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This lesson is about how to create by three pictures only a tender collage of sea-piece. A peculiarity of this collage is that we will do the effect of soft light. For work I took pictures from the Internet, to the authors – thank you.

Resources:
Planet: http://ezkexis.deviantart.com/

Sky:

Background:

Step 1. Background. For it I picked out a picture with soft water and clear stones. We will place it in the bottom of our collage. There must be enough place for sky above.

Step 2. With Rectangular Marquee Tool we select the overhead part up to water, and stretch it on all area of linen.

Step 3. We use Blur > Gaussian Blur filter to spread the overhead part, because after stretching quality of picture suffered.

Step 4. It is time to make sky. I found the picture of light clouds and soft tender light. It it will combine very well with the washed out water. We will insert the picture on a separate layer.

Step 5. We will stretch sky up to horizon. We change Blending Mode of layer to Screen.

Step 6. Now a planet. It is an element which will complete our work. I picked out it for the style of our collage: there is mildness of luminescence in it, as in water and in rays of light, but there is and hardness of stones. It’s what we need. We insert it on a separate layer, and change to the necessary size.

Step 7. We change Blending Mode of layer with planet to Screen.

Step 8. Well, I don’t like this color. We’ll correct it by means of pressing on the “Ctrl+Shift+U” (or through the menu of Image > Adjustments > Desaturate).

Step 9. We will change placing of planet that it looked like it is coming behind horizon. It will give an effect, like it is much bigger, then it seemed.

Step 10. We will spread superfluous part of the planet, and we’ll do it like a reflection on water. Not to touch the area of planet higher than horizon, we will select necessary part by Rectangular Marquee Tool.

Step 11. We will take off the selection and we will spread a little the reflection.

Step 12. We will do fog on horizon. We create a new layer and draw with simple white brush a line, even line (pressing Ctrl).

Step 13. We will take the Smudge Tool and by vertical motions we will spread the line, as on the picture:

Step 14. We use the filter of Blur – Gaussian Blur. Now it looks like fog.

Step 15. We will do a copy of layer with fog, but will decrease a width in two times.

Step 16. We use the filter of Gaussian Blur again. Fog is ready. Then we can do another copy of this layer and spread it more.

Step 17. It is time to bring in the main changes in the work. We do a duplicate of the layer with sky, Blending Mode: Luminosity. The mood of the collage changed. Sky became more, interesting more wonderful, more alive.

Step 18. By the Eraser Tool we will wipe up a superfluous area which leaked out in the layer with a planet.

Step 19. For next changes we will save our collage in the format of jpg, and we will open it already in Photoshop. In the menu of Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrasts we put tuning as on the picture:

Step 20. In the menu of Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight we put tuning as on the pictures. It is the last touch; it will give a certain mystery to the landscape.

End. I hope that a lesson was useful for you, and the result pleased.