Photoshop is the best software for photo manipulations and this tutorial will show you how to create a dreamy sunrise landscape all inside Photoshop. This tutorial by Jenny Le will cover techniques such as blending, color adjustments, masking, retouching, and tips on how to get beautiful and realistic results.
Preview of Final Results
Tutorial Resources
Step 1
Create a new document with size 1300×800 px and fill it with white (or any color you like). Open sky stock. Use Retangular Marquee Tool to make a selection on sky part and use Move Tool (V) to drag it into our white canvas, place it at the top:
Step 2
I use an adjustment layer with Clipping Mask to make colors of the sky richer and more vibrant. On sky layer, go to Layer-New Adjustment Layer-Selective Color:
Step 3
Drag landscape stock into our picture, convert it to Smart Object and use Cmd/Ctrl+T to resize it:
Click the second button at the bottom of Layer Pallete to add mask to landscape layer. Use soft black brush to remove sky of this landscape and blend it with sky in previous step:
Step 4
I make a new layer with Clipping Mask and active Clone Tool (S). Use this tool to remove some light rays:
Step 5
Make a new layer, I use soft brush with color #a97c3c to paint on the right side of the mountains to add more warm color to them. Then change the mode to Soft Light 100%:
Step 6
Open path stock. Copy path part and place it at the middle section of our image, transform to get a look below:
Use layer mask to remove hard edges:
Step 7
Duplicate this layer four times, use Cmd/Ctrl+T and Warp Tool (Edit-Transform-Warp) and layer mask to make the path longer. You can see how I arranged them on the screenshot below:
Make all path layers selected then hit Cmd/Ctrl+G to make group for them, change the mode from Pass Through (default group mode) to Normal 100%. Name these layers from 1 to 5.
Step 8
I add two adjustment layers within this group to match color and brightness of the paths with the rest.
On Curves layer mask I use soft black brush to erase the parts towards the light:
Step 9
After transforming and warping, the path parts look a bit flat. To fix it, I make a new layer within this group, use brush with color #291605 to create the shades under the steps:
Step 10
Open wheel stock. Extract this wheel part and place it at the right of the ground, convert to Smart Object and flip it horizontally (Edit-Transform-Flip Horizontal) and use layer mask to blend the bottom with the ground:
Step 11
To make shadow of the wheel on the ground, I make a new layer under the wheel one. Hold the Cmd/Ctrl while clicking wheel thumbnail layer to load its selection:
Fill this selection with black, convert it to Smart Object and flip it vertically. Move this shadow under the wheel:
Lower opacity to 60% and go to Filter-Blur-Gassian Blur:
I use layer mask to blur the part below:
Step 12
Make group for the wheel and its shadow, remember to change the mode to Normal 100%. Create some adjustment layers within this group to change color and darken the wheel:
On Curves layer mask I use black brush to erase the front of the wheel:
Step 13
Extract tree and move it to the top right corner of our picture:
Step 14
I make Color Balance and Curves layers (Clipping Mask) to alter color and brightness of the tree:
Erase the left side of the tree (the part that gets more light from the sky) on Curves layer mask:
Step 15
Isolate the house and position it at the left side of the ground.
Use layer mask to blend the hard edges with the ground:
Step 16
Make shadow for the house as done with the wheel:
Step 17
Create group for the house and its shadow. Use Color Balance and Curves layers to change house color:
After darkening with Curves I use soft black brush to remove this effect on the right of the house that should be illuminated from sky):
Step 18
Cut out the well and place it at the right side of the ground:
Step 19
Make shadow for the well as done with other subjects:
Step 20
Group the well and its shadow layers. Use Color Balance, Photo Filter and Curves layers to make color of the well fit the rest:
Step 21
Open stock of the vines. I removed most of the house parts:
Copy this vine part and place it at the left corner of the house:
Add layer mask to this vine layer. Use grass brush, number 256 (bush one) to remove hard edges and achieve the edges below:
Step 22
Use another vine parts to arrange around the house with same method. I used 6 layers to get the result shown on screenshot below:
Step 23
I use 5 vine layers to add to the well:
Step 24
Group all vine layers. Use Color Balance and Curves for them:
Erase on Curves layer mask the roof part and the left side of the well:
Step 25
Open fence stock. I take these stakes:
Arrange them and use layer mask to blend them with the ground:
Step 26
Make shadow for these stakes as done in previous steps:
Step 27
Create group for these layers, I name it “fence parts 1”. Make a new layer within this group and use Clone Tool to remove unecessary parts:
Step 28
Apply Color Balance and Curves for these fence parts:
I use black brush on Curves layer mask to make approriate light and shadow of the fences. You can see how I applied this step on layer mask and result on picture:
Step 29
I use a Curves layer with Clipping Mask for the one near the right corner of foreground to darken it more:
Remove the dark effect on the left of this stake:
Step 30
Take another parts of the fence from original stock and position them horizontally. I use Warp tool to bend them a little to avoid a rigid look:
Step 31
Make shadow for the parts that can be seen on this picture:
Step 32
Create group for these layers, name it “fence parts 2”. I use Curves to darken them:
Erase the parts that are shone by the sun:
Step 33
With the fence part near the right of foreground I use a Curves layer (Clipping Mask) to darken it more:
Apply a mask for this adjustment layer:
Step 34
To add more contrast to this picture, I make a new layer on the top, active Gradient Tool (G). I choose Radial Gradient with default colors (black and white):
Change the mode to Soft Light 100% and use layer mask to remove or reduce dark contrast on some parts below:
Step 35
Create some adjustment layer on the top:
Color Balance:
Selective Color:
Hue/Saturation:
On Color Balance layer mask I use black brush to remove or reduce the blue on the parts below:
Step 36
Go to Layer-New Fill Layer-Solid Color and pick color #3c9265. I change the mode of this fill layer to Color 10%. This step is too reduce “hot saturation” and add some subtle green to the whole scene.
On its layer mask, erase the left side:
Step 37
I use a Levels layer to make a stronger contrast:
Step 38
Make a new layer on the top. Use soft brush with color #c8a260 to paint over the house, ground, mountains to create some mist for the scene (it’s early morning!). I lower opacity to 30% and use layer mask to reduce mist intensity on the house and the sun:
Step 39
I make a new layer, use same brush color to paint on the right side of the house to make it brighter. Put the mode to Soft Light 100%:
Step 40
New layer, use this brush again to brighten the paths, the ground part near the mountains. I change the mode to Overlay 100%:
Step 41
Final step: I make a new layer on the top, change the mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray:
Take Dodge Tool (O) with Midtones Range, Exposure about 20-25% to brighten the edges of the house and the well. You can see how I applied this tool with Normal mode and result with Overlay mode:
Final Results
Download the PSD
Tutorial by Jenny Le
Thank you for reading this tutorial, I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to read my other tutorials, you can visit my website. Enjoy photoshopping!
– Jenny