Making “The Quintet” Altered Reality

The Quintet

I took a photograph of my collection of wooden bird sculptures with the idea of creating a new acrylic painting. When I cut the figures out and placed them in a 20 x 16 canvas, I changed my mind and decided to go nuts!

The first thing I did was to create the 20 x 16 canvas then crop the image to fit nicely onto the canvas then make a duplicate layer.  I cut out the birds using Topaz Remask with the result replacing the duplicate layer.  I deleted the original layer then moved the duplicate layer to the upper half of the canvas.

The birds are standing in water so a copy of Layer 1 is renamed Layer 2, rotated 180 deg., then flipped horizontally.  The layer is then moved down to line up with the legs in Layer 1.  Finally, Layer 2 brightness is reduced.

Layer 1 is selected and the magic wand outlines the birds.  A background image is loaded copied then special pasted into creating Layer 3 with Blend Mode set to Overlay.  The sky brightness and contrast is adjusted so that the birds stand out.  Layer 3 is moved above the locked background layer which has been disabled.

Layer 2 is copied and renamed Layer 4.  The birds are isolated with the magic wand tool.  Edit-Fill-Color is selected with a dark blue.

Duplicate layer 3 and rename to Layer 5.  Flip Layer 5 180 deg., then move it over the refection.  Set the blend mode to Lighten and reduce the opacity by about 60%.

We need a brick wall to separate the water from the sky.   I chose a photo of a stone wall and copied a section out with a narrow sized rectangle marquee tool, then pasted it onto Layer 3 positioning it to be above the line between sky and water.  This layer is renamed Layer 7.

The water has a nice reflection but it needs to be contrasted with an opposite color.  I chose an image of a flowing river and cut out a section with the rectangle marquee tool and pasted it over Layer 5.  I changed the blend mode to hue and opacity to about 66%.   The layer is renamed Layer 6 That completes “The Quintet”. See first image.

Layer order in Photoshop

I shoot walls, tree trunks, gates, lamps, clouds, cloth, etc. and keep them in a folder “My Textures” with subfolders to identify each group.  When the time comes I have an image to use to make something for  “Altered Reality”.