How to Create an Epic Portal Scene in Photoshop

Jan 31, 2025

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Que Thu

Add layer mask to clear the bottom of sky. Then name this layer as “sky”.

Step 5

I notice that there are some noise on sky part. To fix it, I duplicate sky layer ( press Cmd/Ctrl+J), go to Filter-Noise-Dust & Scratches:

Then use soft black brush on layer mask to clear the any parts you don’t want to be blurred:

Step 6

Now we’ll use a cliff from a stock image to make the portal. Open cliff stock. You can use your own image if you can’t download this image from Photoxpress. Extract it with the method you like ( I use Polygonal Lasso Tool as it’s very easy in this case):

Move it into our picture and place it in the center, remember to scale it as needed:

Duplicate this cliff and apply Flip Horizontal then move it to the right, position it as shown below:

Add layer mask for these cliff layers and use black brush with big hardness ( 70-80%) ( don’t use soft brush as it will leave very soft and unatural look for our picture) to clear some parts of bottom, the top, center. You can see how I applied this brush for each cliff layer ( now I name them as “portal part 1” and “portal part 2” – you can get them as portal doors):

Step 7

To make some depth for the portal , I make a new layer with Clipping Mask above each portal layer, set to Overlay and fill with 50% gray:

Take Dodge and Burn Tool ( hit O) with Midtone Ranges and medium Exposure ( 50-55% – Dodge tool) and 20- 30% for Burn Tool to darken and brighten some parts of portal parts. I changed the mode to Normal to let you see how I applied these tools ( bright parts-Dodge Tool, dark parts-Burn Tool):

Overlay mode ( result of this step):

Step 8

In this step we’ll create shadow for portal parts. Make a new layer under “portal part 1”. Hold the Cmd/Ctrl key and click inside the thumbnail of “portal part 1” layer to load its selection:

Go to Edit-Fill and fill this selection with black:

Choose Edit-Transform-Flip Vertical then hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform this part:

Lower opacity to 30%:

To get the softer look for this shadow , choose Filter-Blur-Gassian Blur and set radius as 3 :

26 responses to “How to Create an Epic Portal Scene in Photoshop”

Dana

May 22, 2022

What are the use agreements on the created image?

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clippingpathindia

March 8, 2020

nice tutorial

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very gad

February 18, 2020

yah vary god

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Prestion

February 6, 2020

please don’t make this mistake again

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Anonymous

November 25, 2019

A metaphor for something erotic ?

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Dorian Goodyk

January 17, 2019

I received an email with a link to this tutorial. It’s pretty old, so some of the links to images we can use, are gone. Could someone help me find something like them that I can use?

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Vinoth Paul

April 16, 2016

Really awesome…………….great:)

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vipin

March 2, 2016

you are so Super

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deepak

September 30, 2015

Great Tutorial.
here is my try ;-)

http://deepak4ualys.deviantart.com/art/Welcome-to-Hell-563393145

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FL!A

May 28, 2015

This sucked

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YellowSickle

March 1, 2015

Great, tks alot, easy to understand and professional :)

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Zach

February 6, 2015

Horrible Tutorial

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Maidul Islam

September 21, 2014

Awesome! Excellent tutorial. Thanks for sharing.

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w00ky

April 26, 2014

Could someone reupload used images couse not all are avaible now

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Yen

April 15, 2014

The cliff image is no longer available :(

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JJdigital

July 25, 2013

Excellent! Very well explained tutorial. Found a cool epic comet on pinterest that could fit to the nature of the pic.

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Reka

January 26, 2013

I don’t know what shall I do, because I have trouble with Step 7. I could create the clipping mask with one of the portal’s side but I can’t do it with the other part… If I create the clipping mask the whole part disappear. With the other part it worked perfectly. Help pls! :(

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Banglanatyadol

December 21, 2012

This is awesome…

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Julia Garner

November 14, 2012

Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing. Excellent photo manipulation, by the way, with the light glow providing a nice touch.

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ErikAlcazar

November 2, 2012

this tutorial was awesome!!!!!!! It was easy to understand and it really got me to explore PS more and do some problem solving, for my computer was being stubborn and not letting me do certain features. :)

i give it a 10/10! :D

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Charles

October 30, 2012

Thank you so much

Great tutorial. The use of the tools is fantastic

Thanks

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anil

October 27, 2012

awesome………………….

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anil

October 27, 2012

awesome………………………………….

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MichelleBuckley

October 21, 2012

Amazing art and a superb tutorial <3 thank you!

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SVTech

October 9, 2012

Thank you for the amazing step by step guide.. amazing!!

Reply