How to make a still-life cityscape and finish the effect with lighting and focus stacking

In this creative photography tutorial we’ll show you how to build an entire still life cityscape from with just nuts and bolts and complete the effect with lighting and focus-stacking techniques.

Creating a surreal world from nails, screws and bolts (or anything you can get your hands on, really!) is great fun to do.

When we constructed our city from nuts and bolts, we found it works best if you arrange them in height order (putting the biggest at the back) and don’t go more than a few lines deep.

As we were shooting at such close proximity, we needed to focus-stack the image. This is where you take an image of the furthest point away in the scene, then keep shifting the focus forward to record multiple exposures.

We took four images and blended them together in Photoshop to ensure we had one sharp shot.

To light our city of nuts and bolts, we used the Manfrotto Lumie Muse LED light. This creates dynamic shadows and eye-catching highlights that sculpt the nails and enhance the end result. When you position the light, you should think of it as a sun.

How high or low you place it in relation to your city will alter the end result. If you want to mimic the midday sun, hold the light directly above, but if you want a ‘golden hour’ effect, you’ll need to bring it down lower and to one side.

Of course, you need to add a touch of Photoshop to make the final image work effectively. Below, we show you how we created our city reflection and added an abstract seascape scene as our background. The result is an eye-catching and unusual metropolis.

SEE MORE: Focus stacking – how to extend depth of field in Photoshop

Create a mini-city and add effects using Photoshop

01 Light and shoot

Set up a white background (a piece of A3 paper works well) and construct your city from screws and bolts. Put your camera onto a tripod and light your set-up from the side using your LED light. Set your aperture to f/11 and balance the exposure. Focus on the furthest nail away and take a shot. Next, move the focus point forward to the next line of screws and take a shot. Keep repeating this until you reach the front of your scene.

SEE MORE: How to set up a tabletop studio for less than a fiver

02 Merge and select

Open your images in Adobe Camera Raw. Select all the images to batch-edit, then correct the white balance and boost the contrast. Take your images into Photoshop. Use the Move tool to combine them into one document. If you hold down Shift as you release the mouse button with each move, your images will line up.

SEE MORE: 34 Photoshop effects every photographer must try once

03 Make a selection

Highlight all the layers and go to Edit > Auto Align Layers. Go to Edit > Auto Blend layers to stack the images. Go to Layer > Flatten image. Use Quick Selection to cut out the nails from the background. It’s easier to highlight the background then go to Select > Inverse. Go to Refine Edge and change the output to New Layer with Layer Mask.

SEE MORE: Fantasy landscape tutorial – how to blend images into a seamless montage

04 Add the final effects

Import your background to sit under the nails in the layer palette. Add a new layer and use the Rectangular Marquee tool to make a thin selection around the base of the nails. Fill it with dark grey with the Paint Bucket tool. Add a new layer and go to Edit > Fill 50% Gray. Change Blending to Overlay. Use the Burn tool to darken under the bolts.

05 Make a reflection

Press Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Shift+E to duplicate your ‘city’ layers and go to Edit > Transform Flip Vertical. Turn Opacity down and line up the reflection. Delete any unwanted parts and turn the opacity back up. Add a Motion Blur and Gaussian Blur. Add a Black and White Adjustment layer and turn Opacity to 33%.

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