A Work in Progress: Illama Manip



This guide was made for entry:
Illama Manip
In Contest:
whatyalooking


Original image


step 1 of 18

This is a simple manipulation and requires less than 15 mins to complete. We are going to adjust the hue, saturation, contrast and lighting of all the images to a common setting using adjustment layers as clipping masks. We start with the sky image.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 1
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step 2 of 18

Click the adjustment layer icon beneath the Layers palette and select hue/saturation. Adjust the sliders and set hue to -35 and saturation to -30.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 2
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step 3 of 18

Add a levels adjustment layer above the hue/saturation layer. Adjust he black slider and set it to 20. In the mask, paint black on the lower left corner of where the grasses are visible to avoid over-darkening.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 3
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step 4 of 18

Add a gradient fill adjustment layer above levels layer and choose the colours, #14465c and #d59a9a as the gradient colours and reduce the opacity of the layer to 30% while setting the blending mode to 'Linear light'. The sky is complete and we are going to set the other layers to match with the properties of sky. Select all of the sky's layers and put them in a group.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 4
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step 5 of 18

Before we take on the cliff, we can add a glow in the sky, behind the place where we are going to place the Illama. To do this, select a new layer, pick up a soft paint brush, paint a bigger & darker blue spot and also a lighter & samller blue spot over the darker & bigger one. Apply a guassian blur of 35% to 60%. Set the blending mode to 'Screen'.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 5
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step 6 of 18

To add to the glow even more, create a new layer, pick up paint brush and add a bigger & darker blue over the same place where we previously painted and apply a guassian blur of the 35% to 60%. Set the blending to 'Colour Dodge'. You may reduce the opacity if you need. You can set the visibility of the sky group and the glow off and we'll turn them on later.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 6
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step 7 of 18

Place the cliff layer, mask out everything other than the cliff. We can now add the hue/sat, levels and grad map adj. layers to match it with scene.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 7
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step 8 of 18

As the light is behind the cliff, we need to darken the portion of the cliff facing away from the sky. To do that, we add a new layer, fill it with 50% grey and set it to 'Overlay' mode. Now, we can take a soft brush, paint black over the areas where the cliff needs to be darkened and white over the areas where it needs to be lightened.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 8
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step 9 of 18

Add a hue/sat adjustment layer, press 'alt' and click the lower part of the layer to clip the effeciveness to only the layer beneath. We need to clip all the upcoming adjustment layers likewise. Set the hue to -4 and the saturation to -30.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 9
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step 10 of 18

Add a levels adj. layer and set the black slider to 22.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 10
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step 11 of 18

Add a grad. map layer, add the colours, #14465c and pure white and set the blending mode to 'Linear light' and opacity to 30%. Put all the cliff layers in a group.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 11
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step 12 of 18

Turn the visibility of all the layers on. Add and resize the Illama layer just enough to make it stand on the top of the cliff.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 12
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step 13 of 18

Now, create a new layer, fill it with 50% grey and set the blending mode to 'Overlay'. With a soft paint brush tool, paint black and white on the areas facing away and towards the sky respectively, like the cliff layer.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 13
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step 14 of 18

Add a hue/sat layer, set hue to -8 and saturation to -23.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 14
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step 15 of 18

Add a levels layer and set the black slider to 16.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 15
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step 16 of 18

Add a grad. map layer, add the colours, #14465c and pure white and set the blending mode to 'Linear light' and opacity to 30%. Put all the Illama layers in a group.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 16
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step 17 of 18

Press 'Alt+Ctrl+Shift+E' to create a merged copy of all the layers and we can set off the visibility of all other layers below.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 17
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step 18 of 18

You can add a hue/sat, levels and grad map layers to the final merged image to tweak it up. Finally, add a white paint, blur it, set the opacity to 30% and keep it on the glowing portion of the sky to finish the manipulation.

Creation of Illama Manip: Step 18
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Final result

Creation of Illama Manip: Final Result

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