Hey, this is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show to how to create a mind-bending, perspective effect like seen in the movie, "Inception".
I provided this image for you to download so you can follow along.
Its link is in my video's description or project files.
Feel free to use your own photo if you like.
First, let's convert the photo into a Smart Object so we can modify it non-destructively.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, right of the Layers panel and click "Convert to Smart Object".
We'll make a copy of it, however, before we do, if we want to edit either of them without
affecting the other, right-click or secondary-click on the subject's layer to open the fly-out
list and click, "New Smart Object via Copy".
Now, the two smart objects can be edited separately without affecting the other.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + T to open your Transform Tool.
Right-click on the document to open the fly-out list and click "Flip Horizontal".
Right-click again and click "Rotate 90 degrees Counterclockwise".
Go to View and if "Snap" isn't checked, click it to make it active.
Drag your rotated image so its top left corner snaps to the top left corner of the original photo under it.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Open the Polygonal Lasso Tool and click just outside the bottom, left corner.
Release and click just outside the top left corner.
Release and position your tool below the document so that the diagonal line crosses directly
over the bottom right corner of the rotated image.
Once it's positioned correctly, double-click it.
This converts the line into a selection.
Click the Layer Mask icon which makes a layer mask of the selection next to the active layer.
Next, we'll remove the boat in the rotated image.
Double-click the top layer to open its original image.
Open the Remove Tool if you're using a recent version of Photoshop.
If you don't see it, go to Edit and Toolbar.
You'll see the Remove Tool under "Extra Tools".
Jut drag it into the group that contains the healing brushes.
To remove the boat in earlier versions of Photoshop, make a selection around the boat
and go to Edit and Content-Aware Fill or you can use the Stamp Tool.
Brush over the outside edge of the boat with the Remove Tool.
In recent versions, it'll just fill itself in.
Close the retouched source image which is the ".psb" document.
When you see this message, click "Yes" to save the changes.
Now, we no longer see the boat in the rotated image.
Next, we'll darken its top edge.
Ctrl or Cmd-click the layer mask to select its shape.
Press "Q" on your keyboard to convert the selection into a Quick Mask.
Open the Rectangular Marquee Tool and drag a rectangular selection over the left side
of the document so that the selection's right edge is aligned with the horizon line.
We'll fill it with a quick mask, but before we do, make sure your foreground color is
If it isn't, press "D" on your keyboard.
We'll fill the selection with the foreground color by pressing Alt or Option + Delete.
Deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D. Revert it back into a selection by pressing "Q".
Make a new layer and click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection
next to the empty layer.
Make the empty layer active and open your Brush Tool.
Open the Brush Picker and pick a soft, round brush.
Make its Size: 1000 pixels, its Hardness: 0%, and its Opacity and Flow: 100%.
Position your brush to the right of the outside corner and click once.
Release and position your brush below your document approximately here.
Then, click once to make a soft, black stroke.
Reduce its opacity to approximately 25%.
Next, we'll add blue color to the stroke.
Make a new layer.
Go to the top layer mask and press and hold Alt or Option as we drag a copy of it next to the top layer.
Change its Blend Mode to "Color".
Open the Eyedropper Tool and click over a color of the water to pick up that color.
Press "B" on your keyboard to open your Brush Tool and brush over the shadow to make it
the color of the water.
Next, we’ll add clouds but before we do, make a composite snapshot of our image.
To do this, make a new layer
and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E on Windows
or Cmd + Option + Shift + E on a Mac.
Go to Edit and Sky Replacement.
I did an in-depth tutorial on Sky Replacement, so if you'd like to watch it, I provided that link as well.
Notice the clouds remain in the same perspective over our entire image and frankly, I like
our image better this way, however, you can either brush out those clouds at the bottom
or rotate them 90 degrees.
For this example, I'll choose this image of clouds, however, feel free to experiment with others.
We can shift the edge of the clouds in or out...fade the edge...
adjust the sky brightness,
the temperature,
and scale. We can even flip it.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!