[Figure 5.15] Establish the red foreground color as the gradient.

[Figure 5.16] Establish the blue background color as the gradient.

14. Let’s get the landscape to reflect the ambient light coming from the sunset. You use layer styles to do this. Double-click the landscape layer to bring up the Layer Style dialog box. Select a gradient from the menu and use the foreground color that is close to a reddish hue that was used for the sunset (see Figure 5.15). In addition, set the background color to the blue that was established for the sunset layer (see Figure 5.16). Play with the Opacity slider for this gradient to get a subtle effect. It is important to play with these settings to get the results that you are satisfied with. There is no substitute for pure experimentation.

[Figure 5.17] Commit the clouds as a Smart Object and reposition them into the horizon.

[Figure 5.18] Apply Motion Blur to the clouds.

15. In the Tutorials/ch 5 folder, open the clouds 001.tif file. Place the clouds in the upper portion of the sky (see Figure 5.17). Resize the clouds so they fit into the horizon. Also, reduce the clouds’ opacity to about 40% so they blend with the gradient.

16. Give the clouds a slight Motion Blur. Since the cloud’s image is a Smart Object, the filter for Motion Blur will become a Smart Filter (see Figure 5.18).

[Figure 5.19] Settings for Motion Blur applied to the clouds.

[Figure 5.20] Modify the architecture.

17. Figure 5.19 displays the settings used for Motion Blur. Experiment with different angles and blur effects to come up with something that you will like better.

18. This is where the real fun begins. Let’s start creating the underground city. Go to the Tutorials/ch 5 folder and open architecture 001.tif (see Figure 5.20A). You will apply quite a bit of distortion to these images, so you will not commit them as Smart Objects. Select the sky as you did with the landscape image using the Quick Selection tool (see Figure 5.20B). Then invert it and apply perspective so that the lower portion of the image is slightly shorter than the top. This will make the buildings look as if they’re extending downwards.

19. The whole concept of this tutorial is to apply some trickery to the eye. Sometimes working in more of an abstract fashion can help convey a figurative concept. So we will lay out a series of buildings, which will not take on any definite shape until later in the tutorial. To make sure that things don’t get too visually busy on the canvas, turn off the landscape layer and work with the visual aspects of the architectural images for the time being.