How to Create a Mountainous Matte Painting in Photoshop

Add layer mask to remove the right side:

I name this layer “waterfall 1 part 1”.

Step 18

Copy a part from waterfall stock and position it at the top of waterfall 1. After making it as a Smart Object, I use Warp Tool to bend it:

I use layer mask to remove unnecessary parts and blend this part with part 1:

Step 19

To change color and darken these layers together, make them selected and hit Cmd/Ctrl+G to make group for them. Change the mode of this group from Pass Through (default group mode) to Normal 100%. Go to New Layer-New Adjustment Layer-Hue/Saturation:

Curves:

We have result:

Because the mode of this group changed to Normal 100% so these adjustment layers only affect the layers inside this group (waterfall 1 ones).

Step 20

Extract waterfall 2 and move it to the left rock after flipping it horizontally and use layer mask to remove unwanted parts:

I add two adjustment layers (Hue/Saturation and Curves) to match color and brightness of this waterfall with the rest.

On Curves layer mask, I use soft black brush to erase the top part of the waterfall as it gets light more than the bottom:

Step 21

Open trees 1 stock. First I remove most of background from the tree using Channels. Then I copy some tree parts to paste into the mid rocks, remember to convert them to Smart Object before resizing:

You can use layer mask to remove unwanted parts.

Step 22

Make group for these trees as done with waterfall 1. I use a Curves layer to darken and change color these trees as they’re too bright:

I use soft black brush and paint on the left of a tree as it should get some light from sky:

Step 23

Open arch 1 stock. Take the part of the arch and place it at the middle part of mid rocks after converting it to Smart Object, flipping horizontally and transforming it using Cmd/Ctrl+T. I use layer mask to remove the sides of it and make it blended with the rocks:

Step 24

I use Hue/Saturation and Color Balance layers (Clipping Mask) to change color of this arch.

Step 25

Isolate ruin 1 and locate it at the top of the mid rocks. As usual, I convert it to Smart Object and downsize it to fit:

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