How to Create a Stormy Fantasy Scene in Photoshop

Stormy Fantasy Scene Photoshop Tutorial

Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Photoshop CS2
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Completion Time: 1 to 1.5 hours

Resources

Stormy Sea by darkrose42 (Creative Commons License)
Stock image 17 by CSnyder (Creative Commons License)
island 1 by shelldevil (Creative Commons License)
Castle by LilyStox (Creative Commons License)
Budgie in flight 8 by greencheek (Creative Commons License)
Persephone stock II by PhoenixFireStock (Creative Commons License)
Digea rain brushes by Jelena Jovovic (Creative Commons License)
decay 03 by louise-knightstock (Creative Commons License)

Step 1 - Create the Photoshop document

To begin, we will be creating a new image file, go to the Menu bar and click File > New, and then input the following values on their respective fields:

Width: 2480 pixels
Height: 3508 pixels
Resolution: 300pixels/inch
Color Mode: RGB Color; 8 bit
Background Contents: Transparent

step1_create_new[4]

Step 2 - Create the sea and the sky

On this step, we will be creating our stormy background. Open “Stormy Sea" by darkrose42. We will need the sea from this image, so activate the Rectangular Marquee tool (M).

step2a_rectangular_marquee[4]

To use this tool simply, left-click on a point in the image and then drag your mouse to create a rectangular selection area on the image. Once done, dashed lines would appear around the area you selected. Now let's move this sea to our canvas, to do that, activate the Move tool (V). Your mouse cursor will now change to an arrow with a cross with arrows in it (Windows move button). Drag the sea to our canvas and once there, rename this layer to "sea". To rename a layer, simply double-click on the words: “layer 1" to prompt a text box to appear. Once that appears, you may now rename the layer.

step2b_rename_layer[4]

Now that the sea is on our canvas, we will now resize it. Activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and resize the sea as seen on the image below:

step2c_resize_like_this

Next, let's create the sky for this image. We will be using “stock image 17" by CSnyder. So all we have to do once this image opens is transfer it to our canvas. Activate the Move tool (V) and drag it to our canvas. Once in the canvas, rename this layer to "sky". Activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and right click on the image to bring out the contextual menu. Once that's open click on Rotate 180'.

step2d_rotate_180

Then, activate the Transform tool again and resize the image, it should now be similar to the image below:

step2e_result[4]

Notice that the sky is of a different hue compared to the sea? We don't want that right? So let's adjust the sky's color balance to blend in with that of the sea. Make sure that the layer selected is the “sky" layer, after that go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance. Once the Color Balance menu opens, input the following:

Color Levels: 0, 0, +44
Tone Balance: Midtones
Preserve Luminosity: Checked

The result will be similar to the image below:

step2f_color_balance_result[4]