What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial I'll show you how to create a funny underwater scene featuring a big fish stuck on a tree.

First we'll create the base scene using the sky, the sea, and a color fill layer. Then we'll add the boat, tree, and fish, and we'll blend them together using adjustment layers, masking, and brushes. After that, we'll import the leaves and the bird, and we'll paint the bubbles. We'll paint the light and add several adjustment layers to complete the final effect.



Tutorial Assets

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

1. How to Add the Sky

Step 1

Create a new 2000 x 1684 px document in Photoshop with the given settings:

Step 2

Press Control-Shift-N to make a new layer. Hit G to activate the Gradient Tool and choose the Radial Gradient with the colors #60bbec and #155069 . Drag a line from left to right to get a similar result to the one below.



Step 3

Open the sky image. Drag this image to the blue canvas using the Move Tool (V) and place it in the upper half.



Click the second icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a mask to this layer. Use a soft round brush with black color (soft black brush) with the Opacity about 30-35% to reduce the clouds' intensity on the top right of the sky. We're aiming to add the main light from the left and will darken the right area, so the clouds there should not be too obvious.



Step 4

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance and set it as Clipping Mask. Change the Midtones settings.

Step 5

Use a Vibrance adjustment layer to enhance the sky's color. Bring the Vibrance value up to maximum.

Step 6

Create a Curves adjustment layer to darken the right corner of the sky. On this layer mask, use a soft black brush to erase the left so its lightness will not be changed.



2. How to Create the Underwater Sea

Step 1

To make the underwater base, create a Color Fill layer and pick the color #205265 .

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to grab the upper half of the cyan canvas. Select the layer mask and turn the foreground to white. Click Delete to reveal the sky.

Step 2

Add a Curves adjustment layer to increase the lightness for the upper left. On its mask, use a soft black brush to paint on the rest.

Step 3

Use another Curves adjustment layer to brighten the upper left a bit. Paint on the rest so it will not be affected by this adjustment layer.



Step 4

Open the sea image and place it above the underwater base. Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to make it much narrower to fit the sea's perspective.

Use a layer mask and a medium-hard black brush to remove the hard edges, remembering to follow the movement of the waves to achieve a more believable result.

Step 5

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the sea's color. Change the Saturation value to -66:

Step 6

Use a Color Balance adjustment layer to match the sea's surface with the underwater base.

Step 7

Create a Curves adjustment layer to darken the right of the surface. Paint on the left so it will not be affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 8

Make a new layer and use a medium-soft white brush with a small size (about 10-12 px) to paint the stroke along the surface to define the surface better.



Step 9

Open the grass image. Select the grass part only and add it to the lowest area of the underwater sea. Change this layer mode to Soft Light 100%.

Use a layer mask to blend the grass's background with the sea.



Step 10

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 6 px:

On this filter mask, use a soft black brush to erase the background and leave the foreground blurred. This is to create some depth of field.

Step 11

Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to match the color of the grass with the background.

3. How to Add the Boat

Step 1

Isolate the boat and add it to the lower right of the underwater area.

Use a layer mask to blend the boat with the grassy ground. Don't worry if it does not look good—we'll fix it later.

Step 2

Create a Curves adjustment layer to darken the boat.

Step 3

Use another Curves adjustment layer to change the contrast of the boat. It's under the water so should be less obvious. The selected area on the lower right shows where to paint on the layer mask.

Step 4

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and bring the Saturation value down to -94.

Step 5

Use a Color Fill layer and pick a similar color to the underwater background ( #255465 ). Lower the Opacity of this layer to 60%. It helps to blend the boat with the background completely.

4. How to Add the Tree

Step 1

Isolate the tree from the background and place it above the boat. Set the tree layer under the boat one, and use a layer mask to remove the middle section above and below the surface, the part under the boat, and the part towards the left. The idea is to make the tree look as if it's growing from the boat.

Step 2

Add a Color Fill layer and pick the color #0e5c72 to blend the part under the water with the background. Lower the Opacity of this layer to 50% and erase the part above the water's surface.

Step 3

Create a Color Balance adjustment layer and change the Highlights settings to increase the vibrant red/gold of the upper part of the tree. The lower part should be erased.

Step 4

The tree looks too dark, so add a Curves adjustment layer and increase the lightness. On this layer mask, use a medium-hard black brush to erase the right side of the trunk and branches to fit the light from the left.

Step 5

Use a Levels adjustment layer to strengthen the highlight on the tree. Apply painting on the mask as we did in the previous step.

5. How to Add the Fish

Step 1

Cut out the fish and place it above the tree. Use a layer mask with a hard black brush to reveal the branches on the right. Now it looks as if the fish is stuck in the tree!

Step 2

Make a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and reduce the Saturation value to -43.

Step 3

Add a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the fish as it's too dark now. Paint on the right where it's hidden from the light source.

Step 4

Create a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill with 50% gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool (O) with Midtones Range and Exposure about 15-20% to brighten the stroke part of the fish and eye and darken the hidden details in his mouth. You can see how I did it with Normal mode and the result with Overlay mode.

Step 5

Make a new layer under the fish layer and above the tree one. Use a soft black brush with the Opacity about 30% to paint the shadow of the lower fin on the tree.

Step 6

To make a shadow of the branches on the fish, make a new layer above the fish one. Hold Control and click the tree thumbnail layer to load its selection. Fill this selection with black and move it to the right a bit (as the light comes from the left).



Lower the Opacity to 40% and use a layer mask to clear the unnecessary shadow areas outside the fish.



Step 7

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 5 px to soften the shadow.

6. How to Add the Leaves

Step 1

Open the leaves image. Use the Move Tool to select the leaf you like and add it to the lower left of the water. Use Control-T with Warp mode to tweak it to make it look more dynamic and interesting.

Step 2

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 8 px to this leaf.

Step 3

Add more leaves around the fish, under the water, above the surface, and in the sky. You can vary the form, blurriness, distance, and movement of them to increase the dynamism and depth of the scene.



Step 4

Select all the leaves layers and press Control-G to make a group for them. Change this group's mode to Normal 100% and add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer within the group to desaturate the leaves.

Step 5

Create a Channel Mixer adjustment layer to turn the color of the leaves which are under the water into cyan. Erase the ones above the surface to keep their yellow color.

Step 6

Make a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the leaves on the left of the scene. Paint on the rest of the leaves as they're in the dark area or far from the light.



Step 7

Use another Curves adjustment layer to darken the leaves under the water, in the right corner of the sky.

7. How to Add the Bird

Step 1

Isolate the bird and add him to the left side of the scene.

Step 2

Use a Color Balance adjustment layer to change the bird's color:

Step 3

Add a Curves adjustment layer to reduce the light on the lower body and the hidden areas. The selected parts show where to paint on the layer mask.

8. How to Paint the Bubbles

Step 1

Change the foreground to a very light cyan color ( #c2cfd5 ) and activate the bubble brushes. Choose the one you like (I've chosen 93) and press F5 to change the brush settings:

Paint the tiny bubbles along the flow of the falling leaves. You can reduce or increase the brush's size by holding [ or ].



Step 2

Use the same brush with a lowered Opacity (about 60-70%) to paint bigger bubbles on the edges, and soften the bubbles with a Gaussian Blur filter.



9. How to Make the Final Adjustments

Step 1

Create a Gradient Map adjustment layer on top of the layers and pick the colors #1b243f and #f8b884 . Change this layer mode to Soft Light 100%.

Step 2

Make a new layer and use a soft brush with the color #1f0b01 to paint on the left horizon. Alter the mode to Linear Dodge 100%.

Step 3

Use a yellow color ( #efa67e ) to strengthen the light on the left. Set this layer mode to Overlay 100%:

Step 4

Create a Curves adjustment layer to increase the light on the left. Paint on the rest of the scene so it will not be affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 5

Add another Curves adjustment layer to strengthen the shadow on the right.

Step 6

The last step: Use a Vibrance adjustment layer to enhance the final effect.

Congratulations, You're Done!

I hope that you've enjoyed my tutorial and learned something new. Feel free to share your ideas or comments in the box below—I'd love to see them. Enjoy Photoshopping!