Page 48 - Cape-Camera-Nov-Dec-2021

November/December 2021 Cape Camera

Photoshop Tutorial

How to create mystical effects in your landscapes*

In case you were wondering how do landscape photographers way, create a new layer (you can name it ’’Gradient’’), grab the
create those surreal and misty scenes – look no further! The fol- Gradient tool and choose the Linear Gradient Style. The gra-
lowing easy and simple tips will help you create such mysteri- dient you’re supposed to use to whiten the sky is called Fore-
ous landscapes. The suggested techniques are non-destructive, ground to Transparent. You should set the colour of this gradi-
which means that you will be using adjustment layers and re- ent to white and opacity to anything between 20 and 40%.
touching everything on a separate layer. When it comes to darkening the ground, create a new layer and
set its mode to Overlay. Then select Fill with Overlay-Neutral
Colour and use the Burn tool to darken the land.
Lower the blues and reduce saturation

In order to give a certain
mystical and mysterious Print some mist and smudge it
vibe to your landscape, It can be somewhat tricky
you have to make sure to create a realistic mist,
that there are no vibrant but you’ll surely improve
shades of blue in the sky. your skills over time. In
Generally speaking, the the best case scenario,
image shouldn’t look you should photograph a
lively in terms of colours. landscape that is already
Photo by Matt Benson You should click on Cre- misty (such as mountains
ate Adjustment Layer and rivers in the early
and choose Colour Balance. Here you can experiment and shift Photo by Richard Loader morning) and simply en-
colours in the highlights, shadows and mid-tones. Pay attention hance the mist in editing.
to Yellow/Blue Slider – this is where you should lower the blues. In case you need to create some mist in Photoshop, select Spat-
Afterwards, you can add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. ter 14 in the Brush Preset Picker. Then go to Window > Brush >
This is where you can adjust different colours by selecting them. Brush Tip Shape, set its size to roughly 300px and spacing to
For instance, you can select Greens and set saturation to -50, in 50%. This will allow you to paint a nice and disperse mist that
case you want trees and grass in your landscape to look faded. you can further improve with the Smudge tool.
You should set the strength of the Smudge tool to 50% and use
Remove or add clouds it to smudge the white brush strokes into swirls of mist that rise
up from the ground. Don’t overdo it – it should look subtle and
Landscapes can look realistic!
mysterious either with
clouds or totally cloud-
less, depending on your Add some finalk tonal tweaks
artistic intentions. After you have applied
Before you start alter- all these tricks, take time
ing the existing clouds, to evaluate your image
click on the Background and introduce some final
Photo by Robin Benad Layer and then go to tweaks.
Layer > Duplicate Layer
to copy it. In this way, your editing won’t be destructive and you You should probably add
will be able to easily shift between the original and edited im- a new Curves Adjust-
age. ment Layer to boost the
Use the Spot Healing brush on your duplicate background to Photo by Sebastian Pichler contrast in your image
zoom in closer to the clouds and remove them. Alternatively, if slightly In case you’re still
you want more clouds, you can copy the existing ones with the not happy with the colours; you can also add a Colour Balance
Clone Stamp tool. or Photo Filter layer to bring your image even closer to your ar-
tistic vision.
Remove or add clouds
*) In case you want to learn more about retouching/editing
You can enhance the landscapes, check out these useful links at: https://www.
surreal look if you whit- lightstalking.com/
en the sky and darken • 3 Quick Photoshop Tips to improve any landscape photo
the ground – this will
also make the atmos- • 5 Quick Lightroom Edits to improve any landscape photo
phere in your photo • What you need to know about light for better landscape
pretty ominous. photography
In order to achieve this • 7 Lightroom Workflow Tips for simple, stunning landscape
in a non-destructive photography
Photo by Hugo Kerr

47 Cape Town Photographic Society