In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a scene of an emotional dancer in a forest. You’ll learn how to combine and blend different stock photos in a cohesive scene, adjust color, use layer masks, manage lighting, work with groups, and more.

What you’ll be creating

We’ll start this tutorial by creating an autumn forest scene from two stock photos. Then we’ll adjust color, shade and light as well as make a dreamy effect. Later we’ll add the model and do some retouch to match her with the scene. After that, we’ll use two stocks to create a lighting effect. Finally, we’ll use some adjustment layers to boost the final result. You’ll need Photoshop CS3 or newer to follow this tutorial.

dance51-final

Tutorial Resources

Step 1

Create a new document in Photoshop with the settings below:

dance1

Step 2

Open the forest image. Use the Move Tool (V) to drag it into our white canvas:

dance2

Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal:

dance2a

Step 3

To create some depth to the background , go to Filter > Blur > Gassian Blur and set the radius to 6 px:

dance3

Step 4

To make some light for the background, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves and increase the lightness:

dance4

On this Curves layer mask use a basic, soft brush with black color to erase the left:

dance4a

Step 5

To make the left darker I used another Curves adjustment layer :

dance5

On this Curves layer mask use a soft black brush to erase the right to keep its brightness:

dance5a

Step 6

Open the ground image. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+Option/Alt+Shift+N to make a new layer. Active the Clone Tool (S) and use it to remove some branches on the ground:

dance6

Step 7

Press Cmd/Ctrl+Option/Alt+Shift+E to merge the background layer and the clone one. Move the merged layer into our main document:

dance7

Click the second button at the bottom of the Layers Panel to add a mask to this ground layer. Use a soft black brush to remove the trees and blend the ground with the background:

dance7a

Step 8

Apply Gassian Blur with 4 px to this ground:

dance8

On this Filter Mask use a soft black brush to remove the blur effect on the foreground:

dance8a

Step 9

To change the color of the ground, I used an adjustment layer with Clipping Mask. Go to Layer > New Adjutment Layer > Hue/Saturation:

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24 responses to “Create a Photo Manipulation of an Emotional Dancer in a Forest”

  1. brandon Avatar
  2. Minnie Avatar
    Minnie

    The color choices are spectacular!! Great JOB!

  3. SELVA Avatar
    SELVA

    NICE AND GREATE TUTORIAL

  4.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    NICE GREAT EXPLAINE THE TUTORIAL

  5. Debbie Avatar
    Debbie

    I’m only new to composites and just came across this by a fluke. Just what I was looking for to learn and practice.
    Thanks so much…

  6.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    hi!could you tell me how to extract a model from its original photo?

  7. CM Avatar
    CM

    I like this because it shows skills and it shows emotion

  8. D6woSQJPLX70ngt Avatar
    D6woSQJPLX70ngt

    very good!

  9. Irina Avatar
    Irina

    It’s my creation http://j-p-g.net/if/2015/08/13/0540766001439480057.jpg
    Thanks for this divine lesson.It’s a miracle

  10. irina Avatar
    irina

    The most amazing lesson!!!!! better seen.Thank you for this fab ripping tutorial

  11.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Amazing Tip i like your steps

  12. Trang Avatar
    Trang

    Thank!!!

  13.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Thanks. Your tutorial is great as well as the other is. Keep going. But you didn’t say how you removed the model from it’s original background!!!!

  14. Maidul Islam Avatar
    Maidul Islam

    Amazing. . Very nice,

  15. Maidul Islam Avatar
    Maidul Islam

    A very smart approach to explain the things, Ilike your step by step tutorial.

  16. Mireille D Avatar
    Mireille D

    Thank you for this great achievement and tutorial that I had fun to be completed in 2 different versions:
    http://cartes-mireilled.eklablog.com/photomontage-scene-de-foret-en-automne-a109215440

  17. Nayan Chowdhury Avatar
    Nayan Chowdhury

    Emotional model and emotional background scenery very pretty with tutorial.

  18. Rorisang Avatar
    Rorisang

    Wow , very inspiring Shows that I still have a long way to go Thanks though for sharing your brilliant work

  19. AmikVey Avatar
    AmikVey

    very good

  20. Gytis Avatar
    Gytis

    I will use this one for my girl photo.

  21. Jorge Flores Avatar
    Jorge Flores

    Beautiful work. Thanks so much for sharing.

  22. Enamul Kabir Sarker Avatar
    Enamul Kabir Sarker

    I am highly inspired by your tutorials.As a learner,I found it very helpful.Thank you very much.

  23. Thiru Kumaran Avatar
    Thiru Kumaran

    Looks like something I should try now. Thank you for the step by step Tutorial. I’ve book marked your post. :) Keep Going!!!

  24. Ramay Avatar
    Ramay

    thanks for your tutorial, I really learned a lot

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