Day 12 - How to Add stars in Photoshop

What I did:
      Today, in Independent studies, I decided to learn how to add stars in Photoshop. This is a technique that you can use to add things to pictures in Photoshop. I wanted to learn this so I could add other things to pictures in Photoshop to make them either look better or just for fun. I decided to just do something basic like adding stars because fast and simple. It's a really quick technique that you can use in a matter of minutes.

Before:

After:

First, I brought an image of stars onto the picture of the prairie. I also put it at the top so the stars would reach the whole thing. I then changed the blend mode to screen.

 

Secondly, I duplicated my stars layer and made sure I could reach the ends of the picture. I then merged the layers to make them into one selective layer. 

Next,  I decided to create a new adjustment layer. With this layer, you can adjust the lighting of all the layers.

After that, I created a clipping mask, this clipping mask allowed me to adjust only the colours of the layer beneath it and not all the layers.

Finally, I adjusted the bar so the stars blended into the background and it looked very natural.

What I learned:

Today, I learned a lot about some tools in Photoshop. I learned that an adjustment layer is used for adjusting the colour for layers. This adjustment layer adjusts the colour for all the layers rather than just the layer that we need which the stars layer. We need it for the stars layer because that's the thing that needs to blend into the picture to make it look realistic so I also learned about the creating a clipping mask. The clipping mask is used for just adjusting the colours of the layers that is right below it, so I used this and created a group with it. I then adjusted the bar to make it blend in. The black icon changes the dark colours, the white bar changes the light colours and the middle bar changes both.

What I plan to learn tomorrow:

Tomorrow, I plan to learn something that doesn't involve editing a picture. Tomorrow, I plan to learn some keyboard shortcuts for photoshop. Since, I plan to use Photoshop for another two weeks, I think it would be beneficial that I learn more things about the program that would make it easier to use and I wouldn't waste as much time as I would if I didn't know about the shortcuts. That is my goal for tomorrow.