Photoshop Effects: Strolling Through The Inverted Forest

Step 3: Invert The Background Copy Layer

With the Background copy layer selected in the Layers palette, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I (Win) / Command+I (Mac) to invert the image, making every color its exact opposite color, replacing the greens and browns with a lot of magenta and blue:

Notice that the person in the image keeps his original colors, since he's now on a separate layer above the inverted layer.

Step 4: Change The Blend Mode Of The Inverted Layer To "Color"

Inverting the image not only inverts the colors, it also inverts the luminosity (lightness) values, making light areas dark and dark areas light. All we want to do is change the colors while leaving the lightness values alone, so to do that, with the inverted layer selected, go up to the blend mode options in the top left of the Layers palette and change the blend mode from "Normal" to Color:

This brings back the original lightness values of the image and now only the colors have been changed:

The basic effect is now complete, but I'm going to add a bit more of a mystical look to the image to finish it off next.