Learn new methods and tricks to create a very complex but cool composition
Start a new document. We’ve named ours ‘Water Effect’, and made it 255mm by 300mm with 300dpi, so that it’s big enough for the composition.
Grab the Gradient tool (G) and click Edit to open the Gradient Editor. Create a new gradient using the colours #0e254f and #2e87c5, set it to Linear and then click OK.
Go to File>Place, find your subject and hit Place, or just paste in a picture to work from. Resize the image and then duplicate four times.
Grab the Quick Selection tool (A) and, using a hard brush, select the hair. Click the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers panel, or choose Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. Now Ctrl/right-click on the layer thumbnail and choose Simplify Layer (CS users click on Rasterise).
Now select the arms, hands and legs, repeating the previous step. Add a layer mask and then Simplify the layer. Do the same for the face and the dress, naming each layer accordingly: ‘Woman_Hair’, ‘Woman_Dress’ and so on.
Select the Woman_Hair layer and hit Cmd/Ctrl+U. Set the Saturation to -100% and then change the blend mode to Screen. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+L to open Levels, setting the Input Levels to 20, 1.00 and 120.
Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, set the Radius to 3px and click OK. Now go to Filter>Plastic Wrap. Set the Highlight Strength to 30, Detail to 1 and Smoothness to 5, then click to confirm.
Select the Woman_Face layer and go to Enhance>Auto Smart Fix (Opt/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+M). Click Adjust Hue/Saturation (Cmd/Ctrl+U) and set the Saturation to -100. Now go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set the Radius to 15px.
Change the blending mode for the layer to Hard Light , then open Levels (Cmd/Ctrl+L), setting Input to 65, 0.85, 175 and the Output to 95 and 245. Go to Filter>Artistic>Plastic Wrap and set Highlight: 15, Detail: 2 and Smoothness: 10.
Select the Woman_Arms layer, then go to Enhance>Auto Smart Fix (Opt/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+M). Hit Cmd/Ctrl+U and change the Saturation to -100. Go to Filter>Stylise>Glowing Edges and set Edge Width to 5, Brightness to 20 and Smoothness to 15.
Select the Woman_Dress layer and repeat the previous steps. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+U, set the Saturation to -100 and the blend mode to Screen. Go to Filter>Artistic>Plastic Wrap and enter Highlights: 20, Detail: 1 and Smoothness: 10. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+L, setting Input to 25, 0.80 and 220.