In this Photoshop tutorial, I will show you the methods I used to create unique abstract photo manipulation by mixing rock and city stock images in Photoshop. We will combine 3 objects: human, rock and city into one manipulation and form a unique looking digital art. We will primarily use the adjustment layers tool, layer blending modes and various filter to achieve this manipulation.
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This is an immediate level tutorial and some steps can be a little tricky, have a try!
Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)
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OK Let’s get started!
To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:
Model – by Anikathropoloustock
Grunge Brush Set (Pick a few from the list)
Step 1
Create a new document sized 780px * 1000px with white background. Grab the Gradient Fill tool to fill the background with the following gradients: (Set the Gradient Fill tool to use Radial Fill)
Load the model image into Photoshop and cut out the model, paste it to the position as shown below: (Use the Free Transform tool to resize this layer to a smaller scale)
Grab the eraser tool to tidy up the edges of the model:
Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping masks to this model layer:
Black and White
On this black and white adjustment layer, use a soft eraser tool on its layer mask to reveal some colors on the model the facial area:
Levels
Curves
and here is the effect so far:
Use a grunge brush set, paint some grunge texture below the model layer:
Step 2
We will work on the rock texture in this step. Load the rock image into Photoshop and select the following piece from the image:
Copy and paste the selection over to our image and place the layer below the model layer, in the position shown below:
Use the chalk brush as eraser, remove the following portions from the rock layer and tidy up the edge:
Add the following 3 adjustment layer as clipping masks to this rock layer:
Black and White
Levels
Curves
and you will have the following effect so far:
Use the debris brush you downloaded to paint some small particles into the space we removed in the previous step:
Put all these rock related layers into a layer group, duplicate this group a few times and move them to different positions as shown below: (Rotate and resize the duplicated groups as you see fit)
Step 3
We will work on the city building part of the manipulation in this step. Load the city image into Photoshop and select the following area:
Copy and paste the selection over to our document and place it into the position shown below: (resize the layer to a small scale to fit the size of the rock texture)
Use the chalk brush as eraser to blend the city edges into the rock texture:
Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping masks to this city layer:
Black and White
Levels
Curves
and here is the effect so far:
Repeat the steps described above to add another lot of buildings to the top left position as shown below:
Paint some particles on top of the city building with the debris brushes for extra effect:
Step 4
We’re almost done. We will work on some final touches in this step. Add some cloud round the rock with a cloud brush or cloud filter, use the Warp tool to warp the cloud so it forms a circular shape:
Flatten the image, duplicate the background layer and apply the following Crystalize filter to the duplicated layer:
and you will have the following effect:
Of course we don’t want to the whole image to be pixelated, so let’s apply the following layer mask on this crystallized layer:
Use a soft brush to paint some highlights on the model’s forehead:
I further adjusted the colour balance of the image with the colour balance adjustment layer, and here is my final effect: (click to enlarge)
That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy going through it and find it useful. Drop me a comment below if you have any question.
Till next time, have a great day!