How to create underwater scene using Photoshop

Hello fellows. Today I am going to show you how to create underwater effect.

Final result :

Resources :

• the shark
• the reef

Let’s get started:

1.       Create a 1280x1024 px new Photoshop document. Fill it with gradient. Use these settings:

Your canvas should look like this:

2.       Grab the Dodge Tool (O). Set the brush to a 30px soft round brush, Range : Midtones, Exposure: 100%.

Try to draw something like this:

3.       Grab the Burn Tool(O). Set it to: Brush: 20px soft round brush, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 28%.

Draw something like this over the dodged area :

4.       Now, select the Smudge Tool. Use these settings at the beginning : Brush : 100px hard round brush, Mode: Normal, Strength: 45%. The result would look better if during the process, you would increase and decrease the size of your brush several times.

Try to obtain something close to this:

5.       Draw a white rectangle in the middle of your canvas . (Use the Rectangle Tool(U), with the foreground color set to #FFFFFF). Make sure you have the “Shape Layers” Option on.

Right click on your new created layer, and click “Rasterize Layer”.

7.       Remove some parts of the rectangle as shown:

8.       With this layer selected, go to : Filter -> Distort -> Polar Coordinates, make sure you have the “Rectangular to Polar” Option on, and press OK.

9.       Grab the Move Tool (V) :

10.   Move the layer as shown in the picture.

With the layer still selected, go to Filter -> Blur -> Radial Blur… and use these settings:

Make sure the center of the radial blur is set as in the picture.Press OK.

Repeat this step 1 more time. You can go to Filter -> Blur -> Radial Blur… again, or you can use the shortcut  which is Ctrl + F (Repeat Filter).

In the Layers Palette, above the layers, set the layer’s blending mode to Soft Light .

Create a new layer.

You can do this by:

a)      Pressing Ctrl + Shift + N  on your keyboard and then  OK. 

O    OR

b)      Pressing the New Layer icon, under the Layers Palette :

Grab the Brush Tool (B), set it to 200px soft round brush, Mode : Normal, Opacity: 32%.

Draw a spot of light like shown :

Open the picture with the shark, select the whole picture (Ctrl +A), copy it (Ctrl + C), close the document with the shark’s picture, go back to our document, and paste the picture (Ctrl + V). Place it like shown:

Set the Layer’s Blending Mode to Luminosity.

Grab the Eraser Tool (E)

Set it like shown:

Now gently erase the edges of your picture. Like this :

Now open the other picture, with the reef. Use the Marquee Tool(Press M - > right click on the picture - > Free Transform -> Drag the edges, Holding down the shift key, to preserve the ratio of your picture) to increase its size and place it like this:

Set its Blending Mode to Screen, and gently erase the edges, same as with the shark. Like this:

The bubbles are drawn using a bubble brush, that can be found here.

Here’s my result :

 

Thanks for visiting my blog. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment.

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