Create a dreamscene landscape

This tutorial will teach you how to transform a plain image of a landscape into a mesmerizing, artistic scene. This is the image we will be starting from:



Step 1. Open the image and paste this texture over it using the blending mode: Lighten, 100%.

Step 2. Paste the texture again over the image, this time using this blending mode: Hard Light, 100%. To create an elegant vignette effect, choose the Eraser Tool, with a very large diameter (to obtain a smooth, uniform effect) and use it on the center of the image as seen in the screenshot below:



Another interesting alternative would be choosing Screen, 100% instead of Hard Light and then duplicating the layer to accentuate the effect.



Step 3. The next step is to really bring out the best out of this image by enhancing its colors. You can accomplish this by successively adding three Selective Color adjustment layers. Keep in mind that depending on the initial image these settings can result in different outcomes.

The first layer:
Greens: -100 -100 +100 0
Cyans: 100 0 -100 0
Neutrals: +30 0 -30 +5

The second layer:
Yellows: -100 0 0 0
Greens: -100 +100 +100 0
Cyans: 100 0 -100 0
Neutrals: 0 0 -30 +5

The third layer:
Neutrals: +46 0 +46 0

Step 4. Next we’re going to add an appropriate text. I’ve chosen one of the quotes here. The placement of the text is very important so try to position it on the left bottom part of the image, in a way that will compliment the whole composition. For this tutorial I chose a white color, Palatino Linotype, 14pt and added an Outer Glow effect with the opacity set to 25%.

Step 5. We will finish by adding this light texture beneath the text. Paste it and modify it accordingly to fit the image. The effect has to be subtle, but noticeable. I used Blur -> Motion Blur on a distance of 34 pixels. Then by pressing Ctrl+T I rotated it to place it diagonally. Then I deleted some unnecessary parts and some areas underneath the text that made it difficult to read.


The final result:




By using this image and following the same steps, I also obtained this:

Experiment with different Selective Color settings and light textures to obtain different effects, be creative!