TECHNIQUES CREATE A SCIFI COMPOSITE FROM PHOTOS
04
PREPARE FOR THE CITYSCAPE
For the foreground, something
desert-like and craterous should do the trick
(iStock 60036860). Mask the top. To give the
illusion of a landscape large enough to
accommodate a city, you’ll also need to defocus it
slightly. With the layer selected, go to Filter>Blur,
and apply a Gaussian Blur with a radius of around
0.5 pixels. You can add a back wall to the crater
using a similar photo.05
MAKE THE CITY’S BASE
The city is going to be built inside a
dome, so it needs to be sitting on an appropriate
base. Observatories provide the right kind of
structure (iStock 37792604). Using the Pen tool
create a path around the base, then in the Paths
palette make a selection of 0.3 pixels and
copy-paste it in. To remove any stray edges, go
to Layer>Matting>Defringe, then using the Blur
tool, with a soft brush of around 5px, quickly
work around the edge of the base. This scene
will be lit from the upper left, so consider that
when choosing photos. Now add a Levels layer,
clipped to the base, to deepen the shadows and
raise the highlights.06
CREATE THE SPHERE
For the dome you need to start with a
sphere. You can render one in Photoshop using 3D
tools, or use a stock image (iStock 30625584). Scale
and Place the sphere approximately where you’d like
the dome to sit (above the Base layer but below
Foreground), then add a Gaussian Blur of about 0.7
pixels. To make it look glassy, reduce its Opacity to
95% and change the mode from Normal to Soft Light.
So that the sphere can bulge a little at the bottom, go
to Edit>Transform>Scale, then in Warp Mode pull on
the points and handles to achieve the desired amount
of flex. Finally add a layer mask, and paint away the
lower parts of the dome that are not needed.07
START TO ADD BUILDINGS
You now need a good selection of
buildings. It’s important that the photos you choose
are shot from angles that are compatible with the
spectator’s view – looking down on structures
nearer the base, but up towards the higher towers
that penetrate the dome.08
FINESSE THE EDGES
Create a clipping path around a
building (iStock 2876631). Make a selection of
0.2 pixels, and, beneath the Dome layer, copy
and paste it into the scene. Again, for bestresults go to Layer>Matting>Defringe, then Blur
tool the edges. Remember that the main light
source is from the top left, so, if necessary, flip
the layer horizontally, by going to Edit>
Transform>Flip Horizontally.QUICK TIP
Remember that you can flip and rotate the photos
(or parts of photos) that you’re using so that the
light comes from a consistent direction – this
looks more convincing than painting in new light
over photos with different light sources.