Creating Different Elemental Effects

Create a document of size 595×842 pixels. Download the Wall Texture from ShadowH3. Place the texture into the document and align it to the top.

Create a Levels Adjustment Layer above the texture layer and set the values to 0, 0.19, 255.

Download the Jump from SXC.hu. Extract the image out, excluding the head, hands and legs like the one shown below. You may use the Pen tool to do this or refer to this post for more extraction methods. Rename this layer to Jump 1.

Download the Water Splash image from SXC.hu. Open up the stock, and remove the glass as shown in the diagram by simply painting it in black. We will only need the splash in this case.

Go to its Channels and select the Blue layer. Press Ctrl+left click on the Blue layer (this will create a selection around the white area). Go back to Layers tab, create a new layer and fill the selection with white (#FFFFFF). There you will get a nice splash without any background.

Drag the splash into your working document.

Go to Edit > Transform > Distort. Adjust the splash to fit within the hole of shirt collar. Remove those unwanted areas with the Eraser tool.

Using the same method, add water splashes to rest of the holes. The stocks used here are: Download Water Explosion from SXC.hu, Download Water in the Glass from SXC.hu, Download Droplet from SXC.hu. Face the splashes in the same directions as the holes.

Download another Jump image from SXC.hu. Extract the image out, excluding the head, hands and legs like the one shown below. Rename this layer to Jump 2.

Select the Eraser Tool and set the Brush Type to Hard Pastel. Remove several areas around the edges of the clothes as shown in the diagram. These will act as the "burned edges".

Download Satan’s Fire from LadyDeath666. Open up the image and go to its Channels. Select the Red Channel and Ctrl+left click on it. This will create a selection around the white area.

With the selection, go back to Layers tab, drag the fire into your working document with the Move Tool. Position the fire above the jump image as shown below.

Using Eraser Tool with Airbrush and 200px, fade off some fire to reveal more of the clothes.

Using the same method, extract more fire and place them around the "burned edges" of the clothes.

Create a new layer below the clothes layer. Using the Brush Tool, with Airbrush type and 300px, paint a large dot with color #FF6A10. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Linear Dodge (Add) and Opacity to 40%.

Right-click on the clothes layer and choose Blending Options. Check on Outer Glow, set the color to #F7B12F and rest of the settings as below. Check on Inner Glow, set the color to #FB6D08 and rest of the settings as below.

Download the last Jump image from SXC.hu. Extract the image out, excluding the head, hands and legs like the one shown below. Rename this layer to Jump 3.

Download Sand from Tatertot101010. Crop the sand texture along the outline of the original jump image. May erase slightly on both legs.

Extract the same Jump image again and this time includes the head, hands and legs. Place this new cropped image in between the Sand Texture and the Jump 3 layers. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Multiply. Use the Eraser Tool to remove details, such as the eyes and some other areas.

Using the Eraser Tool with Chalk type, remove part of the sand face as though they are breaking up.

Do the same for the hands and legs.

Download Debris Brush Set from Zigabooooo. This is one of the most useful brush I have ever downloaded! Set your foreground color to #AD9254 and paint debris around those sand breaking areas.

Download Sand Flying from tempostormzepo. Open up the image and go to its Channels. Ctrl+left click on the Red Channel to load the selection around the lighter areas.

Go back to the Layers tab, drag the sand into your working document with the Move Tool. Go to Edit > Transform and rotate it to look like the one below. Use the Eraser Tool to touch up the edges.

Create a Curves Adjustment Layer, go to its Blue Channel and key the settings as shown in the diagram.

Create a Levels Adjustment Layer, and key the values 5, 0.92, 230.

And there you have it! Finish up the design with your title and you are done Hope you guys enjoy this tutorial. Also do provide me with some suggestions on what tutorials you like to see in the next post. Cheers!

Making of a Forest Magical Scene

Create a new document of 500×700 pixels. Download Forest 5 from Stock City here. Place the forest image into your document as shown in the diagram.

Download May Queen S11 from Mjranum Stock here. Open up the image in Photoshop, go to Filter > Extract to remove the background. You may wish to visit here to check out other methods of extraction.

Download Fairy S5 from Mjranum Stock here. Open up the image in Photoshop, go to Filter > Extract to remove the background. You may wish to visit here to check out other methods of extraction.

Drag and resize the extracted May Queen into your document. Right-click on the May Queen layer and choose Blending Options. Activate Outer Glow, set the Blend Mode to Color Dodge, Opacity to 22%, Color to #FFFFBE, Size to 46px and leave the rest as default.

Rresize the Fairy and place it on the palm of May Queen. Right-click on the Fairy layer and choose Blending Options. Activate Outer Glow, set the Blend Mode to Color Dodge, Opacity to 22%, Color to #FFFFBE, Size to 46px and leave the rest as default. Activate Color Overlay, set the Blend Mode to Color Dodge and Color to #C8FF05.

Duplicate May Queen layer. Select the lower May Queen layer and go to Edit > Free Transform. Scale the image downwards like the one shown in the diagram.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Set the Lightness to -100. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 5px. Erase those unwanted shadows behind the May Queen with the Eraser tool.

Create a new layer and name it as Glitter. Select the Brush tool, set the size to 15px and brush type to Star. Set the foreground color to #FFFF00. Open up the Brush Palette and activate Scattering. Set the Scatter to 330%, Control to Pen Pressure, Count to 1 and Count Jitter to 0. Draw a path around the May Queen with Pen tool like the one shown below.

While selecting Pen tool, right-click on the path you have just drawn and choose Stroke Path. Set the mode to Brush and check on Simulate Pressure. Right-click on Glitter layer and activate Outer Glow. Set the Blend Mode to Color Dodge, Opacity to 75%, Size to 5 and leave the rest as default. Activate Color Overlay and set the color to #E9F8AC. Do the same for another new path around May Queen again.

Create a new layer and name it as Flare. Download CS4 V2 Light Effect Brushes here. Select the Brush tool and choose crismas2.psd. Set the foreground color to #FFFFFF and paint a large flare behind the May Queen layer. Set the Blend Mode of Flare layer to Overlay.

Now merge all the layers you have created so far and name this new layer as Original. Duplicate the layer and set its Blend Mode to Soft Light.

Duplicate another layer and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 10px. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Screen.

Create a new Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Set the Hue to 0, Saturation to -50 and Lightness to 0. Colorize remain unchecked.

Create a new Color Balance Adjustment Layer. Set the Color Levels to -17, 16, -20. Leave the rest as default settings.

Create a new Curves Adjustment Layer. Set a point in the middle of the curve with Output at 120 and Input at 130.

Create a new Levels Adjustment Layer. Set the values to 20, 1, 239.

Create a new Color Balance Adjustment Layer. Set the Color Levels to 23, 0, -18. Leave the rest as default settings.

You may wish to add in more fairies to complete a more magical design like what I did below. Hope you have enjoyed reading the tutorial. Greatly appreciate if there is a stumble or digg!

To create an amazing photo effect such as to make a forest magical scene, selection of the best tutorials in this aspect is essential. While launching the website, be careful about the dedicated server selection, which refers to the type of website hosting provider for a web site. If you want to demonstrate natural exquisiteness through your website, then your register domain name also reflects this effect.

Creating an Abstract Background for Poster

Create a new document of 500×700 pixels. Fill the background with a linear gradient using the Gradient tool. The colors ( from the top ) are #5587B0, #91D1E5 and #0C3270.

Create a new layer and name it as Circle Frame. Select the Custom Shape tool and open up its preset shapes. Look for the shape named as Circle Frame ( shown in the diagram ). Make a circle frame path at the center of the document. Go to Paths tab, select the path you made and click on ‘Load Path as Selection’ button. Back to the Layers tab, fill this selection with #FFFFFF.

Using the Elliptical Marquee tool, draw a circular selection that is the same size as the Circle Frame. Go to Select > Modify > Feather. Set the radius to 50px. Then Select > Inverse. Click Delete and you will get the effect shown below.

Repeat the earlier steps for twice with a larger circle frame each time.

Create a new layer and name it as Lens. On this layer, make a big white circle and position it at the top right corner of the document.

Now we will edit in Quick Mask Mode by clicking on the button located at the bottom of the toolbar. You will notice your foreground and background colors turn to black and white respectively.

With your Gradient tool, drag from right to left and you can see a red translucent gradient forming. The highlight red area is where you wish to retain and those unhighlighted areas will be removed.

Now exit the Quick Mask Mode by clicking on the same button when you enter it. You will see a selection formed. Click on Delete to remove the unwanted areas. You shall get a nice lens like the one below.

Duplicate the Lens layer. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Rotate it slightly clockwise and position it at the lower right of the document.

Create a new layer and name it as Lines. Select the Ellipse tool and draw a circular path at the center of the document.

Now select Brush tool, set the color to #FFFFFF and size to 1px. Then select the Pen tool, right-click on the circular path and choose Stroke Path ( make sure to uncheck Simulate Pressure ). You will see a white circular line formed. Right-click on the Lines layer and choose Blending Options. Activate Drop Shadow and fill in the settings shown in the diagram below.

Create more random circular lines using the same method above and set them to various opacity values. But do not apply the Drop Shadow effect to them.

Create a new layer and name it as Glitter. Using the Brush tool, set the color to #FFFFFF and size to 1px, draw a cross. Then use the Eraser tool ( in Airbrush mode ) fade off the four edges of the cross to achieve a star effect. Duplicate this star several times and place them at the desired intersections of your circular lines.

Create a new layer and name it as Crescent. Make a big white circle at the center of the document. Create a circular selection of the same size as the white circle. Shift the selection slight to the right-bottom. Click Delete once you are ready. You shall get a nice white crescent.

Duplicate the crescent you just made, go to Edit > Free Transform. Reduce the size of the duplicated crescent and shift it slightly lower than the original copy. Repeat this step for another two times. Align all of them in the way shown below. Merge these four crescent layers once you are done.

Select the Crescent layer, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 5px. You will see a blurry swirl formed. Duplicate this swirl, enlarge them and position them randomly along the outline of those circle frames.

Make the colors more vibrant with the help of a Levels Adjustment Layer. Set the values to 60, 1, 255.

The last thing you will need to do is to insert your own logo and texts then you are done! Hope you have enjoyed reading. This tutorial is suggested by FlashFreak with the reference to a wallpaper of Windows Live Messenger from Microsoft. Greatly appreciate if there is a stumble or digg!