Learn to Photoshop
How it was done

A Storm in a Teacup

• The background is an image of a wild river in full flood. In fact two photographs of the river were merged to create a vertical format.

  This layer was copied.

• A traditional teacup and saucer were used - bone china and delicate floral pattern. It seemed to convey the feeling of a calm tea-time better than using a modern-style cup. It was photographed at an angle.
• The teacup was positioned on the water background and resized with transform.

It was placed underneath the two copies of the wild water.

• The visibility of the middle layer of water was turned off.

• The top layer of water was given a Mask and with a black brush most of the layer was hidden, just leaving the water inside the cup.

• A Mask was put on to the lower water layer. A black brush was used to reveal the cup and saucer underneath. The rim of the saucer was hidden with a soft brush so that it dissolved slightly into the background.

• A Levels Adjustment layer was put on water background layer.
  Its strength was reduced by lowering the black in Levels Output.

Home