Sunrise

This page shows some key steps in the making of the Sunrise wallpaper available in the downloads/wallpapers section.

Originals
An image of Michigan taken from the space shuttle.

Step 1
The earth separated from the rest of the image and placed into a new file.

Step 2
A color layer put over the Earth to make it look like a strange alien planet.

Step 3
A new file with a star background a large lens flare.

Step 4
The planet pasted on top of the new background. At this point it looks very disconnected and does not fit at all.

Step 5
An orange and yellow horizon added behind the planet. This is the first step in making the planet appear to fit on the background.

Final
There are two important changes in this final step. The first, and most obvious, is a gradient added across the planet surface to show the sunrise. The second, more subtle but almost equally important, is an embossed layer of the planet overlayed on the planet. Notice how the clouds on the planet appear to stand out much more in this version. This is due to the emboss layer, and it adds a great degree of realism to the image.

See the full size image in the downloads/wallpapers section.