How to Create a Moonlight Scene Photo Manipulation With Adobe Photoshop

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial I'll show you how to create a moonlight scene with a woman watching the flowers.

We'll start this tutorial by adding the sky and landscape, and then add the moon and its reflection using adjustment layers, masking and brushes. After that we'll add other elements, such as the floor, balcony, model and flowers, and blend them together using the same techniques. We'll finish it up with several adjustment layers.

During this tutorial you'll also learn how to work with light, enhance the depth of field and more.

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

1. Add the Sky and Landscape

Step 1

Create a new 1500 x 1500 px document in Photoshop with the given settings:

Step 2

Open the sky image. Drag it into the main document using the Move Tool (V), and place it in the upper half of the canvas.

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 8 px:

Step 3

Use an adjustment layer to darken the sky a bit. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves:

On this layer mask, activate the Brush Tool (B) with a soft round one and black color (soft black brush) to reduce the effect on the left side where we're aiming to add the moon.

Step 4

Use another Curves adjustment layer to brighten the sky, especially the left.

Take a soft black brush and hide the effect on the right side where we've aimed to make it darker.

Step 5

Open the landscape image. Place it in the lower half of the canvas.

Add a mask to this layer and use a soft black brush to remove the hard edge and blend its sky with the existing one. Leave some smoky edges around the mountain tops. Lower the brush opacity where painting on the top of the left mountain to make it fade into the sky.

Step 6

There are some unwanted details on the lake. Create a new layer and set it as Clipping Mask. Select the Clone Tool (S) to remove the indicated details.

Step 7

Add a Curves adjustment layer (set as Clipping Mask) to darken the landscape. Use a soft black brush on its layer mask to remove the dark effect on the part which is illuminated by the moonlight.

Step 8

Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to match the landscape saturation with the sky:

2. Add the Moon

Step 1

Isolate the moon from the original image using the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) and place it in the top left of the main scene.

Step 2

To match its depth and softness with the sky, apply a Gaussian Blur of 8px to the moon layer:

Step 3

Double click the moon layer, choose Inner Glow, and set the color of glow to #ededed:

Step 4

To make the moon reflection on the lake surface, use the same method as in my fantasy lake scene tutorial. You should have a similar result to this:

Step 5

Create a new layer and use a soft brush with the color #ededed to paint on the lake area to reflect the moon glow. Change this layer mode to Soft Light 100%.

3. Add the Floor

Step 1

Open the floor image. Place it in the foreground and make it narrower using the Free Transform Tool (Control-T).

Step 2

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (set as Clipping Mask) to desaturate the floor. Bring the Saturation value down to -85:

Step 3

The floor looks too bright, so use a Curves adjustment layer to darken it completely:

4. Add the Balcony

Step 1

Open the balcony image and isolate it from the background using the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L). Select the lower part to place above the floor, on the right side.

Step 2

Duplicate this layer and flip it horizontally by choosing Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Place it on the left:

Step 3

Select two columns and position them above the balcony, remembering not to hide the moon.

Step 4

Select these four layers and press Control-G to make a group for them. Change the mode of this group from Pass Through to Normal 100%. Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and decrease the Saturation value of Master to -86:

Step 5

Make a Curves adjustment layer to darken the balcony.

Use a soft black brush to reveal the light on the contouring areas (they're illuminated by the moonlight) and keep the others in shadow.

Step 6

There are still some details that need to be retouched, starting with the balcony part on the lower right. Make a new layer above this one (set as Clipping Mask), change the mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray:

Select the Dodge and Burn Tool (O) with Midtones Range, Exposure about 20-30%, to bring more light to the front contour of this part, and also strengthen the shadow in the back. You can see how I did it with Normal mode, and the result with Overlay mode.

Step 7

Do the same with the other parts of the balcony, and you should make the right column much brighter than the rest as it's illuminated more than the others.

Step 8

To create a shadow of the balcony on the floor, make a new layer under the balcony layers. Hold down Control-Shift while clicking their thumbnail layers to load their selection.

Fill this selection with black and lower the Opacity to 60%. Use Control-T to change its perspective:

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 4 px to this shadow:

On its filter mask, use a soft black brush to erase the softness of the bottom as it needs to be harder and more solid.

Add a mask to this shadow layer and reduce the shadow opacity a bit on the top area:

5. Add the Mist

To create some mist on the lake, go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color and pick the color #2d2d2d.

On the mask of this layer, use a soft black brush to make the misty effect subtly visible on the lake only.

6. Add the Model

Step 1

Cut out the model from the original background using the Polygonal Lasso Tool. Place her on the right side, on the floor.

Step 2

Make a shadow for her as we did with the balcony.

Step 3

Create a new layer above the shadow layer and under the model one. Use a soft brush with the color #ededed to paint the moonlight reflection on the floor. Change this layer mode to Soft Light 100%:

Step 4

Use a new layer (set as Clipping Mask) and select the Clone Tool to remove the tattoo on her back:

Step 5

Make a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to reduce the model saturation:

Step 6

Use a Photo Filter adjustment layer and pick the color #87d5f9:

Step 7

Add a Curves adjustment layer to darken the model, especially the back and dress. Paint on the front, face and shoulder contour to maintain the lightness there.

Step 8

Create a new layer, change the mode to Overlay and fill with 50% gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to bring more light to the model front and strengthen the shadow on her back, especially the dress details.

7. Add the Flowers

Step 1

Open the flowers 1 image. Isolate the flowers using the Magic Wand Tool (W). Place it in the right corner, behind the right column. Set this layer under the balcony group.