Hyper Landscape Photo Effect

Open a landscape photo into Photoshop. Make sure that the landscape has a horizon with nothing covering it.

Depth of field simulation

Add a new layer by going to Layer> New Layer. Name this layer Background Blur.

Add a layer mask to the Background Blur layer. To do this, go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Reveal All.

Right now you'll have the layer mask selected. Select back the layer by clicking on the thumbnail (not the layer mask thumbnail) in the layer. Now add a Gaussian Blur filter to the Background Blur layer and your image should blur. If you don't see anything happen, make sure that you have the Background Blur layer selected and not the layer mask.

Now select back the layer mask and use the Gradient Tool with the Black and White gradient. Start from a little bit above the horizon and draw a line a little bit below the horizon. The top of the horizon should now be blurry and the bottom should be sharp. If you got it the other way around (Bottom blurry, top sharp), press Ctrl+I or go to Image> Adjustments> Invert and this problem will be fixed.

Adding the Fractals

Now select back the Background Blur layer (not its layer mask) and then go to Filter> Render> Lens Flare. You should get a lens flare effect that's only visible on the top of the horizon.

Add a new layer called Fractals. This layer will contain all the abstract fractals. To add a new layer, go to Layer> New Layer.

Before we continue, we need to download a set of brushes called Genisis by =Axeraider70. Click on the image below to visit the author's website, click on the Download link and save the file to your computer.

Now we need to load the brush into Photoshop. To do this, select the Brush tool and right mouse click on the document window to display the brush settings. On the top right of the window, there is a tiny circle icon with a triangle. Click on that icon and a flyout menu will be revealed where you can select Load Brushes.

Browse for the brush that you just downloaded and click OK.

Before we continue, set the foreground color to white. You can do this quickly by pressing D (to reset the colors to Black and White) and then X (to swap the foreground color with the background color).

Now right mouse click again to display the brush settings (Make sure you have the Brush tool selected). Scroll down the list to see the new brushes that you have just loaded. Choose one of the swirly brushes.

Now click where the lens flare starts to add the first fractal. You can press the [ or ] keys to reduce or enlarge the brush size.

Now select the different brushes and keep keep adding to the lens flare to create your own custom fractal. Here's what I ended up with with 5 brushes.

Finishing Touches

Now we'll add an outer glow to the fractals. Right mouse click on the Fractals layer and select Blending Options.

Select the Outer Glow effect and copy the settings below:

Now add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer by going to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Brightness/Contrast and use the settings below:

Now move the layer under the Fractals layer.

Select the Brush tool and right mouse click to open the brush settings. Select the very last brush which should appear to have dots randomly placed. This brush contains tiny dots that resembles stars in the sky. Once you have this brush selected, select the Background Blur layer and click to add stars to the sky.

Final Results

Here's the finished results. I added text to the photo but that is up to you.