1. Our original image (taken from a complimentary photo-library) is ideal for the scene. When using high-resolution images, it is always worth resaving them as an .RIR file, to make full advantage of Satori’s speed with the native file format.

2. There are various methods that you can use to remove the sky but the most automatic are to use either the magic wand tool with ‘Cut’ selected, or as I have done, with the Chroma mask creator. This method offers fine controls for the color removal and feathering of the mask.

3. Once the sky has been mostly removed (you can modify the mask by painting or adding geometry objects in the mask channel) you can add the Impressionist filter to the area of water affected by the rain. This adds a ripple effect that is subtle enough to be realistic in the final image.

4. Now select an image with a suitable sky to apply to your image. When opening this file simply use the Load to layer option with ‘New Layer’, ‘Fit to Layer’ and ‘Ignore aspect ratio’ checked. This will enable Satori to load the new image into your current canvas, fitting the next available layer exactly.

5. By dragging your original layer to the top, using the Layer list, we can see the effect that our new sky has on the image. Also note that I have used the layer tools (Scale and Move layer) to alter the aspect of the background images, lining up the horizons and matching the height of the sky.

6. The next step is to darken the sky. By selecting the bottom layer from the Layer list, you can alter the sky’s contrast by using the Color-Correction tool found under the Layer tab. For this image, values of –65 and –60 were used for the Brightness and Contrast sliders, with the RGB values also tweaked.

By creating a new canvas of the same aspect as you original but about 1/4 of the size, add a white rectangle to fill the layer. Using the Random mask with 0 and 15 entered as your min/max values, you are left with a speckled pattern like the image above.

8. In the Geometry menu, select ‘rectangle’ as your shape, and enable the Mask channel by clicking on Mask on the bottom panel of the Actions Palette. Now access the FX1 tab to select the blur effect and set the blur values to 50 and 0 for the X and Y. Apply this rectangle to the entire canvas (right click over the canvas and click ‘Fill Canvas’) to blur the raindrops horizontally (see above). Now save this image as ‘Rain.rir’.

9. Going back to your original scene, you can now load ‘Rain.rir’ into the next layer, using the same setting as when you loaded the Sky. This image will again default to the top layer and will be automatically selected for manipulation. To make the rain appear to fall out of the sky, simply rotate and scale this selected top layer so that the streaks of rain are at the correct angle (see top and right). This Layer can then be duplicated to add further rain giving the finished image more depth (below).

Note:- When rotating and scaling layers, the grid displayed will give you a good indication of how much to scale the layer by, as the finished layer must cover the area of the canvas. It is also possible to use numeric values to rotate the layer more accurately by right clicking over the layer and selecting ‘Set Values’. These settings can then be applied using the ‘Apply settings’ from the right-click menu.