Final image outcome.

Final image outcome.

I feel that I have achieved my desired final image and have fulfilled the points in my proposal.

Photoshop during final piece.

screen shot of final piece in Photoshop.

Screen shot of final piece layers in Photoshop.

The screen shot above shows that I used Levels, Curves, Adjustment layers, Masks, hue/saturation and layer styles.
 

Final Production.

 The base image I used for the project is a close up of some coral with a fish within it.

The first edit I did was to, using the stamp tool, remove the fish from the image. I then used the curves and the levels to create areas of darkness and adjusted the contrast to add brightness to some areas.

I then added an image of a scuba diver to the background and gave it an "overlay" layer style, I also applied a mask to it so I could hide the right side of the image. I also adjusted the levels of the scuba diver and reduced the opacity. Using the bush tool and motion blur I crated some light ray coming from the direction of the diver and reduced their opacity so they are very faint in the background.

I then placed some coral in the foreground and slightly blured it to give it some depth for when I later added in the text. In the left hand corner I duplicated the background to put it in the foreground so later the text can sit behind it.

 I then added the text "LIFE" in a font called "Molot", to this text I added a large outer glow in green and a small drop shadow to give it some depth. I then added a layer mask of an image that I created to give the text some texture. Above the text I added some light steaks using the brush tool and motion blur,  I reduced the opacity then using the blur tool made it look like the text is giving off some kind of chemical.

I then added some bubbles to above the text to emphasise the idea that it is giving of some kind of chemical. I also reduced the bubbles opacity and added a layer mask so that I could hide some bubbles and emphasise others.

 To the entire image I applied levels and curves adjustment layers to darken certain areas.

Next I added some mutated fish and some more coral to the right side of the image. To these I then applied levels adjustment layer masks .

Finally I applied a green overlay to the rock in the foreground to make it look like it was covered in sea weed. 

Image sources:
Font: Molot (http://jovanny.ru/)
All foreground, background and base image: http://sxc.hu/