Color Balance adjustment layer to give some warm tone to the armor.

Step 22

Open the headpiece 1 image and take the part on her chest and place it on the left of the model's forehead. Use Ctrl+T with the Warp mode to tweak this part as shown below:

Add a mask to this layer and use a hard black brush to remove the bottom

Step 23

Duplicate this layer and flip it horizontally (Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal). Move it to the right and remove its bottom using a layer mask.

Step 24

Double click each of these layers and select Drop Shadow with the following settings. Set the color of shadow to black.

Step 25

Select these two layers and hit Ctrl+G to make a group for the. Change the group's mode to Normal 100% and make a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to change the Saturation values: