In this lesson, you will learn how to create artistic photo manipulation using a combination of stock images. In this lesson, you will learn the technique of combining images and creating a fire in the grunge style.
Final result
Source materials:
Step 1
Open the “Field” image and use the tool Fast selection 
(Quick Selection Tool (W), create a ground selection. Press Ctrl + J to copy the selection to a new layer and add an adjustment layer to this layer. Curves (Curves) to change the key slightly.
Step 2
Open the “Sky” image and use the tool Fast selection (Quick Selection Tool (W)), roughly select the sky. Press Ctrl + C to copy the selected sky image, and then press Ctrl + V to paste the copied image onto our document. Move the layer with the sky below the “Earth” layer. Click use the Ctrl + T keys to apply a free transform to the sky image, as shown in the screenshot below. To the sky layer, apply an adjustment layer Color Balance (Color Balance) to reduce the saturation of the blue hue.
Step 3
Open the “Model” image. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the layer thumbnail Layer 0 (Layer 0) to highlight transparent pixels. Copy (Ctrl + C) the selected model image, and then paste (Ctrl + V) the copied model image onto our document. Using the free transform (Ctrl + T), apply scaling to the model image, positioning the model as shown in the screenshot below. The girl will become our main composite object.
Please note that I did not position it in the center, but positioned it on the left side of the image, about one third to the left and two thirds to the right. Arrange your key elements or compositional objects so that the scene becomes more dynamic and interesting. This technique is called the “rule of thirds”, and if you are serious about composition, then you should look for detailed information on this topic.
Step 4
The image of our girl is too dark compared to our scene, so let’s make the correction of the girl with the help of a correction layer. Curves (Curves) by pulling the curve to the top. Hold Alt + click between the adjustment layer Curves (Curves) and a layer with a model (so we transform the adjustment layer Curves (Curves) in the clipping mask to the layer with the model, i.e. This adjustment layer will only affect the model layer.
Since I sat down to write this lesson after I finished working on my stage, I know that the stream of light will fall on the right side of the girl. Bluish stream of light. Therefore, in order to make the scene look more convincing, we need to carry out color correction and color correction in the right side of the girl’s body, respectively.
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N), then convert it to a clipping mask for the model layer (or in this case, the adjustment layer). Curves (Curves), which is already a clipping mask for the model layer) and using a light blue tint (#aeccff), paint over with a soft round brush with 10% opacity on the right side of the girl.
Change the blending mode for this layer to Lightening basics (Color Dodge) and reduce the layer opacity to 80%. Choose a light red tint (# df1314) and repeat the previous procedure, but this time from the left side.
Please note that I have grouped the layers so that they look neat and comfortable to work with. I will not speak at every step for you to group the layers; nevertheless, this is good practice and it makes the work much easier if you make further changes.
Step 5
Adding directional light is a very simple action. First choose a tool Pen 
(Pen tool) with which, draw a quad, as shown in the screenshot below. Press Ctrl + Enter to convert the outline to the active selection, then fill the selection with white (Shift + F5 and select white from the drop-down menu). Press Ctrl + D to deselect and apply Gaussian blur (Gaussian Blur), blur radius 50-60px. Reduce the layer opacity to 50%.
So, to give our light bluish tints, create a new layer (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N) and set the same shade that you used in Step 4. (Remember the color we used when painting the right side of the girl? aeccff). Next, using a soft round brush with an opacity of 10-20%, walk once with a brush or twice in a stream of light. Hold the Alt + key and click between the layer with a bluish tinge and the layer with a stream of light so that the bluish tint affects only the streams of light.
Create another new layer and using a soft round brush of white color with an opacity of 10-20%, walk once or twice in the area where the light source should be. All you have left to do is to group all the layers that relate to the light, and further, apply a free transformation to the group in order to organize the whole lighting. For our scene, I added a second beam or stream of light.
If after applying a free transformation, you have hard edges of the light, just hide hard edges on the layer mask using a round black soft brush.
It is very important to know the essence of obravochnyh layers, if you want to do something interesting in the program Photoshop, therefore, arm the search teams and go ahead to search for additional information on the Internet, because This lesson does not provide for this.
Step 6
In this step, we will create a red light at the bottom of our scene.
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N). Install the “Fire” brushes via the command Settings Manager (Preset Manager). Place a new layer on top of the other layers. Set a light red tint (# fc1221) as the foreground color and black as the background color. Layers that I will create, I will call from 1 to 9, so that you can more easily perform actions.
Perhaps your results will be different from mine, and this is absolutely normal. Do not forget to change the size of the brush on each layer and use different brushes to avoid uniformity. If the brushes that you downloaded from the link are not enough, then you can independently search for Fire brushes on the deviant art website or on other stock resources.
Paint it red with a brush, then black on layer 1. Paint it red with a brush, then black on layer 2. Change the blending mode for these layers to Multiplication (Multiply). Paint with red brush on layer 3, change the blending mode for this layer to Overlap (Overlay). Paint with red brush on layer 4, change the blending mode for this layer Lightening basics (Color Dodge). Paint with black brush on layer 5. Paint even more black on layer 6. Paint black on layer 7 and change the blending mode for these layers to Bright light (Vivid Light). Add layer mask to layer 7 and with the help of black brush Fire, process the area below our girl.
To make the flame more interesting, let’s add a texture to the flame. Open the “Texture” image and press Ctrl + A to select the entire image, and then press Ctrl + C to copy. Paste the texture to our document (Ctrl + V) and change the blending mode for the texture layer to Bright light (Vivid Light). Reduce the layer opacity to 61% and Fill (Fill) up to 28% and add a layer mask. On a layer mask, hide everything except the area of fire.
Step 7
Open the “Horse” image, then create a selection around the horse image. Copy the selected image and then paste the images of the horse onto our document. Place the horse layer below the girl layer, but above the “Earth” layer. In order to combine the horse with our scene, let’s draw the shadows. Create a new layer, place this layer below the horse layer. Choose a soft round brush with an opacity of 80% and with the help of this brush create shadows. Since the light comes from the upper right corner, then the shadow should be projected to the left.
On top of the horse layer, I added adjustment layers as clipping masks to make the horse look more realistic. At first, I added an adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) so that the horse was generally darker. Next, the adjustment layer Color Balance (Color Balance), to change the saturation of the image of the horse to dark blue shades. Since the light comes from the right side of the scene, then I added a correction layer Curves (Curves), where I pulled the curve up to brighten the scene.
Then, I filled the layer-mask of the adjustment layer with black color to hide the effect and using a soft round brush with opacity of 80%, and painted over the right side of the knight only to show the effect. Following the same principle, I added a correction layer. Curves (Curves) to darken the lower part of the horse.
Step 8
Open the “Lion” image and create a rough selection around the lion image. Copy / paste the lion images onto our document. Apply scaling, as shown in the screenshot below, and then place the layer with the lion below the horse layer. To the lion layer, add an adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) as a clipping mask to reduce the brightness of the image with a lion.
Step 9
Create a new layer, download Birds brushes. Place a new layer below the lion layer. Set the foreground color to black, and then draw the birds, as shown in the screenshot below. Try drawing more birds on the left side of the scene. Reduce the layer opacity to 75%.
Step 10
Since the horizon line looks empty, let’s draw some arbitrary black objects or shapes using a small (6px) soft, round brush. Place this layer below the bird layer.
Step 11
Our composition is ready, it remains to add the final effects.
Add adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation), apply the settings that are shown in the screenshot below, then on the layer mask of the adjustment layer, apply the tool Linear gradient 
(Linear Gradient Tool), gradient type: black and white, default colors (press D to set default colors) by dragging the gradient from the topmost point towards the bottom point. Then, using a soft round black brush, paint over the girl on the layer mask. Reduce the layer opacity to 80%.
Translator’s Note: 1. The author performs a general color correction of the entire image, therefore, the adjustment layers will NOT be used as clipping masks 2. When using a linear gradient, the author tries to hide the effect correctionsthus applying the effect to the sky, and the author paints the girl with a black brush to also hide the created effect.
Step 12
Add adjustment layer Color Balance (Color Balance), apply the settings that are shown in the screenshot below, then on the layer mask of the adjustment layer, apply the tool Linear gradient (Linear Gradient Tool) to hide the effect on the right side of the scene. Add an extra warm orange tint to the scene to enhance the image.
Step 13
Create a new layer, and using a soft round brush with an opacity of 5%, draw a light mist or haze on the horizon line.
Step 14
Add adjustment layer Curves (Curves) by pulling the curve to the top for clarification. Fill the layer mask of the adjustment layer with black color, and then with a soft round brush of white color with 80% opacity, paint over the girl and the horse so that they are a little lighter.
Add another adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) by pulling the curve down to darken. Choose a tool Radial gradient (
Radial Gradient Tool), black and white gradient, default colors by pulling the gradient line, as shown in the screenshot below. This step will create a gentle Vignette effect for our scene.
Step 15
Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to create a new merged layer, then go Filter – Other – Color Contrast (Filter> Other> High Pass). Change the blending mode for the merged layer to Overlap (Overlay). On the filter layer mask, paint the horizon and sky with a black brush, without touching the girl and the flame. This technique is called selective sharpening and is used to add more emphasis to certain elements in the foreground.
Step 16
Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E again to create a new merged layer again, then apply the filter Gaussian blur (Gaussian Blur), blur radius 4 px. Change the blending mode for the merged layer to Soft light (Soft Light) and then fill the filter layer mask with black. Next, using a soft round brush, paint over white on top of the girl so that the girl appears. Reduce the layer opacity to 60%.
Final result
Author: Adrian Scheff
