Now that they’re merged, we can adjust the light on both the island and the castle. Activate the Burn tool (O) and then use the following settings:

• Brush size: 100 px
• Hardness: 0%
• Range: Midtones
• Exposure: 15%

Adjusting the Hardness of the Burn tool is similar to that of the Brush tool. Use the Burn tool on the areas shown on the image below:

Now, we're going to adjust the color of the island and the castle to blend in with the rest of the images on our canvas. Make sure that the Merge layer is selected and then go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and then input the following settings:

• Color Levels: -50, 0, +10
• Tone Balance: Midtones
• Preserve Luminosity: Checked

The result should be similar to this:

Then, we would need to reduce the red colors of both the castle and the island; To do that, click on the merged layer again and go to Image > Adjustments > Selective Color. Use the following values:

• Colors: Reds
• Cyan: +25
• Magenta: -40
• Yellow: -65
• Black: +40

As part of the agenda to create an illusion of movement, we would need to use the Gaussian Blur once again on this merged layer. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and input the following values:

• Radius: 3 pixels

After that, group these layers and rename it to: "floating island".

Step 4 - Add the Bird

In this step, we will be adding the bird on our canvas. Open the stock image: "Budgie in flight 8", separate it from its background using the Magnetic Lasso tool (L) and then once you've made the selection, move it to the canvas using the Move tool (V). Rename this new layer as "bird". Using the Transform tool, resize the bird to the scale shown below:

Next, let's adjust the colors of the bird to make him blend with the rest of the images. Click on the "bird" layer and then go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and then use the following values:

• Color Levels: -35, 0, +26
• Tone Balance: Midtones
• Preserve Luminosity: Check
• Color Levels: -10, 0, +15
• Tone Balance: Shadows
• Preserve Luminosity: Check

The result should be similar to this:

Now let's adjust the light on the bird to make it look like it really is in the scene. Activate the Burn tool and input the following values:

• Brush size: 150px
• Hardness: 0%
• Range: Midtones
• Exposure: 50%

Use the Burn tool on the bird on all areas of the bird, to come up with an image similar to the one shown below:

Now that’s done, put this layer in a group and name it: “bird">

Step 5 - Add the Girl

Now we will add the girl who's riding the bird. Open “persephone stock II" by PhoenixFireStock then separate it from its background using the Polygonal Lasso tool (L). Afterwards, move it to the canvas using the Move tool (V) then rename it to "girl". In order for the girl to appear at the back of the bird, you’d have to position the “girl" below the “bird" layer. To do that, simply, click on the layer “girl" and drag it below the “bird".