the starting process in photoshop (screen prints)

Here I have taken screen captures at each stage of my initial editing foundations in photoshop.
I wanted to display the way i initially created layers that would work together to form the editable structure for this series of images.

 Firstly I rectified the initial image in photoshop by converting it to a smart object in order to increase the quality, I made a few slight colour tonal adjustments simply to ensure the tarmac didn't look too blue during the editing stages as with earlier examples.
I used to blur tool to go over the back section (colour area) of the image as on the original this was out of focus. The area became more defined when I applied the minor adjustments so I simply made that match it's original state.
I then duplicated the layer, selected the clone stamp tool and began matching the areas of tarmac to cover the arrow entirely, as realistically as possible. I think i have achieved that as I paid must attention to the different tonal areas, textures and shades within the tarmac an applied this to the new 'false' floor area.

 Next I went back to the original image and used to magic wand tool with a variety of different 'tolerance' settings to select the entire white arrow area. I then feathered the edges very slightly so when reapplied to the new surface it would look realistic and as though it was actually bonded to the floor rather than being a floating object. This was then pasted onto a new layer and duplicated once more (see below)

 The duplicated white 'cut out' arrow (above) was then shrunk in size very slightly and I used to eraser tool with the brush set on a very low hardness as to achieve a soft edge. As you can see I took away the solid harsh edges of the arrow as these were visible when it was mounted on top of the other, slightly larger arrow.

 above is the two different size arrows and the newly applied tarmac all together in order.
The reason there are two different size arrows is to give me more control when it comes to the 'deterioration' stages, meaning I could accelerate the breaking down on the outside whilst still maintaining a different level of cracking in the middle.