In this tutorial, you will learn how to create an amazing winter scene with a snowfall effect in Photoshop.
Program: Photoshop CS5
Estimated Completion Time: 40 Minutes
The following assets were used in the creation of this tutorial.
Now we have everything we need, so let’s start designing.
Step 1
Create a new document with Width 1400px and Height 1200px.
Step 2
Open the image and paste it in your document.
Step 3
Next, in order to create night effect, we will just have to adjust the sky tone for this particular image.
Select the ‘quick selection tool’ to make selection around the clouds.
Now click Ctrl+ C to copy the selected area, then create a new layer above the image and press Ctrl+ V to paste the selection. Label this layer as ‘sky’.
Step 4
Now to give night effect, click on this sky layer and go to Image> Adjustments> Black and White and use the following values.
Step 5
Next, we’ll hide the lake with snow. Select soft round brush for this and # ffffff color. Apply the brush on the lake as shown below.
Now open the clouds image. Select a portion of clouds using ‘magic wand tool’. Click Ctrl+ C to copy it and then paste this selection on a new layer by pressing Ctrl+ V. You can resize it accordingly by pressing Ctrl+ T.
Drag the clouds to the bottom of the image to occupy just the ground area using the ‘move tool’.
Step 6
You can adjust appearance of the clouds layer by changing brightness and contrast. Then reduce the opacity of this layer to 50%.
Now duplicate this layer twice. Drag these copies to the middle and right sides to cover the ground completely.
Step 7
Next, we’ll create snow fall effect. Create a new layer, fill it with # 000000 color using ‘paint bucket tool’. Then go to Filter> Artistic> Sponge and use the following settings.
Set the blending mode of this layer to ‘screen’.
Step 8
Next, we’ll give our image grainy texture to enhance the snow fall effect. Create a new layer; fill it with # 000000 color. Then go to Filter> Noise> Add Noise. Use the following values here.
Set the blending mode of this layer to ‘screen’.
Step 9
Select the hard round brush and #ffffff color and draw spots as shown below in a new layer.
Duplicate this layer, label it as snow fall2. Reduce the opacity of this layer to 30% and of snow fall1 to 60%. Create a new layer and apply the moon and star brushes on it. You would get this effect so far.
Step 10
Open the house image, select, copy and paste it on a new layer in your document in the same way as we did for clouds in step 5. Resize it by pressing Ctrl+ T and reduce the opacity of this layer to 70-80%. After that, use the ‘rectangular marquee tool’ to select any window, then go to Edit> Clear. Clear all windows in the same way. Then create a new layer below the house layer. Use soft round brush and # fff59f color to apply it just behind the windows to give the appearance of lights coming out from the house.
Step 11
Create a new layer above the house layer. Select the brush tool and # ffffff color. Apply the brush over the roof of the house to give the impact that it is cover with snow. Click on this layer and press Ctrl+ thumbnail of the house and click ‘add layer mask’ icon, which is present in the bottom of the layers panel. After that, go to Layer> Layer style and use the following settings.
Reduce the opacity of this layer to 85%. Collect all house layers in a group and place them behind the snow fall layers.
Step 12
Create a new layer at top. Now we’ll create lamp using ‘pen tool’. Draw the basic shape. Draw each part in a separate layer.
Then click on the lamp holding clamp layer and go to Layer> Layer style. Use the following settings.
Copy and paste the layer style of this layer on the rest of the lamp layers, except the bulb layer. Use the following settings for the bulb.
Step 13
Create a new layer above the lamp and use ‘brush tool’, 2px size to make fallen snow over the lamp.
Lastly, duplicate the snow fall layer and place this copy above all layers. That’s it. We are done with our winter effect.
Hope you learned something useful. Don’t forget to give your feedback. Have fun!
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