In our previous tutorial, you learnt how to retouch underwater elements to make things appear more realistic. In this lesson, you will learn how to work with color and textures to enhance your composition.
If you prefer video tutorials, watch the complete Advanced Photoshop Techniques course from the Tuts+ YouTube channel. Additionally, you can check out the Advanced Photoshop course page.
Download the items used to create an album cover in Photoshop from this collection on Envato:
Watch how to color balance and blend textures in Photoshop
How to color balance in Photoshop
Step 1
Now, let's start balancing the colors. Add a Solid Color Adjustment Layer to the sky, picking a bright blue color similar to the sea.
Change the Blending Mode to Color, clip it to the sky, invert it, and then brush along the ocean surface. Your aim is to match the color of the sea in the background to the color in the foreground to blend the two halves together more seamlessly.
Step 2
Next, let's use a Color Balance Adjustment Layer to make the tall rocks pick up some of the pink from the sky.
Step 3
I want the top of the guitar to stand out above the rocks, so let's trim the top of the rock on the right using a simple Layer Mask. Use a large brush to remove the bulk of the rock area above the line shown below, and then go back over the edge with a smaller brush to create a harder edge.
How to blend textures in Photoshop
Step 1
Now, let's find out how to add textures in Photoshop. Turn on the bark texture for the guitar that you added in an earlier lesson to make the layer visible.
Step 2
Right-click and go to Blending options. Grab the left slider from the Underlying layer, hold Alt/Option to separate the two halves of the slider, and click and drag it to the right to blend the texture into the guitar.
Step 3
You could also play around with the blending modes and opacity until you get something that you're happy with.
Step 4
Take a moment now to look over everything you've done in the composition and clean up any areas that need it before we move on to the next lesson.
Discover more Photoshop resources and tutorials
In this tutorial, you learnt how to work with color and textures to enhance your composition for your music album cover design.
In the next tutorial, you'll learn how to blend text in an album cover in Photoshop. Be sure to check out other upcoming articles on Envato Tuts+ and the Envato blog to discover more Photoshop tutorials. And for the digital subscription that will cover all your creative Photoshop assets and needs, visit Envato!
Here are some great resources to get you started:
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