How to Create a Beautiful Underwater Surreal Scene in Photoshop

Create a beautiful underwater surreal scene in Photoshop. This photo manipulation will be about a fisherman with the 'fish' submarine. You'll learn to combine different stocks together step by step by using adjustment layers, masking, brush tool, and learn how to make light and shadow too. This Photoshop tutorial is a great way to improve your photo manipulation techniques.

What you'll be creating

Submarine; this artwork means a lot to me. Inspired by the emotional feeling of someone who always keeps their memories and disguises their stories into a mystery. The 'fish' submarine represents the deep memories and the fisherman represents someone who always keeps it.

Tutorial Resources

Fisherman - joelshine-stock
Fish - Malleni-Stock
Boat - Chibiangel-stock
Water - Pure-Poison89
Underwater - koko-stock
~~Hublot - TheEdeonKnight~~ (Alternative) (Get 10 free Adobe Stock images here)
Gears - redheadstock
Sky 1 - CindysArt-Stock
Sky 2 - resurgere
Texture 1 - EverythingIsInStock
Texture 2 - kuschelirmel-stock

Step 1

Now, let’s start by creating a new image file, go to the Menu bar and click File > New, and then input the following values on their respective fields:

Preset: Custom
Width: 2480px
Height: 3508px
Resolution: 300 pixels/inch
Color Mode: RGB Color; 8 bit
Background Contents: Transparent

Step 2

In this step, we will be creating the foreground. Import the stock image "Water" by Pure-Poison89 to the canvas by clicking on File > Place and find it from the directory you’ve saved it into. Using the Place command the image will be automatically as a smart object, and you may transform it as many times as you like without any loss in quality of the image.

Step 3

Then create a new "Selective Color" adjustment layer.

Select the Blue color, we will change only the blue on this image "Water".

Then, you will get the more darker on the image "Water" than before.

Step 4

In this step, we will be creating the background behind the sea. To start, let’s open the images package “Sky 2” by resurgere. And choose the "sky9_9504.jpg" from the package. After you open the image, activate the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M).

Step 5

After the selection area has been created, activate the Move tool (V) and drag the selected area or just simply copy (Ctrl/Cmd + C) and paste (Ctrl/Cmd + V) it to our work canvas. Put the sky above all the layers that we’ve created. Then, positioning the image with transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) like the image below.

Step 6

Next, we will make a new adjustment layer "Selective Color".

After that, we only adjust the color Cyan and Blue to the "Sky" Image.

Then, you will get a little bit green on the "Sky" image (like the image below).

Step 7

In this step, we will be adding a new adjustment layer "Gradient Map", you can download the beautiful gradients colors here. After you download the gradients color, you will see a lot of options on the Gradient Editor and choose the "Vintage" color.

Next, activate the "Gradient Map" layer only to the "Sky" image and set the opacity on 58%.

Then, you will get the background more blend with the color of the "Sea" image. The result should be similar to this:

Step 8

Next, we will add some color in the sky. Open the file "Sky 1" by CindysArt-Stock.

After you paste the image into your work canvas, transform the image like the image below.

Step 9

After you transform the position of the image, we will make an effect for it.

And you will get the result like this:

17 comments on “How to Create a Beautiful Underwater Surreal Scene in Photoshop”

jos says:

September 8, 2016 at 4:09 am

Mooi werk, dankje!

Somya says:

January 10, 2016 at 10:00 pm

Thanks a lot, this is my first try at surreal and your specifications were very exact.wish to attach my output here.

Thanks a lot, learned a lot, done a lot with simpler tricks.

poop says:

November 10, 2015 at 5:31 pm

hello its cool

Yagnik Hirpara says:

October 1, 2015 at 5:13 am

This is awesome

jordan says:

September 23, 2015 at 6:21 pm

when i try to brush the sky, it only gives me variations of grey I can't use colors for some reason =[

James M says:

September 10, 2015 at 10:01 am

Bloody hell! Awesome work man!

Iulian says:

September 7, 2015 at 6:16 am

step 33: where to brush and where to place the texture?

1. Evan Lawrence says:
  
  September 9, 2015 at 7:32 am
  
  I'm really sorry, maybe there's an error when they upload it. I already sent an email to the admin, I hope they can fix it asap. I give the JPEG file for the complete step 33, you can download it here https://www.dropbox.com/s/u33iqxc9stbvvzb/step33.jpg?dl=0
  Thank you
Iulian says:

September 7, 2015 at 4:58 am

in step 27 I get these oversaturated pixels. Is there another way to get rid of them without using clone stamp? https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=95141D5708B162B1!221924&authkey=!AIcVgO6H6-DH6rA&v=3&ithint=photo%2cpng

1. Evan Lawrence says:
  
  September 9, 2015 at 7:26 am
  
  In step 27, I'm using brush. It's okay if you use the stamp tool, the result is totally same. I already remind a note in this step about making silhouette with the levels adjustment effect is not always make the image change into totally black, it depends with the quality of the image. Thank you.
Anonymous says:

September 1, 2015 at 2:39 am

Thanks good

gerda says:

August 29, 2015 at 9:25 am

Beautiful tutorial gerda

Dave says:

August 28, 2015 at 1:12 pm

Thanks for a good detailed tutorial.

arvind kumar gupta says:

August 28, 2015 at 7:45 am

it is a good tutorial.thanks

Iulian says:

August 28, 2015 at 4:36 am

I can download other files, but the zip files just interrupt randomly and cannot be opened even if the download is full. Please check all links before posting a tutorial.

1. Evan Lawrence says:
  
  September 9, 2015 at 7:18 am
  
  Hello Iulian, I'm sorry for the late reply. The zip files is totally fine, I already check it. Thank you.
Margaret Black Pyron says:

August 27, 2015 at 9:26 am

cool