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Forgotten Halloween – Dark photo manipulation tutorial

In this tutorial I”ll show you how to create a dark photo manipulation called “Forgotten Halloween”. You’ll learn how to combine different stocks, create a dark and eerie atmosphere and work with lighting effect.

The Final Image

           pumpkin24-final

Required Resources:

Step 1

Create a new document in Photoshop with the settings below:

pumpkin1

Step 2

Open the forest stock. Drag it into our white canvas using the Move Tool (V) and scale it down it to fit the document:

pumpkin2

To add some depth to the scene, go to Filter > Blur > Gassian Blur and set the radius to 6 px:
pumpkin2a
On the Filter Mask use a basic, soft brush with black color to erase the blur effect on the foreground:
pumpkin2b

Step 3

Open the gravestones image. I took two gravestones and place them in the ground as shown below:
pumpkin3
Apply Gassian Blur with 3 px to the smaller one:
pumpkin3a

Step 4

Make all the gravestones layers selected and press Cmd/Ctrl+G to create a group for them. Change the mode of this group from Pass Through (default group mode) to Normal 100%. Make a Curves adjustment layer within this group to brighten the gravestones:
pumpkin4
On this layer mask use a soft black brush to erase the top right of the gravestones as it’s illuminated by the light:
pumpkin4a

Step 5

Cut out the pumpkin and place it in the middle section of the ground:

pumpkin5

Step 6

I used a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer with Clipping Mask to reduce the saturation of the pumpkin a little:

pumpkin6

pumpkin6a

Step 7

I used a Photo Filter adjustment layer with the same purpose:

pumpkin7

pumpkin7a

Step 8

I used Curves to darken the pumpkin:
pumpkin8
On this layer mask us a soft black brush to erase the top right to make some light there:
pumpkin8a

Step 9

Create four new layers on the top. Change the brush color to white and use the different cobweb brushes to paint around the pumpkin as shown below:

pumpkin9

Step 10

Click the second button at the bottom of the Layers Panel to add a mask to two cobweb layers. Use a soft black brush to erase some unwanted details of the cobwebs to get more natural result:

pumpkin10

Step 11

Open the smoke image (feel free to use your own photo). Isolate it from the background and put it over the  working document:
pumpkin11
Add a mask to this layer and use a soft black brush to reduce  the smoke intensity to get the result below:
pumpkin11a

Step 12

I used Curves to darken the smoke effect:
pumpkin12
On this layer mask use a soft black brush with the  opacity about 20% to erase the foreground to make the effect there more visible:
pumpkin12a

Step 13

Isolate the crow and place him above the pumpkin:

pumpkin13

Step 14

Make a new layer under the crow one. Use a soft black brush with the opacity about 50% to paint the shadow under the crow claws:

pumpkin14

Step 15

Make another layer and use the same brush to paint more shadow of the crow on the pumpkin:

pumpkin15

Step 16

I used Hue/Saturation for this crow:

pumpkin16

Step 17

I used Curves to darken the crow and on this layer mask use a soft black brush to clear the dark effect on the upper right of the crow:

pumpkin17

Step 18

Create a new layer and use a hard brush with the size about 8-9 px and with a red color ( I used #ff0000) to paint an evil eye for the crow:

pumpkin18

Step 19

Make three layers on the top. Paint with the bat brushes on each layer with black color. I lowered the opacity of these bats to 40 and 50% to fit the foggy background:

pumpkin19

Apply Gassian Blur with 3 px to these bat layers:

pumpkin19a

Step 20

It’s time for coloring the scene. Make a Gradient Map adjustment layer on the top:

pumpkin20

Change this layer mode to Soft Light 100%:

pumpkin20a

Step 21

I used Color Balance to add some cyan-blue to the scene:

pumpkin21

pumpkin21a

Step 22

Create a Photo Filter adjustment layer on the top:

pumpkin22

pumpkin22a

Step 23

On the top of the layer, use the Lasso Tool (L) to make a selection on the ground and set the feather radius for it to 60:

pumpkin23

Go to Layer > Adjustment Layer > Channel Mixer:

pumpkin23a

We have the result below:

pumpkin23b

You can use a soft black brush to refine the red area to get the desired look.

Step 24

With the same method I used Curves to make the effect more subtle:

pumpkin24

pumpkin24a

 

Jenny Le

Self-taught artist from Vietnam who loves drawing and doing photo manipulation. See more of my work at http://jennyle88.deviantart.com/

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