How to Create a Surreal Scene Full of Life in Photoshop

How to Create a Surreal Scene Full of Life in Photoshop
How to Create a Surreal Scene Full of Life in Photoshop
step-002c

Now press Ctrl/Command + 0 to see the whole selected area, and while holding Shift, click and drag the bottom right corner of the sky image until it matches the width of our canvas.

step-002d

Once the widths are the same, place the image in the canvas using the image below as reference:

step-002e

So far your image should look like this:

step-002f

Now that the image is in place, we're going to get rid of those logos. Select the Quick Selection Tool (or press W) and make a rough selection around the bottom logo.

step-002g

Now let Photoshop do the hard work for you, press Shift + F5, select Content-Aware and click OK.

step-002h
step-002i

To erase the upper logo we're going to use the Clone Stamp Tool. Select it (or press S) and click anywhere in the canvas with the right mouse button to change the settings of the brush. The brush size should be 500px and the hardness 0%.

step-002j
step-002k

Now use the Clone Stamp Tool to clone the area in the right (Alt/Option+click) into the logo (click and drag) like shown in the image below:

step-002l

Your image should now look similar to this one:

step-002m

Now we're going to add a vignette and some lens correction to the background. Go to Filter > Lens Correction, click in the Custom tab, set the Amount to -25, Remove Distortion to +25 and Horizontal Perspective to -10.

step-002n
step-002o

Your image should now look like this:

step-002p

Step 3: Changing the background colors

In this tutorial we're going to add all the adjustment layers non-destructively by clicking in the "Create new fill or adjustment layer" like shown in the image below:

step-003a

Using this technique, add a Curves Adjustment Layer going to 'Create new fill or adjustment layer' > Curves and change the RGB line based on the image below.

step-003b
step-003c

We don't want the sky to be brighter, only the ocean, so we're going to change the layer mask of the adjustment layer. Click on the layer mask of the Curves adjustment layer, select a soft brush and paint the sky with black to hide the adjustment layer in that area. Some quick tips:

  • Press D on your keyboard to return the colors of your palette back to Black and White
  • When painting a layer mask, black will hide the layer, and white will reveal it again
  • If you make a mistake while painting a layer mask, you just have to paint the area where you made the mistake with white again
  • You can quickly change between your background and foreground color by pressing X
  • To hide a layer mask, hold the Shift key and click on the mask. Do the same thing if you want to reveal it again
step-003d

You should now have something like this:

step-003e

Now we're going to change the sky a little bit. Add an Exposure Adjustment Layer non-destructively and set the Exposure to -20, the Offset to -0,15, and the Gamma Correction to 0,9.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Create Dot Grid Art in 1 Click
Sponsored

Turn any photo into a dot grid artwork with these Photoshop actions. You'll get great results with dots that change size. They get larger in brighter areas and smaller in darker areas. Free download available.

32 comments on “How to Create a Surreal Scene Full of Life in Photoshop”

  1. You've made a very nice and comprehensive collection of WordPress Themes. I appreciate it. Really great art work with typography. Thanks for sharing this nice post.

  2. Outstanding tutorial!Clear instructions and awesome picture instructions. Very nice, thank you a bunch.

  3. I can not thank you enough, the amount of things I've learnt in two hours is incredible, would usually take me a week of watching and reading tutorials, but nope, you've used many techniques that made my life easier! Thank you is not enough!

    1. just do what i did , 
      download the attached PSD from up there and take the mountain photo from there :D

    2. @SalahKabbani OK! Got it!I decided to replace the mountain photo with a desert one ^_^Thanks anyway :)

  4. Thank you so much for this tutorial really great photo and great explanation love it. 
    but i have a problem with the mountain photo , the link of this photo doesn't work , can you please upload it again or give me another photo that could be good for the tutorial ?
    thanks

  5. Hi Guilherme, From the start of your tutorial you say to go to lens correction and distort the image to + 25,00, it distorts the image considerably !, is that right, ?, by the way it is a great tutorial,
    regards and respect johnny

    1. Its ok, all i did was after the lens correction was used the free transform tool and adjusted the image to cover my canvas again lol, My bad..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cross