Photoshop tutorial: Make ocean wallpaper

Hi, in this tutorial I will show you how to make nice minimalistic ocean wallpaper. It’s very simple tutorial but you should have at least basic knowledge of Photoshop.

Let us start by creating new document. I will set the size to 1440 x 900 which is my computer resolution, but you can set it to whatever suit you. To get nice gradient which will be used for underwater light rays, we have to create new document with double the size of original. In my case I will use document size 3000 x 1800. Select Gradient tool and mark Angle gradient option. Click to edit gradient and click on Load… button. From the dialog select Noise samples.grd.

This will load noise gradients into Photoshop. Select the gradient shown in the picture bellow.

Now click on the top-middle of the large document and drag to the top. This will make gradient through the entire document.

Make a selection with the size of original document in the bottom half of the large document and copy it to the original document.

Go to original document and create new layer below the pasted selection layer. Fill it with gradient going from blue to dark blue.

Add inner glow by double clicking on the layer and use next settings.

Now desaturate the pasted selection layer by clicking SHIFT + CTRL + U and change it to overlay mode.

Now this looks like a nice ocean, but we’ll add more details to the picture. First we’ll make surface glow. Choose brush tool from tools bar, set it to white, 100% softness and 600px. Click on the middle of the document to get soft white dot. Then resize it so it’ll look like vertical ellipse. Change the layer to the overlay mode and put it on top of the document so only the lower half will be shown.

Repeat the last process but don’t transform the brush and make it about 300px large. Change layer mode to overlay and put it on top of the previous ellipse. You’ll get this image.

Ocean is now complete. If you like minimalistic wallpapers that’s about it otherwise you can add some nice seaweed on the bottom and logo on the center. To add seaweed just go to http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/applications/psbrushes/?order=9&alltime=yes and download brushes you like.