In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a black and white, surrealistic, romantic-style picture using Photoshop. Dare!
Let’s see what we should have as a result of the lesson:
You will need the following images to complete the lesson.
Step 1. Create a new document sized 1300 by 700 pixels. Fill the background layer with black. Let’s start laying the groundwork.
Download the cliff image in Photoshop and use Rectangle selection
(Rectangular marquee tool) to highlight a patch of rock.
Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, change the size and position as shown below:
Name this layer “Rock 1”, add a mask to it using a soft round brush (20% stiffness), erase the edges of the rock:
As you can see, I erased most of the texture and left only a small patch. The reason I did this was that it was difficult for me to immediately determine which part of the texture I needed, and I could only experiment until I got what I needed.
Add adjustment layer black and white (black and white) to the “Rock 1” layer
and you get the following effect:
Step 2. Duplicate the “Scala 1” layer twice (along with the black and white adjustment layer), name the copies “Scala 2” and “Scala 3”, respectively. Move the duplicates and place them to the right and left of the “Rock 1” layer as shown below:
Use soft Eraser 
(eraser) to erase the edges, especially where parts of the rock combine:
Step 3. We are now finished with a rock texture. Let’s add a tree image to our canvas. Download the stock image “Tree” in Photoshop, cut the tree and the grass texture using the method of channel masks:
(You can use another method if you want, but I think the channel masks here are some of the most effective.)
Standing on the background layer, click the tab Channels (Channel) in the layers palette, then click on the channel “Blue“(Blu) (because this channel is the most contrast)
Duplicate the Blue channel and apply the following settings. Levels (Level) to the duplicated channel:
Use a black brush to paint over areas of grass:
To download the highlight of this copy of the blue channel go Selection – Form a selection (Select> Load selection), then apply the following settings and click OK:
Copy and paste the selection into our document, name the layer “Right Tree”, change the size and position as shown below:
Erase the bottom of the grass with a soft brush:
Add the following two adjustment layers: (make sure the option “use the previous layer as a mask“(use previous climatic mask).
Black–white (Black and white)
Curves (Curves)
Maskcurves
and you get the following effect:
Duplicate the “Right Tree” layer together with its adjustment layers (leave all adjustment layers as they are, besides canceling the mask of the adjustment layer, curves). Name the copy of the “Left Tree” layer, move and make this layer smaller, place it as shown below:
Step 4. Load the image of the girl in Photoshop, cut the model and paste it into the center of the canvas:
Do not worry if your selection is not perfect, it does not matter in this lesson. Name this layer “Model Original”, duplicate and go Filter – Sharpness – Edge Sharpness (Filter> Sharpen> Sharpen Edge) and apply it several times to the copy of the layer:
As you see, all the edges of the model have become sharp – now the effect is terrible, but later in the lesson we will add additional details.
Duplicate the “Model Original” layer again and move it above the layer with the selected edges. Make this layer a clipping mask for a layer with sharp edges (right-click on the layer, then select create clipping mask (create clipping mask), set the layer opacity to 80% and you will get the following effect:
Add the following adjustment layers to the layer: make sure that the option “use the previous layer as a mask“( use previous climatic mask))
Curves (Curves)
Muskbut (Mask):
Levels (Levels)
Black–white (Black and white)
On the black and white adjustment layer, use Eraser (eraser) with a soft brush and make one click of the mouse where the flower is located (this will give a bit of color to the image)
Duplicate the original model layer again and move it above all the adjustment layers, changing the blending mode to Hard light (hard light) and opacity at 30%, you will get the following effect:
Step 5. Download the image of the planet in Photoshop, cut and paste it into our document. Name this layer “Planet”, change the size and position as shown below:
Add the following adjustment layers to the planet:
Black and white
Curves
We can also add a small aura around the planet for greater effect. To do this, load the selection layer with the planet (ctrl + click the left mouse button on the layer icon in the layers palette), apply the following settings to specify the edge:
Create a new “Aura” layer under the planet layer and create clouds on it (Filter – Rendering – Clouds):
Duplicate the aura layer once, then using Deformation (Warp tool) (Ctrl + T then right-click and select Warp (warp)), make it look as if it falls from the planet:
Step 6. Load the sky image into Photoshop, copy the part and paste it into our document under all previous layers. Change the size and position of the layer as shown below: (Erase the edges with a soft eraser if necessary)
Add two adjustment layers to it:
Black and white
Curves
Extras: it would be nice to add diversity by adding more clouds. Make sure you discolor them before adding:
Step 7. Now we come to the interesting part of the lesson. As you can see, the image already looks good, but it lacks a surreal, romantic effect. To get this effect, we can use deformed clouds, especially near the ground behind the model.
To do this, create a new layer above the last duplicated layer with the model. Using Lasso
(Lasso Tool) with a 50 pixel shading, draw a selection on this layer and create some clouds (Filter – Rendering – Clouds):
Then, using warp, change the clouds as shown below:
Then you can duplicate and resize a copy of the cloud layer for more effect:
I also added some abstract brushes to the background, blending them with warping for more effect: (There are many working brushes on qbrushes.net or brusheezy)
This is a general effect:
Step 8. We are almost done! At the last stage of completion, I apply the filter Reduce noise (Reduce Noise Filter) to make the image smoother:
with the next layer mask:
Here is the final effect (click to enlarge):
That’s the whole lesson! I hope you found it useful and learned something new!
Until next time! Have a nice day!
Author: psdvault
