Photo Realistic Planet

Step 1.

Create a new document that is 1200 x 1000 in size, and fill the background with black (#000000) using the flood fill tool ( )

Create a new layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + N on your keyboard.

Step 2.

Get out the elliptical marquee tool ( ). Create a round selection as I've done here, while holding down the Shift key on your keyboard to create a perfect circle:

Step 3.

Note: To choose the colors that are going to be used on your planet, you should change the foreground and background colors, to colors you desire, for example we're using blue and green for this tutorial to make some planet like earth.

Set your foreground color to (#009931) and your background color to (#0074C1).

Go to Filter->Render->Clouds, result:

Step 4.

Now to make your planet's surface look a little more crispy go to Filter->Sharpen->Sharpen to make it sharper.

Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard two or three times to repeat the sharpen filter.

Step 5.

Now go to Filter->Render ->Lighting Effects and apply the following settings:

Go to Image->Adjustments->Brightness / Contrast and apply the following settings:

Step 6.

Create a new layer, and name it "Clouds". Set your foreground color white (#FFFFFF) and your background color to black (#000000) by pressing the 'D' button on your keyboard, then pressing the 'X' button on your keyboard.

Go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds.

Now change the opacity of this layer (named "Clouds") to around 50 percent.

Result:

Step 7.

Now get your your eraser tool ( ), and erase randomly through our "Clouds" layer. Also erasing nearly everything on the darker side of our planet as I've done here:

Go to Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur and apply the following settings:

Step 8.

Create a new layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + N on your keyboard, name this new layer "Atmosphere".

Go to Edit->Stroke and apply the following settings:

Now press Ctrl + D on your keyboard to deselect the selection.

Go to Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur and apply the following settings:

Go to Filter->Render->Lighting Effects and apply the following settings (same as before):

Press Ctrl + F five or six times to repeat the Lighting Effect filter, until the atmosphere is faded around the dark side of the planet.

Step 9.

Now we'll create a background for our piece of digital art. Go ahead and go down to the background layer of your document. (below everything else).

The background of this layer should be colored black (#000000).

Go to Filter->Noise->Add Noise apply the following settings:

Press Ctrl + L on your keyboard to open up the Levels Adjustment Tool.

Apply similar settings to what I have done here:

Step 10.

Next we'll add some extra effects to our digital artwork.

We'll start with a small sun flare using a lens flare filter.

Go to Filter->Render->Lens Flare and apply the following settings:

Next to enhance the background a bit, I suggest you download the Space Brush Pack and choose one of the brushes and then place it onto your background layer as I've done here:

Click to enlarge

If you alter the colors used, or slightly adjust some of the settings used in any step of this tutorial you will get completely different results. The key is to experiment and test out some various different techniques, and styles. Here is another example I created using the same techniques taught in this tutorial:

Click to enlarge

I hope you've enjoined reading this tutorial.