How to Create a Space Girl Photo Manipulation

In today’s tutorial I will show you how to create a space photo manipulation by mixing stars and different Photoshop techniques. Layered PSD file included. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Start working by opening in Adobe Photoshop CS4 a space photo like this one:

Find a stock photo with a model represented on it, I used this photo from deviantart. I would like to thank the author of this photo:

Remove the background using your favorite tools like Pen Tool (P), Magic Wand Tool (W), Magnetic Lasso (L) or even a simple Filter>Extract and insert the image on a new layer in our main document.

Click on Add a layer style icon from bottom part of the Layers panel and select Inner Glow

We’ve got the next inner glow effect around girl:

Click now on the bottom part of the Layers panel on Add layer mask icon and choose after that the Soft Round brush of black color (Opacity 15%)

Using Soft Round brush paint on the mask to hide the girl’s legs as shown:

Create a new layer and select for it a Soft Round brush of yellow color (Opacity 10%) to paint the layer:

Set Blending mode for this layer to Saturation

Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and click between the layers of the yellow brush and the layer containing the girl (on the Layers panel) to create a clipping mask

Now we have the content of the layer containing the yellow color only visible within the content of the layer containing the girl

Create a new layer and select the Soft Round brush with #0000FF color (Opacity20%).

Paint the background as shown and place this layer under the layer with the girl on it:

On the next new layer we’ll apply the above used brush to continue painting the background with the color #00B4F6 (Opacity20%). This layer will be situated under the girl’s layer:

Create a new layer and apply here the Soft Round brush to paint the bottom part of the picture with violet color (Opacity 20%)

Set the Blending mode to Screen for this layer

Use again the Soft Round brush and paint with blue color on background. This layer will be situated under the layer containing the girl:

Next there will be used again the soft brush with green color this time and Opacity - 20%.

Create a new layer and apply on it the Soft Round brush to paint on the background as shown.

The brush’s color is yellow (Opacity 15%). Place this layer under the girl’s layer.

Set the Blending mode for this layer to Overlay

On the next new layer we’ll use the Soft Round brush of white color (Opacity 20%) to represent several lines, like those from below. This layer needs to be situated under the girl’s layer:

Set the Blending mode to Overlay for this layer

Let’s create the next new layer and apply on it the same soft brush of white color (Opacity 15%) to make lighter the girl’s body. This layer needs to be placed lower than the girl’s layer:

Next we’ll make the girl’s arm look more illuminated. In this case we’ll create a new layer and use here the Soft Round brush

Paint firstly with red color (Opacity 15%) the necessary element and then use the color #FDCD9E

Create A Flower Texture

Step 1. Firstly open a new file, create 2 new layers. On the second layer, use rectangular marquee tool (M) to make a square selection (press shift to make square) like this picture below.



Step 2. Use Gradient Tool, I choose this one: (download this gradient at the end of this tutorial)



And make gradient like the picture below:



Step 3. This is an important step of tutorial, you have to remember this thing: Do not deselect your square selection. If you forget that, your artwork could be worse.
Ok, go to Filter > Distort > Wave and set the option :



Continue to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates > choose Rectangular to Polar. At this time, duplicate layer and hide the new one. Come back to the previous layer, go to Filter > Distort > Twirl > choose 100. Press Ok.

Open the top layer (the one that you duplicate), goto Filter > Distort > Twirl > choose -100. Press Ok. Set Opacity 55%

Link 2 this layer and merge them together, named "Flower". Come back to the first layer that you create it before, fill it with color #c78b8b .You will get this result:



Step 4. Choose Flower layer and duplicate it. In this new layer, press Ctrl + T to transform like the picture below:



Use Elliptical marquee tool and set option:



Make selection and press Delete. In this step, you will erase some areas on the layer to make 2 flowers look more pretty



Continue to erase until you see it's really pretty



Then set opacity 71% for this layer. Your result:



Step 5. Create new layer, repeat actions from step 2 to the end of step 3 with this gradient: (download this gradient at the end of this tutorial)





After all, you will get this result:



Named this layer "Flower 2", set it into screen mode and set opacity 71%.
Continue to use Elliptical marquee tool like step 4 to erase unnecessary areas:



Duplicate layer Flower 2, move it and erase like this:



Duplicate layer Flower 2 again, set opacity 55% then transform:



Continue to erase.

Create new layer and set on the top, set soft light mode. Use Paint Bucket Tool and set Foreground color #e29995 to cover this small area.



It looks more pretty than before.

Well, you've got the final result. (Click on the picture below to see full size)



CLICK HERE to download gradient files used in this tutorial

Advanced Day-to-Night Photoshop Tutorial

In this tutorial I will teach you how to edit in photo in Lightroom and Photoshop to dramatically alter its appearance and mood. We’ll change a broad daylight scene into a night-time one, lit by a street lamp. I’ll also take the opportunity to describe some non-destructive editing techniques in Photoshop.
Below you can see the ‘before’ and ‘after’:

Day to night conversion: before and after

The original, straight from the camera image is mind-numbingly dull; it’s the very definition of dullness. It was shot in a overcast February afternoon. As boring as it is, it was perfect for my purposes. I wanted to convey a sense of ‘out of place’, of a person that doesn’t really belong there, forcing the viewer to create a story – who is this young and attractive woman and what is she doing in this miserable street?
The overcast day had the advantage of decreased contrast and a complete lack of shadows, allowing me a wide range of editing.

Creating the light/dark versions

First thing, I created two Virtual Copies in Lightroom:

Original, with default contrast. Slightly overexposed too.

The “lit” version, Contrast was set to 100, also Clarity was was to max, increased vibrance. White Balance was set to Cloudy

The “unlit” version. The image was underexposed by 2 stops. White Balance was set to Tungsten.

Same image with different WB settings

As you can see above, the altered versions are already better — especially the “night” one, dark and moody. However, the street lamp gave me the opportunity to go the extra mile in creating something realistic.

Mixing light and dark

Having exported the two versions as 16bit TIFF (for maximum quality), I opened both of them in Photoshop. I then copied the “dark” one and pasted as a layer over the “lit” version.

Creating a new layer mask

It was pretty clear already that quite a lot of trial-and-error was to be expected, so instead of simply using the Eraser to remove parts of the “dark” layer, I decided to use a mask instead.
I selected the Dark layer and from the Masks panel, I clicked on the Pixel Mask button to create a new mask.
A Pixel Mask works just like an alpha channel for the layer – it’s a grayscale bitmap where white is opaque and black is completely transparent. What’s cool about it is that you can alter the opacity of the layer by painting on the mask.

The effect of the layer mask in mixing the lit/unlit areas

You can see on the left how the mask affects the mix between lit and unlit areas.
I clicked on the mask in the Layers panel to select it and then I simply used a semi-transparent, highly feathered black brush to create transparent areas.
There are three main lit areas: the light on the wall, faing out, the light on the pavement the light spill on the roof. You can notice that I preferred to paint everything instead of using gradients, to avoid the artificial “perfect” look.

Adjusting the exposure

The light was still too even in the lit area; close the the light source I needed something much more powerful (remember that light falls off exponentially). To improve the realism, I added an Adjustment Layer just above the Lit layer.

The Exposure Adjustment Layer

The Adjustment Layer was set to Exposure (Layer –> New Adjustment Layer –> Exposure). I added a simple radial gradient as a mask for this layer the same way as previously and then I tweaked it to get a slightly overexposed look.

Adding the glow

By now I had the light on the wall and pavement pretty much in place; it was time to turn to the light bulb. For this, I simply used the Lasso tool to select the visible area of the bulb and then copied and pasted it as new layer. I then used the Curves to make the bulb much brighter. Finally, from Layer –> Layer Style –> Outer Glow I created a nice amber glow around the bulb.

Setting the glow on the light bulb

Below you can see the exact settings for the glow:

Light bulb glow settings

I still wanted to add some nice touches: the glow should not be that strong in the upper area. Can you guess what I used? Yep, another Layer Mask.
Please note: By default, layer masks do not affect the layer effects. To make a layer mask hide the effect, open the Layer Style window and go to Blending Options section. From there, check the “Layer mask hides effects” option.
In the layer mask, I painted in black the areas I wanted the glow to be weak. Below you can see the result:

Glowing behind the edges

As you can see, I did not eliminate the glow completely, but created a glow-behind-the-edges effect that is seen in high-contrast situations.

Lens flare

A simple lens flare

Most designers, upon hearing the words “lens flare” run away screaming. They are very often overused and cheesy. Even the new JJ Abrams’ Star Trek features some lens flares annoying as hell. Still, they an unavoidable part of photography and can add some realism if used wisely.

Subtle lens flare applied

Unfortunately, Photoshop’s Lens Flare effect is laughable. I think it’s the same effect as 15 years ago. I only know of two decent lens effects – one in the old plugin Kai Power Tools 6, the other is Corel Photo-Paint. Both of them allow you to control the size, glow, ring, stars, streaks and reflection trail. This is not a tutorial on lens flares, but modern, good lenses don’t create reflection trails, but only a nice star pattern with minimal interference or random streaks.
For this photo I created a very simple star pattern on black background and I put it as a layer with blending mode set to Linear Dodge (Add) at 33% opacity. You can see that the effect is barely there; its purpose is to enhance the scene in a minimal way, not to overpower it.

Shadows

Selecting the body shape

If you recall from the beginning of this tutorial, the original image had no shadows because of the overcast sky. Now, as I created a light source, I needed to create a shadow too.

Refining selection edges

With the background layer active, I started to make a simple selection on the girl using the Magnetic Lasso. I didn’t even needed to be very careful, but just to follow the contours.
Once this was done, I clicked on Refine Edge and increased Smoothness and Feathering. After that, I created a new layer and filled the inside of the selection with black.

Distorting the shadow

The next step was to convert the new layer into a Smart Object via Layer –> Smart Objects –> Convert to Smart Object. Why? It’s because a smart object’s original appearance is preserved so I could distort it any way I wanted without degrading its appearance on each step.
Finally, I set the layer’s blending to Multiply and its opacity down to 50%.

Final result

Here’s the final view with all the layers:

All layers

By Armand Niculescu