Collage Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

Good day artists! In this issue of Tutorial Tuesday, You The Designer will show you how to create a collage photo manipulation artwork created by our resident graphic artist Romel Belga. Click on the button below to download all the resources you’ll need for this tutorial.

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Follow the step by step process below and try to recreate this awesome collage photo manipulation. Let’s get started!

Step 1 – Create a new 8.5×11 document in Photoshop (Ctrl+N>Preset: U.S. Paper).

Step 01 - Open 8.5x11

Step 2 – Place the background image (shutterstock_137585213) from the resources folder on top of the new document. Scale the image to a size just enough to fill the whole document.

Step 02 - Open wall BG & place in the document

Step 3 – Open another image (shutterstock_170568074) from the folder and isolate the man on a skateboard and make selection using Pen Tool (P). Place the isolated image on top of the background image.

Step 03 - Open photo & Make a selection

Step 04 - Place it in the Document

Step 4 – Duplicate the skateboarder layer. (Layer>Duplicate Layer) or (Ctrl+J). Select the duplicated layer and set its blending mode to Overlay.

Step 05 - Duplicate layer

Step 06 - Select the duplicate layer

Here’s how it should look like.

Step 07 - here's the effect

Step 5 – While the duplicated layer is selected, go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set the radius to 4.5 pixels. The next thing we have to do is select both layers of the skateboarder and merge them (Layer>Merge Layers) or (Ctrl+E).

Step 08 - highpass

Step 09 - highpass

Step 10 - Merge layers

Step 6 – Using the pen tool, select the part of the skateboarder shown in the image below. Make selection and cut (Ctrl+X) it. Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and Paste In Place (Shift+Ctrl+V) the cut part on top of it.

Step 11 - Select, Ctrl X - Ctrl V

Step 7 – Select the layer of the cut part and set its blending mode to Multiply and master Opacity to 45%.

Step 12 - Multiply - 45opacity

Step 8 – We’ll kinda just repeat what we did in steps 6 and 7. Select the part of the skateboarder layer shown in the image below using pen tool, make selection, cut the selected part (Ctrl+X), create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and Paste In Place (Shift+Ctrl+V) the cut part on top of it. Set the cut part layer’s master Opacity to 76%.

Step 13 - Select, Ctrl X - Ctrl V - Opacity 76

Step 9 – Select the background image then go to Image>Adjustments>Curves (Ctrl+M). Pick a point then set the Input to 178 and Output to 88.

Step 14 - Selec the Background layer - curves

Step 10 – Place the wing image (shutterstock_140933794) from the resources folder on top of the document then Flip it horizontally (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal).

Step 17 - Place in the document & horizontal flip

Step 11 – Divide and separate the wing image vertically so that we can individually manipulate each part.

Step 18 - devide the photo so you can rotate each photo

Step 12 – Drag both wing image layers underneath all skateboarder layers. Set the blending mode of both wing image layers to Multiply. Using Free Transform (Ctrl+T), rotate/resize and fix the position of both layers.

Step 19 - Send to back & multiply 7 rotate

Step 20 - Rotate & Make a bit bigger

Step 21 - Samething do the step 21 & 22

Here’s how they should look like depending on the transformation we did.

Step 22 - Result

Step 13 – The next thing we’d like to do is eliminate the parts where the arms and the wings overlap. While the left wing layer is active, select the left arm of the skateboarder using pen tool (P), make selection, and press Delete. Repeat the steps for the right wing and arm.

Step 23 - Select & Delete the wings

Here’s the result

Step 24 - Result

Step 14 – Place the cracked wall image (shutterstock_143259865) on top of the background image and set its blending mode to Multiply.

Step 25 - Open & Place in th document

Step 26 - Add some wall cracks and make it multiply

Step 15 – On top of all the current layers, place the flying birds image (shutterstock_154031132) and set its blending mode to Color Burn. Go to Image>Adjustments>Curves (Ctrl+M). Pick a point then set the Input to 89 and Output to 211.

Step 27 - Add on top - Color burn

Step 28 - Add on top - Color burn

Step 29 - Curves

Step 16 – Add splat images (Splat_201887173) on top of the document. Duplicate (Ctrl+J) the splat image layer three times then arrange them as seen on the image below. Adjust the Hue (Ctrl+U) of each duplicate and set their blending mode to Color Burn. Send some of the splat image layers above or underneath the skateboarder image.

Step 31 - Add splat - Color burn & aadjusted to diff colors

Here’s the result:

Step 32 - Add splat - Result

Step 17 – Using the brush tool (B), we’re going to create four round brush splats of different colors. Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and create the round brush splats as seen on the image below. Set the round brush splats layer’s blending mode to Screen and master Opacity to 50%.

Step 33 - brush

Step 33 - Steps

Here’s how it should look like

Step 34 - Result

Step 18 – On top of all current layers, place the grain image (shutterstock_191743223) from the resources folder. Resize the grain image just enough that it fills the whole document and set its blending mode to Overlay. Erase some parts where the skateboarder’s body and the grain image overlaps using the eraser tool (E) in 40% Opacity.

Step 35 - Open Grain Background

Step 36 - Steps

Here’s the result

Step 37 - Result

Step 19 – Place the dog image (shutterstock_106206842) on top of all current layers. Drop out the white background by doing the same thing we did on the skateboarder in Step 3 using the pen tool (P). Using again the pen tool (P), select the lower body of the dog image as seen on the image below and make selection. Cut the selected part of the dog image (Ctrl+X), create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N), and paste in place the cut part (Shift+Ctrl+V). Set the layer’s master Opacity to 38% then go to Image>Adjustments>Curves (Ctrl+M). Pick a point then set the Input to 187 and Output to 143.

Step 39 - Steps

Step 20 – Select the skateboarder layer and burn some parts using the burn tool (O) (Exposure: 30) as seen on the image below.

Step 41 - Burn Tool

As of this step, our artwork is actually finished and the next steps are just optional.

Step 21 – Place the first snake image (shutterstock_89072905) on top of all current layers. Drop out the background by doing the same thing we did on the dog image using the pen tool (P). Resize (Ctrl+T) the snake image and position it as seen on the image below. Go to Image>Adjustments>Curves (Ctrl+M). Pick a point then set the Input to 87 and Output to 62. Burn some parts using the burn tool (O) (Exposure: 30) as seen on the image below.

Step 43 - Steps

Result

Step 44 - Result

Step 22 – Place the second snake image (shutterstock_55631374) on top of all current layers. Drop out the background and crop the image using the pen tool (P). Flip it horizontally (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal). Resize (Ctrl+T) the snake image and position it as seen on the example below. Burn some parts using the burn tool (O) (Exposure: 30) as seen on the image below.

Step 45 -Steps

Step 23 – Place the crow image (shutterstock_104612966) on top of all current layers. Drop out the background using the pen tool (P). Flip it horizontally (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal). Resize (Ctrl+T) the crow image and position it as seen on the example below. Send the crow image underneath the red round brush splat layer. Go to Image>Adjustments>Curves (Ctrl+M). Pick two points then set the Input to 83 and Output to 66 to emphasize shadows and highlights.

Step 46 - Steps