In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create Epic
Splashing Human Photo Manipulation in Photoshop. The main focus of this
tutorial is the use of layer masking techniques, photo retouch and a few
filter effects. Have a try!
This is an intermediate tutorial so some steps can be tricky – if you’re having difficulty with it, I suggest you go to the
basic section of PSD Vault and practice those tutorials first, then come back and do this one.
Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (Click to Enlarge)
Alternative version with a few more colours:
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Ok Let’s get started!
To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stock:
Model – by mjranum-stock
Water Texture
Step 1
Create a document (size doesn’t really matter here) with black
background, load the model image into Photoshop and cut out the model,
paste it on the center of our canvas:
We can remove some dark spots on the leg with spots healing tool:
Adjust the brush tip size to around the size of the dark spot, then left-click to remove it:
and you will see the spots disappear after the healing:
Make sure you clean up the edge with a soft eraser:
Add the following 2 adjustment layer to the model layer as clipping mask:
Black and White
Levels
Layer mask on the Levels adjustment layer:
and you will have the following effect:
Step 2
We can add some cloud to act as background lighting to the model –
you can use a cloud brush or the cloud filter to achieve this effect:
(use Free Transform to adjust its size)
Also add some cloud behind the guitar for more effect:
Compress the cloud layer down the move it to the bottom:
Use a soft black brush to paint some shadow under the feet, make sure
you following the shape of the model’ feet for best result:
Step 3
Now we can add some water texture. Load the water texture and use Quick Selection Tool to select a portion:
Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas and warp it a little as shown below:
Apply the following black and white adjustment to this texture:
Then apply the following Levels adjustment to this layer:
and you will have the following effect:
Use the Sharpen Filter to sharpen this texture a bit:
Duplicate this layer a few times and scatter them around the model:
Step 4
Draw a ring behind the model with Elliptical Marquee Tool, erase some parts with a soft eraser to create some breaking effect:
Repeat the steps described in previous step, apply some water texture
on the ring, use the Warp Tool to adjust the shape when necessary:
Keep going until the water stream texture cover the entire ring:
You can also put some water stream texture above the model layer to create some overlay effect:
Step 5
We can some more water pattern to the image. Go back to the Water Texture and select a portion with a 30px feather Lasso Tool:
Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, move it to the top and apply the following black and white adjustment to it:
And you will have the following effect:
Duplicate this water layer once and move it to the bottom, use the Warp Tool to warp it as shown below:
We want to splash to appear behind the model, so use a soft eraser to remove the front portion”
and here is the effect so far:
Step 6
We can now add some abstract flying pattern to the image. I decided
to create a custom brush for this purpose. Firstly we can create a new
document sized 150px * 150px, create a new layer and paint a dot in the
centre with a soft black brush:
Use the Warp Tool to warp it as shown below:
Then bring up the Liquify Filter, set the brush as below:
Use Forward Warp option to liquify it to this following shape:
Make sure you turn off the background layer, Hit “Ctrl + A” to selection all, then go to “Edit > Define Brush Preset”:
After defining the brush, press F5 to bring the brush option window, apply the following settings:
Shape Dynamics
Scattering
Other Dynamics
Tick “Airbrush”, “Smoothing” and “Protect Texture” options. Use this brush to paint some patterns as shown below on the image:
Step 7
We’re almost done. For some final retouches we can use the Sharpen
Tool from the Toolbox to sharpen a number of areas on the model:
(flatten the image first)
Hint: set the strength of the sharpen tool to around 30-40%. Don’t over-sharpen the image.
Duplicate this layer and apply the following Accented Edges filter to it:
We don’t want the whole image to have this filter effect, so add the following layer mask to hide centain portion:
and you will have the following effect:
Now you can add a few colours for this image, you can do it via several methods:
- Colour balance adjustment layer with mask
- Paint with a soft brush on a new layer (set blending mode to “overlay”, “soft light” or “color”)
- Play with Channels
You can experiment with the aboves and see what result that brings you.
I have the following final effect: (click to enlarge)
Version 1
Alternative Version with more colour:
Hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!
