In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a mysterious and fascinating scene in Photoshop. To create this mystical scene, we will combine several source images, and also add light coming from afar. We will also consider the technique of creating manipulations, including the technique of combining and adding light effects.
In this tutorial, I used Photoshop CC 2014, but you can use any other version of the program, starting with the CS version.
Final result:
Step 1
Create a new document, for this we go File – New (File> New). Set the dimensions of the working document, which are shown in the screenshot below. You can also set your working paper size; the only work paper should be wide enough to fit an image with mountains.
Step 2
Now place the image with the mountains on our working paper, for this we go File – Put embedded (File> Place Embedded). I zoomed out a bit to hide the bottom of the mountains. You can apply scaling at your discretion, just do not forget that we do not need the lower part.
Step 3
To the layer with mountains, add a layer mask by clicking the second icon at the bottom of the layers panel in the right corner. Now select the tool Gradient 
(Gradient Tool) by pressing the (G) key. Install Linear (linear) gradient, gradient color black and white. While on the layer mask of a layer with mountains, drag the gradient vertically while holding down the (shift) key. The result should be as in the screenshot below.
Step 4
Now place the original image with the sky, place this layer below the layer with the mountains. Apply scaling with the tool Transformations (Free Transform) by pressing the keys (CTRL + T) so that the image of the sky completely covers the background with mountains.
Step 5
To make the sky a little lighter, I added an adjustment layer to the sky layer. Curves (Curves). To do this, click the third button at the bottom of the layers panel (See screenshot below). Set the curve as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 6
Next, go back to the layer with the mountains and add adjustment layers. Brightness / Contrast (Brightness / Contrast) and Gradient map (Gradient Map) to correct the entire scene. Set the settings for these adjustment layers, which are 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 55%. The result is in the screenshot below.
Step 7
Continuing to color correct the entire scene, this time add a correction layer. Color Balance (Color Balance).
Result.
Step 8
Next, add an adjustment layer. Brightness / Contrast (Brigthness / Contrast) to reduce the brightness of the scene.
Step 9
Now add the original image with a waterfall. Position this image as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 10
To the waterfall layer, add a layer mask and use black soft black brush to hide the extra areas of the waterfall image to combine it with the whole scene accordingly. The result should be as in the screenshot below.
Please note that this is a perfect example of how the source images are correctly selected, while it took 1-2 minutes to combine the image with the whole scene. Therefore, select the appropriate source materials that will make your work realistic, and maybe even further improve the result.
Step 11
So, we combined the waterfall with the whole scene, but the color shades of the waterfall do not match the color scheme of the whole picture. For color correction of the waterfall image, we use correction layers. Therefore, add a correction layer to the waterfall layer. Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) as a clipping mask, since we want the correction of this adjustment layer to affect only this image with a waterfall.
Step 12
We continue to combine the waterfall with the whole scene, this time add adjustment layers Brightness / Contrast (Brightness / Contrast) and Photo Filter (Photo Filter).
Result.
Step 13
Add adjustment layer Color Balance (Color Balance) to correct the entire scene. See the screenshot for the settings.
The result should be as in the screenshot below.
Step 14
Download the Birds brushes to Photoshop. Paint the birds with this brush. I used a 250 px brush to paint the birds.
Step 15
Create a new layer to add a light source. Name this layer “Light”. Choose a tool Brush 
(brush tool), pressing the (B) key, set opacity (opacity) and pressure (flow) brushes at 100%. Set the foreground color to # 163d65. Add a big brush with a brush, as shown in the screenshot below.
Change the blending mode for the layer with the light source to Linear Dodge (Linear Dodge), and also reduce Opacity (opacity) layer to 34%. The result should be as in the screenshot below. I also added some light to the top corners of the image.
Step 16
Open the original image with the raven. Separate the raven image from the background with any selection tool you prefer to work with, and then move the highlighted raven image onto our working document. I also applied a filter to the raven layer Gaussian blur (Gaussian Blur), go for it Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur (Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur), set the blur radius 1.2. You can arrange the image of the crow anywhere in the image where you want.
Step 17
To the raven layer, add adjustment layers Brightness / Contrast (Brightness / Contrast) and Photo Filter (Photo Filter).
You can see the result in the screenshot below.
Step 18
Next, on the raven layer, add an adjustment layer Color Balance (Color Balance).
Result.
Step 19
Next, we add the fog effect. To do this, create a new layer, select the tool Brush (brush tool) opacity (opacity) and by pushing (flow) 30%. Change the foreground color to # b5b9bd. Paint over the brush as shown in the screenshot below.
To the fog layer, add a layer mask. Now apply the filter to the fog layer mask. Clouds (cloud filter), for this we go Filter – Rendering – Clouds (Filter> Render> Clouds) to create fog. The result should be as in the screenshot below. You can also see the result of the filter on the layer mask. Before you apply the Clouds filter, please ensure that the foreground / background color is set to black / white, and also make sure that the layer mask is active. To set the foreground / background color to default, you can simply press the key (D).
Step 20
To the fog layer, add an adjustment layer. Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation). Set the settings that are shown in the screenshot below.
Result.
Step 21
Duplicate the fog layer (including the adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation), to do this, press the keys (CTRL + J). Zoom in to fog covered the whole image. This will give the whole image a fog effect and add mysticism to the whole picture. The result should be as in the screenshot below.
Step 22
So, all the elements of the scene are arranged, now we can proceed to the final correction. To do this, add adjustment layers Gradient map (Gradient Map) and Photo Filter (Photo Filter) on top of all other layers.
Change the blending mode for the adjustment layer. Gradient map (Gradient Map) on Soft light (soft light) and also reduce Opacity (opacity) layer to 65%. The result should be as in the screenshot below.
Step 23
Continuing to correct the entire scene, this time add a correction layer. Color Balance (Color Balance).
Result.
Step 24
Next, add an adjustment layer. Curves (Curves), set the curves as shown in the screenshot below.
Result.
Step 25
Finally, add an adjustment layer. Brightness / Contrast (Brightness / Contrast).
We have completed the lesson! Congratulations! We created a mystical scene in the style of Matt Paint in Photoshop !!!
I hope that you liked this lesson, and you learned something new for yourself. Thank you for attending the lesson, and I wish you a good time at this lesson.
The final result:
PSD lesson
