In this Photoshop tutorial, we are going to make a surreal smoking bird composition photo. Here we are using a bird image and Photoshop smoke brushes. We are quit sure that you will definitely like this Photoshop tutorial, and appreciate our awesome creation. So enjoy and remember to share your lovely comments with us.

Other photoshop tutorials:

Tutorial details:

  • Program: Adobe Photoshop CS5
  • Difficulty: Intermediate
  • Estimated Completion Time: 40 Mins

Inspirational Surreal Smoking Bird Composition – Final Preview

Final Preview

Tools and Resources

Tools and Resources

External Resources

Photoshop Tools

  • Brush Tool
  • Eraser Tool
  • Gradient Overlay
  • Polygonal Lasso Tool

Lets start to create our surreal smoking bird composition in photoshop.

Step 1

Create a new document (Ctrl+N) with 1000×800 of size.

Create New Document

Step 2

First of all fill background with black color #000000, now add the Flying Bird Image in photoshop.

Add Bird Image in Photoshop

Rasterize bird image select Polygonal Lasso Tool from tool panel and make a selection around the bird as like in preview.

Make a Selection

After make selection press (Ctrl+J) to duplicate the selected area name it Bird then delete the original image and we get this result.

Duplicate Bird Layer

Step 4

Now in this step duplicate the bird layer name it 1st Duplicate, hide the original bird layer and applying Hue Saturation on 1st duplicate bird layer.

Go to Image > Adjustment > Hue Saturation.

Hue Saturation

After set hue saturation we get cool effect on 1st duplicate bird layer.

Get Cool Effect

Step 5

Here now duplicate the 1st duplicate bird layer name it 2nd Duplicate hide 1st duplicate layer and set the Brightness and Contrast of 2nd duplicate layer.

Go to Image > Adjustment > Brightness and Contrast.

Brightness and Contrast

Brightness and contrast penal opened, now set Brightness (27) and Contrast (34).

Brightness and Contrast Setting

After brightness and contrast setting we get this new result.

Get New Result

Set Blend Mode to (Overlay) of this 2nd duplicate layer.

Set Blend Mode Overlay

Step 6

Now unhidden 1st duplicate layer, select both 1st and 2nd duplicate layers and merge them
(Ctrl+E).

Merge Both Duplicate Layers

After Merge both layers now duplicate this merge layer and applying Gaussian Blur on duplicate merge layer.

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

Gaussian Blur

After applying gaussian blur we get this result.

Get Result

Set Blend Mode to (Screen) of this blur layer.

Set Blend Mode to Screen

Step 7

Now create a new layer bottom of all layers (Shift+Ctrl+N) applying Radial Gradient on this layer, set gradient white to transparent as like in preview.

Gradient Overlay

After applying gradient we get this new result as like in picture below.

Get New Result

Set Opacity (30%) of this gradient layer.

Down Opacity