photoshop creative

Give special effects to your pictures (part 1)

Posted in:
Tips & Tutorials, by Mark White
March 14, 2015

Make a steamy street scene, turning day into night with dramatic lighting

1. Sky replacement

To create a realistic night effect from the start image you should replace the bright sky with a darker one. Use the Quick Selection tool to select the sky, mask it and then paste in the stormy sky below.

2. Gradient Overlay

Layer styles can be used to create light effects. In this case add a Gradient Overlay style to the city layer at an angle of -90 degrees. then use Linear Burn to darken the top part of the image and keep the bottom part brighter.

3. Black & White adjustment

Add a Black & White adjustment layer to create a high-contrast monochrome effect. This enables you to change the intensity of each colour channel and gives you control over which hues are brighter and which are darker.

4. More contrast

To achieve the night effect and add more contrast to the composition, add a black to white Gradient Map adjustment layer. Use the Multiply blend mode and set the Opacity of the layer to 70%.

5. Brush on steam

Use an industrial smoke brush pack to add the steam effect on the bottom-right corner of the image. This kind of detail will give more depth to the artwork and make it more interesting.

6. Create a clipping mask

Paint a second steam effect on a new layer set to Screen mode and then create a clipping mask to add clouds from the menu (Filter>Render>Clouds) for a bit more texture. Set the blend mode to Normal at 100% Opacity.

Come back tomorrow for part 2!