In this tutorial I'll show you how to use Adobe Photoshop to create a power scene using a variety of photo manipulation techniques.
First, we'll build the base environment using images of the sky and buildings. After that, we'll add the flying rocks and lightning and blend them together using adjustment layers, masking, and brushes. Later, we'll paint the light and particles. We'll use several adjustment layers to complete the final effect.
Tutorial Assets
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:
1. How to Make the Base Environment
Step 1
Create a new 2000 x 1333 px document with the given settings:
Step 2
Open the sky image. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to select the sky only and add it to the white canvas using the Move Tool (V).
Step 3
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation and bring the Saturation value down to -100:
Step 4
Create a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light, especially the
top left of the sky where the main light will be located. On the layer
mask, activate the Brush Tool (B) to paint over the lower section to reduce the effect there.
Step 5
Cut out the buildings and add them to the main document.
Step 6
Use the Lasso Tool (L) to select the building on the top right and then hit Control-J to paste the selected one into a new layer. Flip it horizontally by choosing Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Move it to the top left to fill in this corner and resize it to be a bit smaller.
Step 7
Copy the building in the lower right of the canvas and add it to the
top left corner where we've added a small building in the previous step.
Step 8
The buildings look a bit darker than the sky. On each of the building layers, create a new layer (set as Clipping Mask), change the mode toOverlay 100%, and fill with 50% gray.
Use the Dodge Tool (O) with Highlight Range and Exposure about 50-60% and theBurn Tool with Midtones Range to bring more light and details to the buildings. You can see how I did it with Normal mode and the result withOverlay mode.
Step 9
Select all the building layers and Dodge/Burn ones and press Control-G to create a group for them. Change this group's mode to Normal 100% and add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer within the group. Bring the Cyans value down to -51:
Step 10
Create a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the buildings more. On
this layer mask, use a soft black brush to erase some corners of the
buildings as they shouldn't get much light on there.
Step 11
Make a Levels adjustment layer to decrease the dark contrast in the corners of the buildings. Paint on the rest of the buildings so that they won't be affected by this adjustment layer.
Step 12
Create a new layer and use a soft white brush to paint on the top of the building to brighten these areas more. Change this layer mode toSoft Light 100%.
2. How to Add the Rocks
Step 1
Open the rock images pack. Browse the meteor10 folder and grab the one you like and place it in the middle of the space between the buildings. Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to move the top of the rock towards the sky to fit the angle of the buildings.
Duplicate this layer and move the bright side of the rock towards the light. Use Control-T with the Warp mode to bend it until you get a result like the one below:
Step 2
Use a layer mask to blend this rock with the existing one.
Step 3
Add several rocks to both sides of the scene by duplicating this layer or selecting others from the folders. Use the WarpTool to tweak and bend the rocks so they appear different.
Step 4
Add more rocks around the buildings and make them in different sizes usingControl-T with the Warp mode. Place some bigger ones on the edges of the canvas. On each of these layers, go to Filter > Motion Blur and apply similar settings to the ones below. Depending on the size, angle and distance of the rock, you can change the settings to get your desired result.
Step 5
Create a group for all the rock layers and add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer within the group. Bring the Saturation value down to the minimum.
Step 6
Use a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the rocks. On the layer mask, use a soft black brush to erase the shadow side of the rocks so they won't be affected by this adjustment layer.
3. How to Add the Lightning
Step 1
Open the lightning 1 image. Isolate the lightning using the Magic Wand Tool (W) and add it to the bottom of the biggest rock (middle one) so it looks as if it's coming down from the rock. Use Control-T to change its perspective and make the top much smaller and the bottom much bigger.
Step 2
Select two details of the original image and add them to the big fork of lightning.
Step 3
Create a group for the lightning layers and use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the effect's color.
Step 4
Open the lightning 2 image. Use the Lasso Tool (L) to select the big fork and add it to the bottom of the middle rock. Use Control-T to make it connected to one of the falling rocks on
the right.
Change this layer mode to Screen 100% and use a layer mask to remove the edges around the fork.
Step 5
Add other forks of lightning from the original image and connect them to three rocks on the left and the top sides.
Step 6
Make a group for these layers and alter the group's mode to Screen 100%. Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and reduce the Saturation value to -100:
Step 7
Create a Levels adjustment layer to remove the white edges completely.
4. How to Paint the Light and Particles
Step 1
Create a new layer on top of the layers and use a soft white brush to
spot on the area between the rock and the big fork of lightning to make a light hole.
Step 2
Make a new layer and change the mode to Overlay 100%. Use a soft white brush with a lowered opacity (about 50%) to paint glow around the light hole and on the two forks below.
Step 3
Make a new layer and turn the foreground to black. Press F5 to change the setting of this brush. After that, use this brush to paint tiny particles around the rocks area.
5. How to Make the Final Adjustments
Step 1
Create a Curves adjustment layer on top of the layers and decrease the lightness. On this layer mask, use a soft black brush to paint on the middle of the space between the buildings and the top of them to keep their brightness.
Step 2
Make another Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the space between the buildings. Paint on the rest of the scene so it won't be affected by this adjustment layer.
Step 3
Use a Color Balance adjustment layer to complete the final effect.
Congratulations, You're Done!
I hope that you've enjoyed the tutorial and learned something new for your own projects. Feel free to share your results or leave comments in the box below. Enjoy Photoshopping!
