How to Create a Compassionate Planet Earth Artwork in Photoshop

In this tutorial we will create a colorful photo manipulation of the planet earth. You will learn how to composite different images in order to achieve a pleasant final effect. We will be using layer masks, smart objects and adjustment layers but I will provide a short explanation before using them so you should be alright. Let’s begin.

What you’ll be creating

Planet Earth is beautiful and we should live in harmony with our surrounding nature. This is how I see us living in peace and serenity in complete harmony with the life around us. You will need Photoshop CS3 or newer in order to follow this tutorial.

Tutorial Resources

• Sky- monika-es-stock
• Sea – shudder-stock
• Underwater1 – evilhateyouallstock
• Cloud Brush – JavierZhx
• Nebula – pixabay
• Shark – Roys-Art
• Fish – darkadathea
• Snow – emilyemilybeth
• Light Brush – redheadstock
• Earth – Wikipedia
• Bubbles Brush – millertimemsu
• Splash Brush – FrostBo
• Dry Tree – gd08
• Vines – zememz
• Owl – LG-Design
• Island – MindSqueeze
• Deer – LG-Design
• Girl – skyleafstock
• Dolphin – wolverine041269
• Boat – JinxMim
• Dove – MariaMurphyArt
• Flare – Darkozz
• Fx Brush – KeepWaiting
• Special Effect – Tamilia
• Bokeh – winterbright
• Small Tree – MoonglowLilly

Step 1

Create a new document 2000×1406 pixels (Ctrl + N). Open the image “Sky” and select all by pressing Ctrl + A. Press Ctrl + C to copy and go back to our document. Press Ctrl + V to paste. Transform the pasted layer into a smart object (right-click the layer and from the drop down menu choose “Convert To Smart Object”) and press Ctrl +T  to enter Free Transform and position this layer as shown below.

Smart objects allow us to resize and apply filters to layers without permanent lose of pixel data. From now on convert all pasted layers to smart objects.

Step 2

Open the image “Sea”. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to select the surface of the sea. Copy paste this into our scene and place the water surface as shown below.

Step 3

Create a new Curves Adjustment Layer ( Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves) and clip it to the “surface” layer. Drag the curve up to lighten.

If you Alt-click between two layers in the layers palette the upper layer will be clipped to the lower layer – this means that the upper layer will only be visible through the lower layer pixels. In our case the Curves Adjustment Layer will only affect the surface layer.

Step 4

Open the image “Underwater1”. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the underwater portion and copy paste in our scene. Place this layer as shown below.

Step 5

Add a layer mask to the “underwater” layer (Layer > Layer Mask  > Reveal All). Select the Gradient Tool (G) and press D to set the colors to black and white. Click on the layer mask to select it and use the gradient tool to fill the upper portion with black (hold Shift to keep the gradient vertical).

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