In this tutorial, we will learn how to create a Dake photo manipulation. We are going to learn the process of creating depth of field using a few advance tools.
We are going to learn how to blend images so seamlessly that it will look like a single image, using the Brush tool, the Eraser tool and several adjustment layers. We will learn how to create light and darkness to make the background look seamless.
Final Image
Resources
Step 1
Create a new document, 1900 x 1440 pixels and fill the background with light gray: #ededed. Select the Pen Tool and create the upper shape of the hourglass. Make sure to turn the shape layer on.
Step 2
Change the ‘Fill’ to 0% just below the ‘Opacity’ option in layers palette. Apply an inner glow layer style with gray: #bdc1c2 and opacity 50%. Name this layer “outer glass”.
Step 3
Duplicate the “outer glass” layer, right click on the layer and choose ‘Clear Layer Style’ to remove all layer styles. Press Ctrl + t to transform the layer, click on the ‘Maintain Aspect ratio’ icon between the width & height options and set the height to 98%. Name this layer “inner glass” and apply an inner glow layer style with these settings;
Step 4
Duplicate the “inner glass” layer, group all layers and merge the group into a single layer. Name the group “upper glass”.
Now create another shape inside the upper glass group, make sure to turn the shape layer on and apply an inner glow layer style using dark gray: #43494a, size 125px and opacity 75%. Name this layer “glass shadow”.
Step 5
Now we will create some lights and reflections, to do this create a new shape with the help of the pen tool. Set its color to white, change its blending mode to soft light & opacity to 40%. Name this layer “reflection top”.
Step 6
Create two more shapes to create other reflections, set their color to white and rename both layers “reflection top left” & “reflection top right”.
Step 7
Create the lower glass by following steps 1 – 4 and step 6. Create another shape to create a reflection on the top of the lower glass. Change its color to white and set its blending mode to soft light with opacity set to 40%.
Step 8
Now we are going to create the middle part of the hourglass for this, press P to select the pen tool and create a shape with ‘Fill’ 0%. Ctrl + click on the layer to select the pixels, select a soft brush using light gray: #d2d2d2 and paint along the left and right edges. Name this layer “middle”.
Step 9
Now merge the “outer glass” layer and the “inner glass” layer with both upper and lower glass. Create a layer mask and hide the edges in the centre part. The hourglass will look like this:
Step 10
Now we will create the sand inside the hourglass for this, create a new document: 1000 X 1000 pixels and fill it with tan: #b0926c. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and add 28% noise to the layer, name this layer “noise”.
Step 11
Import the “noise” layer into our document, select the pen tool and create a shape for the sand in lower glass. Don’t forget to set the ‘Fill’ to 100%. Change this shape layer’s color to tan: #b0926c and rename this shape layer “lower sand”. Select the “noise” layer and keep it just above the “lower sand” layer now press ‘Alt + Ctrl + G’ to create a clipping mask. You can also create a clipping mask by going to Layer > Create Clipping Mask.
Step 12
Now it’s time to add some shadows, to do this select a soft brush color light brown: #a08d76 and brush the highlighted areas to create shadows.
If everything is done properly your result will look like this:
Step 13
To create lights, select a soft brush color tan: #c7b59d & opacity to 60% and paint the highlighted area to create light in that part. Create another layer and paint the upper part of the sand, set the blending mode of the layer to screen.
Step 14
Repeat steps 11 – 13 to create sand for the upper glass, create the upper surface of sand to give it a natural look. Create another sand layer in the middle part of the hourglass in the same way as you did in steps 11 – 13.
Step 15
Now to create falling sand, select the “noise” layer and select an area with the rectangular marquee tool. Press Ctrl + J to isolate the selection, press Ctrl + T to transform the layer and stretch it vertically, again transform the layer, right click and select ‘warp’ then transform it to create falling sand. Apply some shadows to match the sand and the result will look like this:
Step 16
First off, let’s open the Soil stock in Photoshop. We will be using the Soil from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Soil and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the Soil and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “Soil”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “Soil” layer is selected resize it as shown below:
Now add a vector mask from the bottom of layers palette.
Now activate the Brush tool (B) using these settings :
Brush size: 400px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 40%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000
Now paint over the highlighted area.
The result should be similar to this:
Now create a Brightness/contrast adjustment layer which can be found by pressing the Create New Fill/Adjustment layer button shown on the layer window:
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (Soil layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
Now create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (Soil layer and Hue/Saturation) to make a mask.
When the Hue/Saturation box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 17
First off, let’s open the Field Background Stock 009 stock in Photoshop. We will be using the hill from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Field Background Stock 009 and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the hill and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “hill”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “hill” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Now add a vector mask from the bottom of layers palette.
Now activate the Brush tool (B) using these settings:
Brush size: 400px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 40%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000
Now paint over the highlighted area.
The result should be similar to this:
Now create a new Color Balance adjustment layer from the bottom of layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (hill layer and Color Balance) to make a mask.
When the Color Balance box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Curves adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (hill layer and Curves) to make a mask.
When the Curves box opens, input the following:
Now create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (hill layer and hue/saturation) to make a mask.
When the hue/saturation box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 18
First off, let’s open the Avebury Path stock in Photoshop. We will be using the path from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Avebury Path and press p to activate pen tool and then make a selection around the path and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change layer name to “path”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “path” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Now create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from the bottom of layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (path layer and Hue/Saturation) to make a mask.
When the Hue/Saturation box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 19
Now, let’s open the big blue sky stock in Photoshop. We will be using the sky from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the big blue sky stock and press V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change layer name to “sky”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “sky” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Now add a vector mask from the bottom of the layers palette .
Now activate the Brush tool (B) using these settings:
Brush size: 400px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 40%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000
Now paint over the highlighted area.
The result should be similar to this:
Step 20
Now, let’s open the Tree stock stock in Photoshop. We will be using the tree from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Tree stock and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the tree and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “tree”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “tree” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Now create a new Color Balance adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Color Balance) to make a mask.
When the Color Balance box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Brightness/contrast adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Brightness/contrast adjustment layer from the bottom of layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Now create new Brightness/contrast adjustment layer from the bottom of layers palette .Press Alt+left click in between 2 layer’s (tree layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Brightness/contrast adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Now create a new curves adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and curves ) to make a mask.
When the curves box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Hue/Saturation) to make a mask.
When the Hue/Saturation box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 21
Next, let’s open the Lighthouse stock in Photoshop. We will be using the Lighthouse from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Lighthouse and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the Lighthouse and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “house”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “house” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Step 22
Now, let’s open the car stock in Photoshop. We will be using the car from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the car and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the car and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “car”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “car” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Step 23
Now, let’s create a new layer and name it “shadow”. Now activate the Elliptical marquee tool and make a circle under the glass layer and fill it with black: #000000.
Now Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur
When the Gaussian blur box opens, input the following:
And We’re Done!
Here is how your final result should look.
