In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a mysterious landscape with castles below the water. First, we’ll make the base scene using sky and sea images. After that, we’ll add the rock and water effects. Later we’ll import the castles and adjust the light, contrast, and color using adjustment layers, masking, and brushes. We’ll add some birdsand a Vibrance adjustment layer to complete the final effect.
Create a new 2000×2000 px document and fill it with white. Open the sky image and use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M)to select the sky only and drag it into the white canvas using the Move Tool (V). Place it in the upper half.
Step 2
Right click this layer, choose Convert to Smart Object. Go to Filter > Noise > Dust & Scratchesto reduce the noiseof the sky a bit.
Step 3
To make the base of the underwater part, go to Layer > New Fiil Layer > Solid Colorand pick a dark color (#062731). On the layer mask of this layer, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to grab the lower half of the canvas. Turn the foreground to black and click Deleteto reveal the sky.
Step 4
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves and set it as Clipping Mask. Increase the lightness and on the layer mask, activate the Brush Tool (B)and select a soft round one with black color. Use this brush to paint on the bottom of this part to keep its lightness.
Step 5
Open the sea image and use theRectangular Marquee Tool to select the foreground of the sea and place it above the underwater part. Use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T)to resize this part to be much thinner.
Step 6
Click the second icon at the bottom of the Layerspanel to add a mask to this layer. Use a soft black brush to soften the hard edges on the horizon and the foreground.
Step 7
Make a Color Balanceadjustment layer (set as Clipping Mask) to match the sea’s color with the rest. Alter the Midtonessettings:
Step 8
Create a Curvesadjustment layer to darken the sea. On this layer mask, use a soft black brush to reduce the dark on the middle of the background.
Step 9
Add a Levelsadjustment layer to darken the sea , especially the foreground a bit more. Use a soft black brush with the opacity about 30-35%to reduce the dark , especially the background.
4 responses to “Create a Mysterious Underwater Scene with Photoshop”
Gigi
Downloading the required materials is way too difficult. Sign up for this, sign up for that, etc., etc. I wanted to give the technique a try, but not at the expense of that much of my time.
Simple solution to this is to pay for stock photos. My opinion is that it’s not worth using free resources unless it is for practice because when you make a final piece, you can rest assured that everything is rightfully licensed.
Yves Peeters
Dear,
Extraordinary and great work , also a very clear tutorial to follow.
Thaks for sharing , it is a great help .
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