How To Create Dark Hollow

Hi guys!

I’m back with more fun stuff to do with Photoshop. This time, I took a step forward to a more complex tutorial. Don’t be afraid – it’s really not hard and it will be great fun. If you follow steps in this tutorial this should be the result of your effort:

So let’s get started and hopefully you’ll enjoy it.

Step 1

Open a new document and choose dimensions. I went with 1280x1440 but you can make your image larger than this just make sure that the images you’ll use have high resolution. Bring in the first image, which is the background. I’ll use this picture here.

What we need to do is to make it darker and reduce the saturation, after all this will be dark hollow. So the first thing we’ll do is to reduce saturation.

I’ll bring saturation down to about -60. Click Ctrl+U or go to Image> Adjustments and choose Hue/Saturation.

I still want it darker than this. So go to Image>Adjustments and choose Curves or click Ctrl+M. I played around with the RGB levels until I got the result I’m looking for

If you need to, you can adjust the Red, Green and Blue channels separately for a better result.

I also applied a Photo Filter. But if you’re happy with your picture, you don’t need to. To apply a Photo Filter, go to Image>Adjustments again and choose Photo Filter. Choose a dark blue color and set density to around 70%.

Step 2

Now, I’ll add a dark cloud so it matches more with the image we want to create. After you bring on the image, add a mask layer and choose a smooth black brush and start removing the bottom part so it can blend with the ground image as shown below.

I’ll again play with the saturation of the clouds. Click Ctrl+U to go to the Hue/Saturation window.

Add a new layer and Fill it with black or a very dark blue color. Choose Darken in the layer mode and with an eraser and a smooth brush, remove the lower part so the layer would only darken the clouds.

Step 3

Next, I’ll add roots of a tree. I’ll use this image below.

I’ll reduce the saturation and make it darker using the Curves option. Below are the values I used.

Again, you can play the RGB channels separately if you need to. However, for this image, it’s not needed.

Now add a Mask layer to the tree roots image and using black brush, remove the unwanted parts of the images leaving only the roots.
TIP: Using same brush, reduce the opacity and go over some roots. That way, the roots will look more realistic coming out of the ground.

If you need the roots to be darker, play around with the Curves or use the Burn Tool.

Step 4

Next step is to add a tree trunk:

Now, instead of reducing the saturation and playing with the levels and so on, we can match the color of this image to the root image we manipulated before. Go to Image>Adjustments and Choose Match Color. In the source, choose the PSD file we’re working with. In the layer, select the roots layer and then play around with Luminosity and Color Intensity to get best results.

Add a mask layer to the image and start removing the unwanted parts of the image until it blends perfectly with the background and the roots we added before.

Step 5

It’s time to modify the top of the tree trunk. I used few brushes to accomplish that and to remove roughness at the top:

I also wanted to add some more effects to the tree and make it more realistic in this environment. I’ll add some sliver on the tree using the brush shown below.

Step 6

I have this front image of a box and I want to make it 3D. But first I need to add a mask layer to this image and remove the unwanted part with the black brush as we did before. I reduced the saturation and adjusted the Curves. Below are the values I used.

Now duplicate the layer and click Ctrl+T to bring in the Transform Tool. By clicking on Ctrl and moving the corners of the image, we’re distorting it so we can make it the side of the box as shown below.

You can add a mask layer to this duplicated image and blend it with the front so it wouldn’t look like it was copied. After you’re done with the box, merge the layers by selecting the top layer and clicking Ctrl+E to merge the mask layers as well.

Then drag the box behind the trunk so it would show like this:

Step 7

I had a picture of some branches so I added them to the image too:

Step 8

I got some moss and birds brushes online. You can search for them easily on Google. You’ll find some of them for free. I added them to the image.

Step 9

I got this skull image and I added it to the image as well. I kind of like it in the image and it looks really cool.

I added a layer mask and removed the unwanted parts of the image. I also made it really small and added the following effects.

Step 10

I added a chain around the tree like it’s shown below. You can find them online as brushes as well.

Step 11

Now the image is almost complete. The last thing we want to add is some fog. To do that, create a new layer and go to Filter>Render and choose Clouds. Then apply a Gausian Blur by going to Filter>Blur as shown below.

Choose the layer mode as Screen and lower the opacity to about 40%.

Add a layer mask and remove the fog from the clouds and a little bit from the tree just to make it look better and that’s it.

Result

You should have something very similar to this image in the end: