How to Create a Surreal Traveling House Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

After clicking the Foreground tool, the Color Picker box would open. Once open, input the following on the # space:

#: fff7bf

Once you’re done, we can now proceed to painting.

The result:

Next, create another layer (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N) and put “Darken” on the name field. Activate the Brush tool (B) and input the following:

Brush size: 1500 px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 25%
Flow: 100%
#: 000000

Now, let’s start painting:

The result:

Create another layer again (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N) and then put “Darken 2” on the name field. Activate the Brush tool (B) and input the following:

Brush size: 1200px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 25%
Flow: 100%
#: 000000

Let’s paint!

The result of that should be similar to this:

Once, you’re done, select all the layers that we’ve created from the last 2 Steps and then press Ctrl/Cmd + G to group them. Grouping layers will avoid confusion in the later steps of the tutorial. Rename this group to “Background”. To rename a group, simply double-click on the words “Group” on the layer window to activate the text box. Once the text box has been activated, you may now rename it.

Step 3: Create the Floating House

In this layer, we will be creating the Floating house on top of this vast field. To start, let’s open the stock image: 1293783_39442557. Once open, activate the Magnetic Lasso Tool. We will need this to create a selection area around the house. The Magnetic Lasso tool can be found here:

Once you’ve got the tool open, start using the Magnetic Lasso tool around the house shown below:

Once you’ve made the selection area around it, activate the Move tool (V) and drag that house to our canvas. Move and position the house on the area shown on the image below:

Now, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and once it is activated, right-click on the canvas to bring up the contextual menu. This is the contextual menu:

Click on “Flip Horizontal”

Once you’ve done that, the house will now look like this:

Now, let’s resize this house. Activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and resize it as shown below:

Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) once again and rotate the house to the angle shown below:

The result of that should be similar to this:

Now, we will correct the light on the house. To start, activate the Burn tool (O).

Once activated, input the following settings for it:

Brush: 125px
Hardness: 0%
Range: Midtones
Exposure: 25%

Now, that you’re ready, let’s go and “burn” the house!

The result:

Step 4: Add the ground beneath the house

Now, we will make the floating house more realistic by adding the uprooted ground beneath it. To start, open the stock image: “Little Island” by mindCollision stock. Activate the Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) and use it to select a certain part of the rock. See image below:

When you’re done, activate the Move tool (V) and drag that piece of rock to our canvas. Put this layer below the house layer so that it wouldn’t appear in front of it. Position the rock on our canvas, in this position:

Now that the piece of rock is on our canvas, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and right-click on the canvas to bring out the contextual menu. Once the menu is open, click on “Flip Vertical”.

The result:

Next, activate the contextual menu of the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) once again and click on “Flip Horizontal”.

5 comments on “How to Create a Surreal Traveling House Photo Manipulation in Photoshop”

Su Hall says:

May 14, 2020 at 9:07 am

Cool concept! Thanks for the tut!

Anonymous says:

May 14, 2020 at 6:00 am

Cool! It gave me a good idea what to do next! Want more of this!!!! :-)

Jose says:

February 2, 2015 at 9:44 am

did you see the man's face in the field

bephot says:

March 1, 2013 at 10:05 am

genius..what else can i say

Michael Erickson says:

February 5, 2013 at 3:08 am

I really like the flying house good job.