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Preview of Final Results
Depth: Underwater Photomanipulation Photoshop Tutorial
Resources
- Ocean stock – Bakanekonei
- Water Droplets – RaeyenIrael-Stock
- C4D Main Piece – stinky666
- C4D Renders – stinky666
- Vintage Texture – Lost & Taken
- Light Blur – Lost & Taken
- Light Texture – Sanami276
Step 1 – Creating a new file
Before creating anything you should visualize a concept which will be the basis of the piece, sort of like jotting down the main points before writing a full length essay. We usually start with the bottommost layer, which is the background. The background used here can be found through the link above (thank you Bakanekonei).
Step 2 – Erasing unnecessary parts
The next thing we’re going to do is to slightly alter the background, so that it fits our concept. What we want to is shift the focus onto one subject, that is the C4D piece we’ll deal with later. But you’ll realize that the fish swimming around and the glowing eyes of the lion seem to steal the attention away.So what we do is erasing parts that will possibly steal the attention and keep the background simple.
For simplicity, I’ll be using the default soft brush to do all the erasing in this tutorial.
Step 3 – Vector Mask
Try to use vector mask because you can undo easily in case you wrongly erase. Click on the button (cicrcled in red) below the layers to create a vector mask.Then, use a black default soft brush to erase. To undo the erasing, just use a white soft brush and brush over the background. While doing this, make sure you’re selecting the vector mask in the Layers panel, not the layer itself (which shows your image). The vector mask is the one on the right. But it’s alright to do it the traditional way, which is what I do too.
Step 4 – Duplicating and Adjusting Background
Now duplicate the layer (Ctrl+J) and place it below the main background. Move the duplicated layer around so that both layers blend together well and appear to be as one.
Step 5 – Contrast
Next we’ll want to enhance the contrast of the background. You can use Curve or Levels to achieve similar result, but for the sake of perfection we’ll do it manually.Select a bright yellow shade, use a soft brush to brush it around the top right corner, and set the layer to Soft Light (picture shown at Normal for clarity). We want to accentuate that ‘streak of light’ shining from above.
Step 6 – Brightening the background
Continue doing the same for several layers until you’re satisfied. Use mostly soft light and low opacity for more layers instead of high opacity for fewer layers. Alternate between white and different shades of yellow. This requires a little patience, but nevertheless fun.
Step 7 – Darkening the background
Darken the surrounding by using a black soft brush with the same technique.
Step 8 – Main focus
I always add the main focus before everything else so that I can get a clear direction on the next steps. We’ll use a C4D render for this tutorial. Head over to stinky666′s DeviantArt or follow the links above to download packs of free abstract C4D renders. He’s one of the few kind guys who uploads generously without asking for much in return. In fact, his renders are sufficient for most of my pieces.Anyway, we’ll use this.
Step 9 – C4D Craze
The next step is my favourite part – spamming renders. Be careful not to overdo it, and try to use just a small part of the render instead of the whole piece. Little at a time, layer by layer.I picked this awesome-looking render (by stinky666) to start off with.
Step 10 – Continue adding C4Ds
Repeat the previous step. This time I picked this render (by stinky666 as well).
Step 11 – The additional ‘flavors’
Of course we’re not going to just deal with C4Ds all day long. To make photomanipulation piece more interesting, you need different types of resources. Since we’re underwater now, the most appropriate image would be bubbles/droplets. Download the water droplets stock by RaeyenIrael-Stock at DeviantArt using the link above.
Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast.
Step 12 – Vintage texture
I don’t know if this seems a little random to you, but I think it makes the piece look better. I used a vintage texture which can be downloaded for free at Lost & Taken (link above).
Step 13 – Light Blurs
Again at Lost & Taken, download several images of Light Blurs. I used this.
Step 14 – Bubbles
Next we’ll want to give the piece a ‘sparkly’ effect. There’re several ways to do this, you can go for lighting stock photographs which you can find on the internet quite easily, use C4D effect renders, etc. For now we’ll be using stinky666′s Bubbles. In case you’re wondering where to get those, here’s the link. If you have a slow internet connection, you can download the Bubbles first.The main guideline for this is to set the layer’s blending mode to Screen or Linear Dodge. You can add as many as renders as you like until you like the result, however, for variety, we’ll want to decrease the area taken from a single source, and increase the number of sources. It’ll make the piece look more customized and less cut&paste-ish.
So I started off with this (007):
Just like this:
Step 15 – Variety of Bubbles
Similar concept and technique, but now we’ll be using this. (047)
Step 16
Next, Bubbles 049 from stinky666′s Bubbles Pack.
Step 17
Bubbles 023.
Step 18
Bubbles 041. Don’t mind the repetition, patience is virtue.
Step 19 – Last Bubbles!
Bubbles 001.
Step 20 – Lighting
I realized that ‘streak of light’ wasn’t bright and dramatic enough. It’s probably not going to be eye-catching if we leave it that way. So grab a white soft brush with 0% hardness and brush it like this, then set it to Hard Light 30%.
Step 21 – Light Textures
I wanted a more magical feeling to it, so the best thing to do would be adding light textures by Sanami276, because they reminded me of fairy dust. You can download the pack here if you don’t have anything similar.I picked a blue one.
Step 22 – Another Light Texture
From the same pack, pick another one that has this orange color.
Step 23 – Textures
Using Sanami276′s resources again, pick one that has tiny particles everywhere like this one does to add to the surrounding of the streak of light.
Step 24 – Glitter Brush
Well, I’m still not happy with it. So this time we’re going to do it manually. Take out the default soft brush and apply the following settings.
Step 25 – Effect
If you’ve been to Lost & Taken’s Light Blurs download page (link above), you might have noticed this stock.
Step 26 – Scribble
Next, use a 1~3px Hard Brush with default settings and change your foreground color to White. I used 1px here. Brush freely with your mouse to fill up the spaces which seem to be rather blank. I positioned my mouse at 45 degrees and just brushed back and forth. Make sure that you brush each stroke fairly quickly to avoid squiggly lines. Then, set the layer to Normal 70%.
Step 27 – Pattern
Moving on, we’ll be using a very basic and widely used yet useful pattern. Open a new file with the following settings.
Step 28 – Lighting
To complete the piece, we need to lighten up some parts for better contrast. First use a white soft brush with relatively small size and brush on a few dots like this, and set the layer to Soft Light 40%.
Step 29 – Gradient Map
We’re almost done but don’t stop here. What’s left is some final color adjustment. Insert a gradient map and set it to Soft Light 30%. I used pre-made gradient maps downloaded from DeviantArt. Use colors ranging from #280042 to #654260 to #846962.
Step 30 – Color Balance
Insert Color Balance with the following settings.
Step 31 – Text
Add in some text if you want, and you’re done!Final Results
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