Software used: Photoshop CS3 or higher
Difficulty: Intermediate
Completion Time: 2 Hours

Create a Spooky Halloween Photomanipulation – Photoshop tutorial

About Halloween

“Halloween (or Hallowe’en) is an annual holiday observed on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints’ Day, but is today largely a secular celebration. Common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films.” Wikipedia.org

What You´ll Be Creating

Inspiration

Before we start with the tutorial let’s take a look at few Halloween photomanipulations to get the idea how this type of pictures usually looks.

Halloween by JtotheOctotheE

Halloween night by Nataly1st

The Art of Horror by Sven Sauer

What has Halloween photo manipulation usually in common? Let’s take a look at following list:

1. spooky atmosphere
2. night settings
3. witches or witchcraft
4. carving jack-o’-lanterns

You may keep it in mind during creating your own picture.

Create Your Own Photo Manipulation

You already know how the Halloween photomanipulation could look so it’s time to create your own. In this tutorial you will learn different types of color adjustments, how to change lights and shadows, use custom brushes, warping objects and create strong focal point. Let’s get started!

Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Photoshop CS3 and higher Difficulty: Intermediate Completion Time: 2 Hours

Resources

Before you start download following resources to your computer.

• Background, sun and sky – Pelleron-Art
• Haunted House by Fairiegoodmother
• Pumpkin by Nox-Stock
• Raven by Amicizia-Sowe
• Branch brushes by midnightstouch
• Ghost brushes by Linzee777
• Grunge Textures by pelleron

Step 1 – Preparing the Background

This step will be quite quick. Download the picture of the background and open it in Photoshop. To decrease saturation of the picture add a new adjustment layer Hue/Saturation. You can find the button Create new fill or adjustment layer in the bottom part of the Layers Palette. (If you don´t see this palette go to Window > Palette or press F7 on your keyboard.)

In all my tutorials I always recommend to use adjustment layers instead of direct adjustments which can be found in Image > Adjustments… With adjustments layers you can change the adjustment whenever you want but with direct adjustments only as many steps back as you have set your History. Back to the tutorial. As I already said add new adjustment layer Hue/Saturation and set the value Saturation on -20.

Because you want the adjustment layer to adjusts only one layer bellow (which means BACKGROUND) right click on the adjustment and select the option Create Clipping Mask.

After this step your image should look like the one below.

Step 2 – Adding the House

As you may see the left part of the image is quite empty and it looks uninteresting. To make it better looking you should add something there. And since this is Halloween photo manipulation what could be better than some old scary house? Open the picture of the house and cut out the background. Drag it into your photomanipulation. Name this new layer HOUSE and put it on the top of the layers. Press Ctrl + T on your keyboard and resize the house on proper size. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal to flip the layer.

Step 3 – Blending the House

Right now the house doesn’t look like it belongs to the scene. If you compare it with the tree on the right the house is too dark and has very high contrast. It should be lower because of all the mist which is in the scene. Before you start with adjusting let’s blend bottom part of the house little better. Add new layer mask to the HOUSE. You can find the button Add new layer mask on the bottom part of the Layers palette left to the button Create new fill or adjustment layer you’ve used in previous step.

Using layer mask instead of the Eraser tool has the same advantages as using adjustment layers. Layer mask hide parts of the image you want but doesn’t erase them as the Eraser Tool so you can let them appear any time you want.

Make sure that the layer mask is active – just click on it. Grab the Brush Tool (B), select soft round brush and set the Opacity on 80%. Pick black color and paint over the bottom part of the house which you want to disappear. Your image should look like the one below so far.

To make the house look like it’s in the mist in distance lower the Opacity of the layer HOUSE on 50%. Another thing you need to do is to lower the contrast of the building. Add new adjustment layer Brightness/Contrast above the HOUSE and set the value Contrast on -80.

Right click on the adjustment layer Brightness/Contrast and create a clipping mask from it. After this step your image should look like the following picture.

Step 4 – Warping the House

As you may see the house looks like it’s falling outside the picture. You´ll fix it in this step. Go to Edit > Transform > Warp. The grid appears which you can use to change the shape of the house. Change the grid similarly as on the picture below and than press Enter on your keyboard.

Step 5 – Reflection of the House

Another thing which has to be done to house looks real is reflection of it on the water. You can do it very easily. Right click on the HOUSE and select the option Duplicate layer. Name this new layer e.g. HOUSE REFLECTION and place it under the HOUSE. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to flip it. Grab the Move Tool (V) and place the reflection on proper place. Add new layer mask to the HOUSE REFLECTION. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick black color and paint over the reflection which is is on the ground and because that shouldn’t be visible. Now lower the Opacity of this layer on 15% to make it realistic looking. On the following picture you can see how your picture should look so far.

Step 6 – Adding Sun

The sky on the picture is quite boring. You´ll make it more dramatic in this step. First of all you´ll add the sun. Drag the picture of the sun into your manipulation. Name the layer SUN and place it on the top of all layers. To blend it properly add a layer mask to this layer. Grab the Gradient Tool (G) and fill the layer mask with solid black color. The sun disappears. To make it visible and well blended grab the Brush Tool (B), select soft round brush and set the Master Diameter 300 px. Lower the Opacity of the brush on 60% and pick white color. Now paint white dot on the place where the sun is. Below you can see what I mean.

Sky around the sun is more saturated than the background sky. You need to lower the saturation. To do that add new adjustment layer Hue/Saturation above the SUN and set the value Saturation on -85.

After this step your image should be like the one below.

Step 7 – Adding Clouds

It would also look nice if there are some decent clouds in the sky. Open the picture of the clouds and drag it into the manipulation. Place the layer on the top of all layers and name it CLOUDS. Press Ctrl + T on your keyboard and resize it on proper size. To make CLOUDS nicely blended with the rest of the image change the Blending Mode of this layer from Normal on Soft Light.

Add new layer mask to the CLOUDS. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick black color and paint over the areas where the clouds shouldn’t be or don´t look nice. On the picture below I painted with red the parts which should be hidden to give you some inspiration how to do it in your picture.

Below you can see how the image should look so far.

Step 8 – The Pumpkin

The background is done. Let´s focus on the middleground now. In this step you´ll add the pumpkin and make its eyes’ scary glow. Open the picture of the pumpkin in Photoshop. Cut out the background and drag it into your photo manipulation. Place it on the top of all layers and name it PUMPKIN. Press Ctrl + T on your keyboard and resize it. Press Enter. Add new layer on the top of all layer and name it e.g. GLOW. Grab the Brush Tool (B), set the Master Diamter on 70 pixels and lower the Opacity on 30%. Pick #fbe062 yellow color and paint dots above both orbits (eye sockets). Make the Master Diameter smaller, about 50 px, and paint two more dots. Make the brush even smaller and paint two more dots. On the following picture you can see what I mean.

To make the eyes really glow change the Blending Mode on Color Dodge.

It would look better if there are pupils in the orbits. You can make it very easily with the Brush Tool (B). Create a new layer on the top of all layers and name it PUPILS. Grab the Brush Tool (B) and set the Master Diameter on 10 pixels. Higher the Opacity on 80% and pick #ffd163 yellow color. Paint dots in the places where the pupils should be. Below you can see how the picture looks after this step.

Step 9 – Adding the Raven

This will be a quick step in which you´ll add the raven.

Open the picture with raven. Select the same one I used in my picture, cut out the background and drag it into your manipulation. Place it on the top of all layers, name it RAVEN and resize it.

Raven would look better if it’s bit lighter. To do that add new adjustment layer Levels and set the Input Levels as on the picture below.

Don´t forget to create clipping mask from it because you want to adjust only RAVEN.

Step 10 – Adding the Foreground

It always looks great if picture has background, middleground and foreground. It creates an impression of space. In your picture the background is created by the sky, house and the tree. In the middleground there is the trunk, pumpkin and raven. And now you need to fill the foreground. You´ll do it by adding some branches and grass.

Install the branch brushes into the Photoshop. If you don´t know how to install the brushes you can take a look at
this tutorial.

Select one of the brushes you’ve just installed. Increasehe Opacity of the brush on 100%, pick some dark brown color and paint the branches similarly as on the preview picture.

Right now the branches looks flat, which isn’t realistic. To give them some plasticity click on the button Add a layer style on the bottom part of the Layers palette.

Do the following settings.

Now install the grass brushes. Add a new layer on the top of all layers and name it GRASS. Select some of the brushes you’ve just installed, pick some dark brown or green color and paint the grass similarly as on the preview picture.

After this step your image should look like the one below.

Step 11 – Light on the Raven

There should be some yellow reflected light on the raven. You’ll add it in this step. This step will be easier if you have tablet but with a little practice you can do it with mouse too.

Add new layer above the RAVEN and name it RAVEN LIGHT. Grab the Brush Tool (B), select some soft round brush and set the Master Diameter on about 10 pixels. Lower the Opacity on 15% and pick some light yellow color. Now paint over the parts of the raven where the light from the pumpkin hits.

On the picture below you can see where I painted the reflected light to get inspiration.

Step 12 – Shadow Under the Pumpkin

Another thing which needs to be done before you´ll start with color adjustments is the shadow under the pumpkin. There is none so far and it looks unrealistic.

Add new layer under the PUMPKIN and name it e.g. PUMPKIN´S SHADOW.

Grab the Brush Tool (B). Set the Master Diameter on 5 pixels and the Opacity on 70%. Pick some dark color. Avoid black because it looks really harsh on most of the images. Paint a thin line between the trunk and the pumpkin. Below you can see what I mean.

Lower the Opacity of the brush on 40% and paint bigger shadow on the trunk.

Step 13 – Adding Ghosts

According to me the lake is too empty and uninteresting. Let´s add some ghosts to make it more interesting and create a scarier atmosphere.

Install the ghost brushes you’ve downloaded in the beginning of the tutorial. Create new layer under the PUMPKIN´S SHADOW and name it GHOSTS.

Grab the Eyedropper Tool (I) and pick the light grey color from the sun. Now grab the Brush Tool (B), select one of the ghost brushes, set Master Diameter on 70 pixels and lower the Opacity on 15%. Paint some ghosts on the pond similarly as on the preview picture.

Grab the Eraser Tool (E), lower the Opacity to 40% and erase the bottom parts of the ghosts to make them nicely blend with the water.

You should get something like on the following picture after this step.

Step 14 – Changing Shadows

All main elements are already placed in the photo manipulation. And it’s time to create more dramatic lights and shadows.

Add new layer on the top of all layers and name it GLOBAL LIGHT. Grab the Gradient Tool (G), pick #808080 grey color and fill the layer with it. Change the Blending Mode of this layer on Overlay.

Grab the Brush Toll (B), select some soft round brush and pick black color. Lower the opacity on about 15% and paint over the areas where you want shadows. Paint over some areas of clouds to make them more dramatic looking. And don´t forget to add shadow under the raven.

After you´re done with shadows pick white color and paint lights. Paint around the pumpkin´s eyes and mouth, left part of the trunk and the roof which is close to the sun.

Below you can see what I painted to get the inspiration. On the first picture there is the layer with Normal Blending Mode and on the second with Overlay Blending Mode.

Step 15 – Adjustments

Let´s change colors of the picture. First of all add new adjustment layer Hue/Saturation on the top of all layers and set it as on the picture below.

Contrast of the picture should be little higher. You can easily fix it by adding adjustment layer Levels. Set the Input Levels on 6; 0,83; 219.

To create the right spooky atmosphere it would be great to add more green/cyan tones to the picture.

Add new layer on the top of all layers. Grab the Gradient Tool (G) and pick #39d1a0 color. Fill the layer with it. To blend the layer with rest of the image change the Blending Mode on Multiply and lower the Opacity on 25%.

Now grab the Brush Tool (B), pick #b7d364 color, set Master Diameter to 300 px and set the Opacity to 100%. Paint dot on the pumpkin. It creates nice glow around it.

Below you can see how the picture looks after this step.

Step 16 – Omni Light

The manipulation would look better if there is more contrast between focal point – the pumpkin and the rest of the image. You´ll create the contrast in this step.

Add new layer on the top of all layers and name it OMNI LIGHT. Grab the Gradient Tool (G) and fill the layer with solid #808080 color.

Go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects… and set the window as on the following picture.

Press OK and change the Blending Mode of this layer on Overlay. Lower the Opacity of this layer on 70% to make the effect softer.

You should get the look like on the next picture.

Step 17 – Grunge Texture

Only one thing which needs to be done left – adding grunge texture.

Drag one of the grunge textures you’ve already downloaded into the manipulation. Press Ctrl + T and resize it on proper size. To blend the texture nicely change the Blending Mode to Soft Light and lower the opacity to 20%.

Step 18 – Final Touch

One last, quick color adjustment. Increase the contrast by adding a new adjustment layer Levels on the top of all layers and setting Input Levels on 14; 0,90; 227.

The picture would also look better with bit more saturated colors. To do that add a new adjustment layer Hue/Saturation on the top and set the value Saturation on + 18.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve just finished. I really hope that the tutorial was useful for you, that you’ve learned something new or found inspiration for your next artwork.

I would love to see links to images based on this tutorial in the comments. It would also be great if you write your opinions on this tutorial, any tips or ideas about what you want to read next time.