When compositing photos in Photoshop, sometimes the story you tell can be just as important as how well you combine the images. Frequent Psdtuts author Tony Aubé is not only good at combining the images he uses, but he is also great at combining them in an emotional way. Let’s take a look!

Ever Belonging Seaheart

In this piece, it is clear that this ship is in trouble. Will the ship’s crew make it to land safely or will they be smashed against the rocks?

Maiden’s Prospect

This maiden is waiting for her prince. Will the suitor on this ship be the one?

David and Goliath

This climber has a tough, if not impossible journey ahead of him. Will he be successful at climbing the face of this mountain?

Awaiting Summer

In this apocalyptic piece, Tony explains how to combine several photos to create a panoramic image in Photoshop. Then he explains how to turn that image into a snowy apocalyptic wasteland.

Red Silk

In this piece, Tony explains how to create an Asian-inspired scene using several photos.

Toscane’s Skies

This composite shows a person enjoying what looks to be a beautiful day, atop a large hill or mountain. In this piece, you get the impression that this person is reflecting upon a major life event. You can see the steps Tony took here.

Returning Home

This rider is almost finished making the long journey home to his castle.

Hitoban Musumegokoro

In this piece, Tony depicts a sleepy Asian-inspired town using several stock images. This image is also available as a tutorial.

In today’s quick tip tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a cinematic “Transfarmers” Text Effect using the layer styles. Let’s get started!

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

• Transformers Solid font
• Dark Metal texture from Texturemate.com
• Brushed Metal Pattern

Step 1

Make a new .PSD document, 1000 x 500 pixels, RGB color, 100 dpi and grey background (color #33333). Create a new layer and fill it with brushed metal pattern from tutorial assets section (any metal texture will do though). Now using the Blending Options, fill this layer with a Light Blue color and set the blending options to “Overlay”. Finally if you want you can add a gradient that include several white and grey tones, with a bright area in order to create a better effect for the background.

Step 2

Now create the text using this font: Transformers Solid. Use these settings: 70 pt – Anti-Alias: Sharp. Now rename this text: “3D”. Then go in the menu Layer > Layer Styles > Blending Options and use these settings:

Step 3

Duplicate the text and rename it “Base”. Right click on his layer and click to “Clear Layer Style” or in the Styles Palette click on the first style “Default style (None)” (It’s the same thing). Now move this text slightly to the right in order to create a “pseudo 3D effect” with the text below (Look the Step image). Then go in the menu Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options and use these settings:

Step 4

Duplicate the text “Base”. Right click on his layer and click to “Clear Layer Style”. In the Blending Options menu on the right set the fill to 0%. Now and use these settings in the menu Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options:

Step 5

Your text effect is almost completed. Now we have to create a text reflection. Insert all 3 levels of the text effect in a group. Duplicate this group. Right click on it and click to “Convert To Smart Object”. Right click on it again and click to “Rasterize Layer”. Then go in menu Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Now move it as the image shown and then with the Eraser Tool delete as long as you want in order to create a realistic reflection. Finally to make the text effect nicer I added some sparks with simple brushes and color lights with soft brushes.

Conclusion

Now your text effect is completed!

Applying the right atmosphere and lighting to your artwork can be a tricky task. In this Tuts+ Premium tutorial, author Wojciech Pijecki will explain how to create a mechanically enhanced subject, in a sci-fi environment, using advanced shading techniques in Photoshop. This tutorial is available exclusively to Tuts+ Premium Members. If you are looking to take your photo manipulation and retouching skills to the next level then Log in or Join Now to get started!

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We recently showed you the first sneak peek of Photoshop CS6 by Senior Photoshop Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes. Today, Photoshop Product Manager Zorana Gee released a new video showing even more features of CS6. In this video Zorana will explain two really nice enhancements to Photoshop; Background Save and some performance tweaks to Liquify.

The first feature that Zorana shows is Background Save. This is a feature that many users have been asking for. It will allow you to save your file and then continue working while the file is being saved.

Another fantastic feature that Zorana demonstrates is a performance tweak to Liquify. If you’ve ever worked in Liquify, you know that you can’t expand your brush beyond 1500 pixels. This is frustrating if you’re working on a really big image. In this video, Zorana works well beyond 1500 pixels. In addition, the Photoshop team has also improved the performance of Liquify so that it doesn’t tile. You can now use Liquify in real-time with no lag.