Have you ever wanted to live in a house with ghosts? Me not! But this will not stop us from creating a dark scene with dead trees, ghosts and an abandoned house. Launch Photoshop and let’s get started!
In this tutorial we will create a night scene with ghosts. To complete this tutorial, you will need Photoshop CS5 or higher.
Translator’s Note: In the archive you will find alternatives for some missing images.
The final result:
Step 1
So let’s get started! Open Photoshop, create a new document. Navigate File – New (File> New) or press the keys (Ctrl + N). Install the following sizes 2000 px in width and 1565 px in height. Open the original image with the sky, select the entire image (Ctrl + A), and then copy the selected image to the sky (Ctrl + C). Go to our working paper, press the keys (Ctrl + V) to paste the copied image of the sky. Arrange the sky as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 2
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N). Choose a round soft brush, reduce Opacity (opacity) brush up to 40%. Paint a dark brush over the top of the sky image.
Step 3
Open the original image with the moon. Using tool Oval area 
(Elliptical Marquee Tool), create a selection around the image of the moon. Copy / paste (Copy / Paste) highlighted image on our working paper. Transform the layer with the Moon into a smart object (right-click on the layer with the Moon and in the appeared window select the option Convert to Smart Object (Convert To Smart Object)). Apply scaling to the moon, and then position the image of the moon, as shown in the screenshot below.
From now on, you must convert all the original objects / layers added to our scene, especially if you are going to apply a transformation to them. I will not remind you about this in every step, but if you add the original image, then make it a rule to convert it into a smart object.
I must also add that for transformation and scaling, you must use the tool Free transformation (Free Transform (Ctrl + T)). Holding the key (Shift) during the transformation will allow you to scale the sides proportionally.
Step 4
To the layer with the moon, add a layer mask, for this we go Layer – Layer Mask – Show All (Layer> Layer Mask> Reveal All) or add a layer mask through the bottom of the layers palette. Switch to the layer mask and use the round black soft brush to color the lower left part of the moon to perfectly match it with the image of the sky.
Step 5
Open the original image with the rock. Select the rock with the tool Fast selection (Quick Selection Tool), copy / paste the selected part of the rocks
s on our working paper. Place a fragment of rock, as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 6
Open the original image with grass. Move this image to our working paper. Position this image as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 7
Add a layer mask to the grass layer and use the soft black brush to hide the upper part of the image (hide the sky). Tip: you can use the tool Rectangular area 
(Rectangular Marquee Tool) to select the area you want to hide, and then, while on the layer mask, press the keys (Alt + Backspace), but before that, remember to set the default colors by pressing the “D” key.
Step 8
Create a new layer and use the tool Stamp 
(Clone Stamp tool), clone parts of the grass, as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 9
Open the original image with the house. Highlight the image of the house, copy / paste (Copy / Paste) on our working paper, apply scaling as shown in the screenshot below. Add a layer mask to the house layer and hide the bottom of the house on the layer mask to accurately place the house among the stones.
Hint: for precise selection, you can use the tool Pen 
(Pen tool), with which you can create a work path around the selection area. And after creating the contour, hold down the (Ctrl) + key and press (Enter) to transform the working contour into an active selection.
Step 10
Create a new adjustment layer. Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation), for this we go Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Hue / Saturation (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation) or add this adjustment layer by clicking on the corresponding icon at the bottom of the layers panel. Convert this adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) in the clipping mask to the layer with the house. Reduce value Saturation (saturation) to -42.
Hint: to attach a layer as a clipping mask to another layer, for this, hold down the “Al” key + click between the respective layers. In this case, the top layer will be visible only on the bottom layer. You can create a large number of layers as clipping masks, and all of them will be visible only on the lowest layer to which the layers are attached.
Step 11
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Multiplication (Multiply). Transform this layer into a clipping mask to the layer with the house. Using a round soft brush opacity (Opacity) 50%, paint over the house image to darken it. Reduce the layer opacity if the effect is too saturated.
Step 12
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Overlap (Overlay). Using a round soft white brush, paint over the image of the house, as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 13
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Overlap (Overlay). Paint again with a white brush over the image of the clock and some parts of the roof.
Step 14
Create a new layer and use the brush. a piece of chalk (chalk), paint it with a yellow tint (# ffd968) over the window.
Step 15
Create a new layer and, using the same yellow tint, but using a round soft brush with an opacity of 10%, paint over the window to add a glow.
Hint: when you complete some particular element of the scene you were working on (for example, we completed the house), the best solution is to select all the layers related to the scene element / object to group them. Holding the (Shift) key + clicking on the layers, you can select several layers at once. Next, press the keys (Ctrl + G) to group the selected layers. Give the created group an appropriate name (in our case “Home”).
Step 16
Download the Birds brushes (by double clicking on the .abr file). Create a new layer. Using the Birds brush, add birds to our scene.
Step 17
Load a brush Smoke. Using a combination of white and black shades, draw a fog effect at the bottom of our scene. If necessary, use several layers.
Step 18
Open the original image with the skulls. Copy / paste (Copy / Paste) copied image of skulls on our working paper. To the skull layer, add a layer mask. Hide part of the skull image to achieve the same effect as in the screenshot below.
Step 19
Open the original image with a cross. Select the cross, copy / paste the copied image onto our working paper. To the layer with the cross, add a layer mask to hide most of the image of the cross (note my result in the screenshot below). Place the cross next to the skulls. Duplicate the cross (Ctrl + J) by placing a duplicate of the cross to the right of the original cross. Tilt the cross, and also apply a small scale.
Step 20
Open the original image with your hand. Using tool Fast selection (Quick Selection Tool), create a selection around the hand image. Copy / paste the hand image onto our working paper. Reduce hand size. Place your hand between two crosses. Also to the hand layer, add a layer mask to hide the bottom of the hand image.
Step 21
To the layer with the hand, add an adjustment layer. Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) as a clipping mask. Reduce value Saturation (saturation) to -77. Next, add an adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) as a clipping mask. Pull the curve down as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 22
Open the original image with a lantern. Create a selection around the lantern image. Copy / paste (Copy / Paste) highlighted lantern image on our working paper. Place the lantern on the roof of the house. Next, add a adjustment layer to the lantern layer. Curves (Curves) as a clipping mask. Set the curve as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 23
Open the source image with a dead tree 1. Copy / paste (Copy / Paste) tree image on our working paper (the trees are already pre-cut, so just press the keys (Ctrl + A) to select them). Add a layer mask and use a soft black brush to process the bottom of the tree. Place the tree on the left side of the scene near the horizon. Double duplicate this layer with the tree. Arrange duplicate layers with trees, as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 24
Open the source image with a dead tree 2. Copy / paste the tree image onto our working paper. Arrange the tree as shown in the screenshot below. Add a layer mask to hide the bottom of the tree.
Step 25
To this layer with the tree, add an adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) as a clipping mask. Pull the curve down as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 26
Create a new layer and using a brush of dark red color, draw an apple hanging right below the branches of the dead tree. There is no need to recreate the exact image of an apple, just draw a dark red apple in shape, adding a small highlight of white light as a small trick.
Step 27
Open the source image with a dead tree 3. Copy / paste the tree image onto our working document. Place the tree on the left side of our scene. To this layer with the tree, add a layer mask and using a round soft brush opacity (Opacity) 10%, the color of the brush is black, paint over the tree to match it with the environment. I hope you did not forget to convert the tree layer into a smart object (including the rest of the scene elements that you added to your working paper), as I advised you in Step 3!
Step 28
To the tree layer, add an adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) as a clipping mask. Pull the curve down as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 29
Add a new adjustment layer to the tree layer. Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) as a clipping mask. Reduce value Saturation (saturation) to -59.
Step 30
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Overlap (overlay). Convert this layer to a clipping mask to a layer with a tree. Next, using a round soft black brush, basically paint the left side of the tree.
Step 31
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Multiplication (Multiply). Now, using a round soft black brush, paint over the highlights to hide them.
Step 32
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Lightening basics (Color Dodge). Next, using a small brush (2 px) and an opacity of 40%, the color of the brush is white, carefully paint the edges on the right side of the tree image, creating gentle light highlights.
Step 33
Create a new layer. Combining the black and white color of the brush with the Smoke brush, paint over the leftmost tree.
Step 34
Open the original image with the lock. Create a selection around the image of the castle. Copy / paste (Copy / Paste) this image on our working paper. Position the lock as shown in the screenshot below. To the layer with the lock, add a layer mask to align the castle with the setting, hiding the bottom of the image of the castle.
Step 35
To layer with lock, add adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) as a clipping mask. Reduce value Saturation (saturation) to -57. Next, add an adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) as a clipping mask. Pull the curve down as shown in the screenshot below to darken the lock.
Step 36
Open the original image with a man. Create a selection around the image of a man. Copy / paste (Copy / Paste) this image on our working paper. Position the man as shown in the screenshot below. To the layer with the image of a man, add a layer mask. Using a soft black brush, lightly process the feet of a man on a layer mask.
Step 37
Next, add the adjustment layer to the male layer. Curves (Curves) as a clipping mask. Pull the curve down as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 38
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Overlap (overlay). Convert this adjustment layer to a clipping mask for a layer with a man. Using a black and white brush, create standard chiaroscuro (paint over black with a black brush over the right side and a white brush over the left side).
Step 39
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Overlap (overlay). Using a black and white brush, paint over parts of the scene that are indicated in the screenshot below to enhance individual elements of the scene.
Step 40
Create a merged layer from all visible layers (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E). To merged layer, apply filter Contour sharpness (Unsharp Mask filter), for this we go Filter – Sharpness – Contour Sharpness (Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask). Set the settings for this filter, shown in the screenshot below, which we apply not for sharpness, but to enhance the contrast.
Step 41
The effect was too sharp in certain parts of our scene. Therefore, to the outline layer that we just created, add a layer mask to hide the effect of sharpness on top of the entire image of the house.
Step 42
Open the original image with nebula. Select the entire image, copy / paste the selected image onto our working document. Arrange the nebula as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 43
Change the blending mode for the nebula layer to Lightening basics (Color Dodge). Add a layer mask and then hide too bright areas of the nebula.
Step 44
Open the original image with a highlight. Using tool Rectangular area (rectangular marquee tool), select the highlight that is located at the very top left. Copy / paste the highlighted highlight on our working paper. Place a highlight on top of the flashlight image.
Step 45
Change the blending mode for the layer with the glare on Lightening (Screen). To the layer with the highlight, add a layer mask to hide the hard edges along the image.
Step 46
Next, add a new adjustment layer. Gradient map (Gradient Map), placing on top of all other layers. Set the gradient that is shown in the screenshot below. Change the blending mode for the adjustment layer. Gradient map (Gradient Map) on Soft light (Soft Light), and also reduce Opacity (opacity) layer up to 36%.
Step 47
Add adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) on top of all other layers. Reduce value Saturation (saturation) to -40.
Step 48
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Overlap (Overlay). Using a round soft brush with an opacity of 20%, paint a green tint (# 68a200) over almost the entire scene, and especially at the bottom, where the fog is located.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this lesson. I got a lot of fun creating this scene, I hope that you also liked this lesson.
The final result:
PSD lesson
