Place the moon
05
Insert the supplied moon image, and
use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to
select it before hitting Screen. Duplicate the
layer, then on a layer below, select a big, soft,
white brush and click to add a glow. Duplicate
this layer and mask out the glow from inside
the moon.Lay some more planets
06
In the supplied iles, you’ll ind a collection of
various planet stock images, already cut out
and ready to place into your image. Select a few and
place them onto the ground in front of the ladder.
Resize by using Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T).Elements
Expert tip
When you create the shadows
of your planets and the ladder,
it’s important to remember a
few things to ensure that your
composition stays realistic.
The irst is that the edge of the
shadows can’t be too hard,
which is why we use Gaussian
Blur. Remember to transform
the shadows in a direction
away from the light source, in
this case the moon, and that
the shadows will be darker the
closer they are to the object.
When you mask the excess
from the shadows in step
8, use a dark grey-to-white
gradient, as this will only
mask some of the shadow.Keep realism in
the shadowsWork on the lighting
07
We need these planets to glow, so
add glowing white brush strokes as
we did with the moon. Clip a Soft Light layer
to each of the planet layers and using soft
black and white brushes, touch-up the lighting
and shading on each of the planets.Cast some shadows
08
Select the layer previews of all the
planets, plus the ladder. Fill with
black on a layer beneath them all, then go to
Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and choose 10px.
Hit Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T) and use to resize
and shape each of the shadows as seen in
the screenshot above. You can also mask
them slightly with a gradient.Liquify the ladder shadow
09
Select the ladder from the layer
preview, again by Cmd/Ctrl-clicking
and ill with black on another new layer above
the shadow layer. Again, blur, then go to
Filter>Distort>Liquify, and create a curve as
seen. Clip to the layer of the planet next to
the ladder and reduce the Opacity setting.PUCKER AND BLOAT
Grow or shrink the size of
the object you’re liquifying
by using the Pucker and
Bloat tools on the let.HAND AND ZOOM
Zoom in and pan
around by using the
Hand and Zoom tools
at the bottom of the
tool panel.WARP TOOL
Use the Warp tool to
drag pixels around the
main preview area and
distort the shadow.SIZE AND PRESSURE
Alter the size and pressure
of the brush that you warp
with using the two sliders
on the right-hand side.