How to Create an Out of This World, Medieval-Fantasy Themed Photo Manipulation

Now, because the wind on the sea is facing the West, we're going to flip the "Rain 1" layer to make it more realistic. Activate the Transform tool (Ctrl + T) while the "Rain 1" layer is activated. Right-click on the canvas to activate the contextual menu and click on Flip Horizontal. The result will be as follows:

That much rain doesn't look like there is a storm, does it so we're going to add two more layers of rain. First, let's create the second layer. Create a new layer (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N) and name it "Rain 2". Activate the Brush tool (B) and make sure that the same brush is loaded and then input the following settings:

Brush size: 2000px
Hardness: Default
Opacity: 100%
Flow: 100%
#: ffffff

The result:

Next, flip it horizontal again to make it appear like the image below:

Now that we're done with "Rain 2", let's now create "Rain 3". Create a new layer once again and name it "Rain 3" and then activate the Brush tool (B). This time, we're going to use another brush. See below:

Once that brush is ready, input the following settings for the Brush tool (B):

Brush size: 2500px
Hardness: Default
Opacity: 100%
Flow: 100%
#: ffffff

Now, let's paint:

The result should be similar to this:

After that, select all the layers and group them. Name this group: "Rain".

Step 4: Add the Ships

In this step, we will be adding the ships. To start, let's open "Ship 4" by Alegion Stock. ("Ship 4 is from the Tall ship PNG stock. You'd notice that this stock has a transparent background - this means that you could simply transfer this image to the canvas. Upon opening, just activate the Move tool (V) and drag that ship to our canvas. Upon moving, create a group under all the "Rain" group and layers and on top of the "Background" layer and include the ship image into that group. See image below for instructions:

Rename this group to "Ship" After that, rename the ship layer to "ship 1". Now that the ship has been moved to the canvas and renamed, let us now activate the transform tool to resize it. See image below:

When you're done, let's we will now edit the look of "ship 1". We're going to make it blend with the rest of the images to make it more realistic. To do that, first click on "ship 1" and then go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and input the following:

Brightness: +5
Contrast: +3

After that, activate the Dodge Tool (O). To do that, follow the instructions on the image below:

When it's activated, input the following settings on the Options window:

Brush size: 100px
Hardness: 0%
Range: Midtones
Exposure: 25%

Now, we're ready to use the Dodge tool (O). See the image below as to where you're going to use the Dodge Tool (O).

When you're done, we're now going to edit "ship 1" to make it look like it really is on water. Activate the Eraser tool by pressing (E) on your keyboard.

Once activated input the settings below on the Options Window:

Brush size: 10px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 100%
Flow: 100%
Zoom level: 100%

For the Zoom level, simply go to the Navigator Window and adjust the zoom level. See image below:

Use the Eraser on the area shown below:

The result:

Step 5: Create the Ship's Lamp

Finally, let's add a little finishing move to the ship; because it is a stormy night, the ship should have a lighted lamp in the ship, right? So let's create one. To do that, first create a new layer (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N) and then name this layer "Light for ship 1". Position this layer on top of "ship 1".

9 comments on “How to Create an Out of This World, Medieval-Fantasy Themed Photo Manipulation”

Anonymous says:

February 26, 2015 at 6:30 am

omg thnaks ur a genius!

Blah says:

December 17, 2013 at 3:12 pm

The url for the dragon stuff no longer exists...

Mahdy says:

June 20, 2013 at 4:14 am

Hey,
None of the resource links work for me...
Please upload the rest files somewhere else that we can also use it.

tyrell says:

February 22, 2013 at 8:38 am

very appealing and outstanding

Kelison says:

February 20, 2013 at 12:26 pm

Maybe this http://browse.deviantart.com/art/E-S-Dragon-III-Sky-145874452

or this

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs11/PRE/i/2006/170/d/3/Dragon_Stock_T1P1_by_Shoofly_Stock.jpg

Stevo says:

February 12, 2013 at 11:06 am

Outstanding piece of work :) Thank you for this tutorial :)

fajkus says:

January 15, 2013 at 9:34 am

hi
the dragon stock is missing.. can sombody give me the other working ling for this stock?

fidzzy says:

September 23, 2012 at 8:37 am

here is my picture, thankyou for this great tutorial. greetings from indonesia

fidzzy says:

September 16, 2012 at 3:06 am

thankyou, very useful tutorial. kewl.