CREATE GLOOMY HOUSE SCENE IN PHOTOSHOP
Step 1
First of all, open the house image in photoshop. This image will be the background layer in the layer panel. Duplicate the house image (Ctrl+J) one time. Rename this duplicate layer house.
We can resize the document into smaller size by going to image > image size. Set the size as the one indicated in the screenshot below.
Step 2
We will do some editing on the house by hiding some parts unnecessary like the twigs in front of the house. To do this purpose, we will cut out some part of the lawn and use the cut out to cover the front twigs. The screenshot below shows the part of the lawn to be cut out. It is indicated in red part.
Take the cutting tool that is familiar to you (I myself usually use the pen tool (P) to do this) and make selection to the part to be cut out. After selecting the part, duplicate (Ctrl+J) to cut out it into a new single layer.
Now give this cut out layer a layer mask by going to layer > layer mask > reveal all. Mask the edges of the layer to make it well blended. Use a very soft (0% hardness) round brush (B) with low opacity to do this purpose. Here is the result:
Duplicate (Ctrl+J) the cut out layer one time. Move the duplicate to the part where the twigs are still visible.
Mask some the edges of this layer to have the result as the one below:
Step 3
Again cut out the other lawn on the house image.
Move the duplicate to the areas where needed.
Mask out some part of the cut out. Here is the result I created.
Step 4
In the next few steps, we will proceed to clean up the twigs in front of the house. We just do repeating the same simple steps as in previous steps like cutting out some parts, moving and masking. This time we will cut out the terrace in front of the main door. Move the cut out to the front of the second door. Remember to mask some part where needed.
Step 5
Do the same ways to cover the twigs in front of the wall. Cut out the brick of the wall. Use the cut out to cover the other brick where the twigs are visible. Mask some part of the cut out to make the transition of the images well blended.
Do the same way to cover the other brick.
Duplicate (Ctrl+J) the cut out and use the duplicate to cover twigs on the other bricks.
Step 6
Proceed to clean the rest of the twigs in the second door. We can simply cut out the main door and use the cut out as the replacement of the second one.
Here is the result I created after cleaning the twigs on the roof, replacing the lower window with the upper one, adding some shadow on some areas where needed. To add some shadow, we can paint over the part where the shadow should fall. Follow the original house image to define it. Use black color stroked with a very soft round brush with low opacity of 10-15%. After finding desired result, select all the house layers and hit Ctrl+E to merge them into a single layer. Name the layer house.
Step 7
Now we will add background for the scene. Firstly we should erase the cloud background of the original image as indicated in red lined part.
Again to do this purpose, take the pen tool (P). Select the mentioned part to be erased. After selecting the part, hit del on the keyboard to delete it. Here is the result for your inspiration.
Step 8
We will give the house more sharpening look. To do this, give this layer some filter: unsharp mask. While being active on the house layer, go to filter > sharpen > unsharp mask. Set the filter as the one shown in the screenshot.
We have this result.
Step 9
Proceed to add some cloud texture for the background of the scene. Open the cloud image in the document. Position the cloud layer below the house layer.
Take free transform tool (Ctrl+T). Scale the image to the size needed. We will take the brightest part of the cloud used as the cloud texture for the background. After scaling, place the brightest cloud in the upper position behind the left part of the roof’s house. Here is the result we have for inspiration.
Duplicate (Ctrl+J) the cloud layer. Move the duplicate to the position where the brightest cloud of the image is in the upper position behind the right part of the roof’s house.
Here is the result we should have:
Duplicate (Ctrl+J) the cloud layer once again and place the duplicate to cover the blank part with cloud texture. This is the result I created. Select all the cloud layers and hit Ctrl+G to group them into a folder. Name this folder/group cloud BG.
Step 10
Next we will fix the tree beside the house. We will add leaves for the tree.
To add the leaves for the tree, we will paint them for it using brush (B) provided in photoshop. Take the brush tool (B) and open the brush panel to set the shape the brush shape. Follow the setting as below:
After setting the brush, set the foreground color to #006113 and the background to #174f01. Create a new layer by hitting Shift+Ctrl+N. Name this new layer leaves. On this layer, stroke the brush on parts where the leaves should be added. Try to vary the size of the brush to get desired result. Here is the result for inspiration.
Step 11
Now we will set overall color for the scene. Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) above all the layers. Fill the layer (by hitting Shift+F5) with solid color of #09425f. Name this layer blue.
Set this layer to soft light blending at 100% opacity.
Duplicate (Ctrl+J) this blue layer. Set the duplicate to color blending at 100% opacity. This will give the scene overall blue tone.
We should reveal the green color of the lawn and leaves a bit. To do this, we should give the duplicate layer a layer mask. Mask some part around the lawn and leaves.
Next duplicate the blue layer once again. Set this duplicate to linier light at about 60% opacity. This will give the scene stronger bluish tone. Actually, we don’t need the bluish tone this much. We will hide the bluish effect a bit more by masking some part around the house, lawn, leaves and cloud.
Give the duplicate layer a layer mask. With very soft round brush, mask some areas mentioned before. We should vary the brush stroke and size when we want to mask some part of the cloud using the setting as the ones below to define cloud texture. Here is the setting:
Here is the result of the layer mask should look like I created. The parts marked in lined red are the masked parts stroked with the brush set before. The other parts are the ones stroked with a very soft round brush with clear brush control.
Here is the scene look like after masking.
Step 12
Now give the scene new adjustment layers. Go to layer > new adjustment layer > brightness/contrast. Set this layer to normal at 60% opacity
Give another adjustment layer: curves. Set this layer to normal blending at 100% opacity.
Step 13
Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) above all the other layers. Name this layer color. On this layer, paint color texture like the one below. This texture is combination of color dark blue #010b15 and greenish dark blue #041c28. Why do we choose this color combination? We will create gloomy misty nuance to the scene. This color combination will be a help to achieve this.
Set this layer to exclusion blending mode at 100% opacity.
Duplicate this layer two times. Set the first duplicate to exclusion blending at 100% opacity and the second one to multiply at 35% opacity. Give these two duplicates layer masks. Mask areas around the brightest cloud background and the top most part of the roof.
Step 14
Proceed to give another new adjustment layer above all the other layers. Go again to layer > new adjustment layers > brightness/contrast. Set this layer to normal blending at 80% opacity.
