Create realistic planet

This is just a fun old post I recovered from the web archive! A tutorial I wrote way back in 2007 on creating realistic planets in Photoshop.

Creating a Realistic Planet using Photoshop Filters

This tutorial has been designed completely by me. The steps are many but the result is great!

Note: Before starting, reset your workspace by Window → Workspace → Reset Palette Locations

Initial Setup

• First of all start with a 750×750 image
• Select the elliptical marquee tool. Set its style to “Fixed Size” and Width and Height to 750, 750 and click to create the selection
• Drag it to the center
• Create a new layer and name it “Water”
• Goto Filter → Render → Clouds
• Now goto Filter → Distort → Spherize {Amount: 100 — Mode: Normal}
• Lock the layers transparency by clicking on the small checkerboard icon in the layers window
• Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur {Radius: 20}
• Goto Image → Adjustments → Hue/Saturation {Colorize: Yes — Hue: 218 — Saturation: 25 — Lightness: -20}

Creating the Land

• Now create a new layer and name it “Land”
• Select the layer “Land” and (Ctrl + Click on the water layer)
• Now goto Filter → Distort → Spherize {Amount: 100 — Mode: Normal}
• Image → Brightness/Contrast {Contrast: 100 — Brightness: May range from 0 to -30 according to the size of the land}
• Select the Magic Wand Tool (W) {Tolerance: 32 — Anti-aliased: Yes — Other Options: No}
• Click on any black part of the layer “Land”
• Press delete
• Now Ctrl + Click the “Land” layer
• Goto Filter → Render → Clouds
• Goto Filter → Render → Difference Clouds {Press Ctrl + F until you get a balanced texture, usually 1 time}
• Edit → Fade Difference Clouds {Opacity: 50 — Mode: Normal}
• Press Ctrl + D to deselect the layer
• Goto Filter → Render → Lighting Effects and use these settings

Adding Clouds

• Now create a new layer and name it “Clouds”
• Select the layer “Clouds” and (Ctrl + Click on the water layer)
• Goto Filter → Render → Clouds {Don’t worry if the planet is hidden}
• Goto Filter → Render → Difference Clouds {Once Only!!!}
• Press Ctrl + I
• Image → Adjustments → Brightness/Contrast {Brightness: -30 — Contrast: 95}
• Lock the layers transparency by clicking on the small checkerboard icon in the layers window
• Filter → Blur → Motion Blur {Angle: 0 — Distance: 120}
• Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur {Radius: 4}
• Now goto Filter → Distort → Spherize {Amount: 50 — Mode: Normal}
• Select its Blending mode as “Screen”
• Image → Brightness/Contrast {Contrast: 60 — Brightness: 0}
• Set the opacity of the layer to 60
• Press Ctrl + D to deselect {IMPORTANT !!!}
• Click on the “Water” Layer
• Goto Filter → Render → Lighting Effects and use the same settings but set the “Texture Channel” to “None”
• Do the same for layer “Clouds”
• Image → Canvas Size {Width: 800 — Height: 800 : Relative: No — Anchor: Center}
• Click on the Background layer
• Press D and then press Alt + Backspace to fill the background

Now your planet should look like this:

Adding Colors and Final Touches

• Click on the layer “Land” and drag it to the New Layer button to duplicate it
• Click on the “Add Layer Mask” button in the layers window
• Filter → Render → Clouds
• Image → Brightness/Contrast {Contrast: 70 — Brightness: 0}
• Now click on the “Land Copy” layer {Click on the thumbnail of the planet!!! not the cloud in the layers window}
• Goto Image → Adjustments → Hue/Saturation {Colorize: Yes — Hue: 139 — Saturation: 25 — Lightness: 0}
• Click on the “Land” layer
• Goto Image → Adjustments → Hue/Saturation {Colorize: Yes — Hue: 35 — Saturation: 40 — Lightness: -30}
• Click on the Background layer
• Filter → Noise → Add Noise {Amount: 70 — Distribution: Uniform — Monochromatic: No}
• Edit → Fade Add Noise → {Opacity: 50 — Mode: Dissolve}
• Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur {Radius: 1}
• Image → Brightness/Contrast {Contrast: 90 — Brightness: -35}
• Create a new layer just above the background and goto Filter → Render → Clouds
• Select the blending mode to “Screen” and “Opacity” to 50
• Goto Image → Adjustments → Hue/Saturation {Colorize: Yes — Hue: 238 — Saturation: 15 — Lightness: -15}
• Press Ctrl + E

Final Result

Here is the final result:

You can make it more realistic by smoothing the land layer with a blur brush tool…

And adding some lighting to the Water layer…

Like this…

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This tutorial demonstrates the power of Photoshop’s rendering and filter tools to create realistic 3D effects. The combination of cloud rendering, spherize distortion, and lighting effects creates a convincing planet surface with atmosphere and depth.