Create a Dark and Surreal Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

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Step 5 – Adding Clouds

To give the landscape a more dynamic look, we add clouds. We use the following stock since the lightning in the clouds in the stock is pretty varied and catches attention. First, we keep it on the right side and use ‘Darken’ blending mode and erase the unwanted parts. Then, we duplicate the layer and use the ‘Lighten’ mode on the left side so as to keep the right side dark and the center bright.

Here is the shown placement of the clouds stock on ‘Darken’ blending option.

Here is the same stock on ‘Lighten’ blending option.

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Step 6 – More clouds and haze

Now, we use the aforementioned clouds around the right inverted mountain. You could also use cloud brushes. We then use the soft brush of a large size on low opacity to paint the darker areas with white color, on a new layer, so that the darker areas (most prominently, the inverted mountain on left) are more grayish and hazy.

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Step 7 – Making the main rock

Now that the background is taken care of, we move onto the main focal of the artwork, the guy tied to the rock. Notice that the image is in grayscale. See step 3 to know how to turn it to greyscale. Draw out the shape of the rock as you want it as the base layer, I named it ‘Stone Layer’. We use clipping masks on all the further layers on the ‘stone layer’. First would be the stone texture from ‘The Wall’ stock. We use burn tool to create shadow in the marked region.

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Step 8 – Darkening Main rock

Now, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Curves and use the following settings to darken the left side a bit.

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Step 9 – Adding fabric folds

Now to create the fabric folds, we use various portions of the aforementioned drapery stocks. Position the stocks as shown in the pictorial representation and use the ‘Multiply’ ‘Blending Option’ on the torn cloth stock. The right side is not important at the moment so erase all unwanted parts on the left while leaving the right side as it is.

Now, use the shimery drape stocks on the left side on ‘Normal’ blending option. Next, we can use the torn cloth stocks on multiply to create a more rugged look to the fabric folds and give it more details.

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Step 10 – Seperating right side of Main rock

Now we put a different texture stock on the right side, shown by the white, and darken it a bit using ‘Curves’ or ‘Levels’ blending option.

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