Close Menu
PSD VaultPSD Vault
  • VIP Area
  • Photoshop Basics
  • Photo Effect
  • Text Effect
  • Premium Tuts
  • Resources
  • Drawing
  • Inspiration
  • Web Graphics
  • Abstract
  • Freebies
  • Advertise
  • Get in Touch
  • About PSD Vault
Facebook Instagram Pinterest YouTube TikTok
Facebook Instagram Pinterest YouTube TikTok RSS
PSD VaultPSD Vault
  • VIP Area
    • Sign Up
    • Log In
  • Photoshop Basics
  • AI
  • Photoshop Error Fixes
  • Video Tutorial
  • Photo Effect
  • Text Effect
  • Premium Tuts
  • Drawing
  • Opinion
PSD VaultPSD Vault
Home»Photo Effect»Create a Surreal Urban City Montage with Lightning Effect in Photoshop
Photo Effect

Create a Surreal Urban City Montage with Lightning Effect in Photoshop

By James QuAugust 13, 20125 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create a Surreal Urban City Montage with Lightning Effect in Photoshop . This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial so some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!

The PSD file of this tutorial is available via the PSD Vault VIP members area.

Along the way, we will practice mixing a series of photos and form a surreal, urban city scene with layer blending options and image adjustments, as well using various toolbox tools to adjust and fine-tune the image.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

Version 1

Version 2

PSD Vault VIP Membership

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 200+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorials there. Signup now and get exclusive!

OK Let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

City by ~Ealucids-Photos

Model

Man in Suit Standing

Lightning

Step 1

Create a new document sized 900px * 1278px with a black background, create a new layer and use a grunge brushset (you should be able to find lots of those on the net) and paint a background:

Hint: set the brush opacity and flow to around 30% so we can have subtle painting effect, use a soft eraser along the way to remove the area we don’t want.

Load the city image into Photoshop, select a piece as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize and erase the edge as shown below:

Add the following adjustment layers as clipping mask to this city layer:

Black and white

Levels

On this levels layer mask, I used the soft eraser tool to remove some part of it to reveal the lighting behind it”

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

We will now add the face into the image. Load the model face into Photoshop and cut out the face, resize and position it into the centre of the image:

Erase the edge of the face with a soft erase:

Then attach the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this face layer:

Black and white

Levels

Optional: you can add a bit grungy brush paint effect on the face to as some roughness on the image:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

We will now add a triangle platform on the bottom of the image and add a standing man on top of it. So let’s create a new layer and use the Pen Tool to draw a shape as below, and fill it with a light grey colour:

Apply the following Gradient Overlay blending option on this triangle layer:

Use a soft eraser to fade the bottom and the edge of this triangle to create some depth, also add some cloud around it:

Load the “man in suit” image into Photoshop and paste it over the platform as shown below:

Use a soft eraser to darken the lower half of his body as shown below:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers on this man standing layer:

Black and white

Levels

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

We can add some cloud on the top of the canvas as shown below, either with a cloud brush or the cloud filter:

Now we will create some abstract flying lines – we will create a new layer and paint an orange dot:

Paint a smaller yellow dot in the centre as shown below:

Then merge those two layers, duplicate it, and apply the liquify filter on it as shown below on the duplicated layer:

Then we adjust the shape of the original dot layer with the distort tool:

Once you’re happy with the shape, merge those two layers again and use the free transform tool to adjust the shape:

Duplicate and scatter those lines around the image, rotate them and adjust the layer opacity as you see fit:

Step 5

Load the lightning image into Photoshop and select a portion of it with the Lasso Tool (30px feather):

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, and apply the black and white adjustment to this layer:

Set the blending mode of this layer to  “Screen”, duplicate this layer once and move them to the top of the canvas:

and you will have the following effect so far:

We can add some colour effect to the image, and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

Version 1

Version 2

If you wish to find out a thing or two with how to apply this colour effect, check out this video Photoshop tutorial below:

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

Basics city effect montage photo photoshop surreal tutorial urban
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
James Qu
  • Website

James is a seasoned Photoshop expert with over 25 years of experience, mastering the software since its 5.0 version. As the driving force behind PSD Vault, he authors the majority of its in-depth tutorials and insightful articles.

Related Posts

The Beginner’s Guide to Photoshop AI Masking Tool

May 10, 2025

Curves or Levels: Choosing the Right Tool for Stunning Edits

May 9, 2025

Create Colourful Fiery Portrait in Photoshop

May 7, 2025

3 Comments

  1. sara morini design on October 5, 2012 7:12 PM

    thanks fo the tutorial! but i don’t see the colour effect tutorial…can you show me where is it? or post me the link thanks :)

  2. Bob on October 20, 2012 5:50 AM

    Nice but I don’t see a link to get the grunge effects

  3. Grafixyard on January 22, 2013 2:56 AM

    thanks for sharing such a good tutorial

Don't Miss

How to Resize Images Without Losing Quality in Photoshop 2025

May 17, 2025

The Beginner’s Guide to Photoshop AI Masking Tool

May 10, 2025

Curves or Levels: Choosing the Right Tool for Stunning Edits

May 9, 2025

For Beginners

Basics

How to Resize Images Without Losing Quality in Photoshop 2025

By James QuMay 17, 20255 Mins Read

Curves or Levels: Choosing the Right Tool for Stunning Edits

May 9, 2025

Photoshop Clipping Masks – Everything You Need to Know

May 8, 2025

10 Photoshop Blur Gallery Tricks That Will Make Your Photos Look Professional

April 26, 2025

You May Also Like

AI

The Beginner’s Guide to Photoshop AI Masking Tool

By James QuMay 10, 20254 Mins Read
Basics

Curves or Levels: Choosing the Right Tool for Stunning Edits

By Lana WilsonMay 9, 20255 Mins Read
Photo Effect

Create Colourful Fiery Portrait in Photoshop

By James QuMay 7, 20254 Mins Read
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • About Us
  • Get in Touch
  • Advertise
  • VIP Area
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
© 2025 PSD Vault. All Right Reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}