Making of Arcadia by Benjamin Letigeb, Italy


First I used the blur tool (shortcut key "R"), choose a small brush, zoomed in and made some cracks in the columns and the stony steps.


To make the ground more sandy I drew a selection by hand (you can do this with Photoshop selection tools or with the path tool - shortcut key "P") I copied the selection to a new layer, kept the original sand untouched and added some noise. You can adjust the effect intensity by holding down "Command - Shift - F"- If you use this key combination immediately after applying a Photoshop effect, a small window appears where you can change the effect opacity and the layer blending mode.


In a new layer I created a selection on the things I wanted to illuminate. Then I filled the selection with a simple radial gradient (from yellow/gold 100% to yellow transparent). Before I was satisfied with the look I transformed the whole layer a little bit (edit / transform / distort). This gives illusion of a bright light that shines directly from the distant background into the column hall. To make the gradient itself less visible I changed the layer blending mode from normal to overlay and set the opacity about 40%. I repeated this process several times with different gradient colors and layer blending modes until I was satisfied with the result.


The last thing that I will mention in this tutorial is the brightness correction. As you certainly know you don't have to permanently apply a level or any adjustments to an image. I always prefer the adjustment layers. They work as normal layers; you can apply, copy, edit and remove them and you can use the layer mask! I opened up a new - Adjust Levels - layer and put it on the top of my stack. In the beginning you don't have to adjust here anything, we will come back to the settings later. First I tweaked the layer mask to limit the effect. I have done this by clicking on the layer mask to activate it (don't forget to press the ALT button at the same time) Now we need the gradient tool again (first color white, second black). I drew a gradient from top to bottom. Now the - Adjust Levels - layer affects only the white area whereas the black stay untouched. Then I opened up the - Levels - settings again and played around with the black bar and buttons until the bottom of the image was darker than the rest. I used this technique a few more times to create the desired mood. In the end I fitted all layers together and added a slight sharpness effect to the image. That's it :) Hope you like this making tutorial.


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