How to use Photoshop CS5 - Part 12: Create Light and Glow effects

Smoke effect:

First, let's start with creating fuzzy smoke in the background image, this effect is based on clouds and covered with different layers.

- Create a new image of size 600 x 500px

- Fill the background with black ( Edit> Fill .)

- Create a new Layer ( Layer> New> Layer .) and select this new Layer

- Use the Elliptical Marquee Tool with the following parameters: Width 350px - Height 250px - Feather 80px (you can see these settings near the horizontal menu when you select the Elliptical Marquee Tool , in the Style box switch from Normal to Fixed Ratio ) , then draw a circle around the selection.

- Select the foreground color as black and the background is white, create a cloud on the active layer ( Filter> Render> Clouds ), the details of the cloud will be created randomly. If you are not satisfied, press Ctrl + Z and create again.

- After that, create a new layer above the cloud layer and change the Blending Mode to Overlay :

- Select Foreground color code # 06c2ff and Background # 00ff7d, use the Gradient Tool to fill this new layer, the result will look like this:

Create text on Overlay:

Next, we will write a line of any text on the layer just created with the Type Tool , then change the Layer Text Blending mode to Overlay . At this point, the picture will look like this:

Create lighting effects:

If you want to make our photo more sparkling, fanciful, create a light path with the Pen Tool, with different options:

- Pen Tool: used to draw curves from the starting point, click to create the required strokes. You do not need to worry if this process is not really perfect because we can fix it later.

-  Add Anchor Point Tool: if you want to add any connection points on existing segments.

-  Remove Anchor Point Tool: different from the above tool, when you need to remove the fixed connection point.

-  Convert Point Tool: convert or move fixed points into another form.

When completed, the result will look like the image below:

Next, we will create more glowing effects around. Create a new layer above the Text layer, select the Brush Tool, right-click anywhere on the image and set Master Diameter to 3px , Hardness to 100% , select the Foreground color to white.

Switch to the Pen Tool , right-click and choose Stroke Path . from the menu, make sure the Simulate Pressure box is selected and click OK. Here, you will see smudges along the drawn curve, we will temporarily hide those smudges:

- Click Windows> Path to open the Path function

- Then select the components to hide it.

When coming to this step, we will add some light with different colors. Right-click on the Layer and choose Blending Options> Outer Glow , change the color to # 16b5e5 . Our results will look like this:

Create Sparkle effect:

Next, we will add some sparkling effects along the curve. The process is quite simple, select the layer to draw that curve, and use the Brush Tool to add some small dots with a size of 1 - 4px. Our results:

Motion Blurred Glow Effect:

In the following step, we will add a blur motion effect to the previously drawn curves. Right-click the Layer of the curve and select Duplicate Layer , click OK. Then we will have 2 similar layers and a higher brightness curve. Select the original layer and blur it ( Filter> Blur> Motion Blur .) with Angle -30 and Distance 40 settings.

Next, change the layer 's Opacity mode to 40%, this effect is really effective for dark-colored photos. When completed, the result in this step will look like this:

Star effect:

The next effect we will use is to create the star:

First, create a new layer and manipulate it directly on this layer, changing the background color to white. Change the Brush Size 3 px and Brush Hardness to 100%, continue using the Pen Tool and draw a straight line with a height of about 100 px. Then, right-click and select Stroke Path from the menu, make sure the Simulate Pressure box is highlighted, press OK. Now, on the Layer will appear brush strokes along the line, our job now is to cover the line.

Create new 1 Duplicate Layer , rotate this layer 90 ° through the Edit> Transform> Rotate function . Then merge these two layers together (right click on the layer above and select Merge Down ). Continue duplicating this layer and rotate 45 °, shrink the new layer to 70% ( Edit> Transform> Scale ), change the Opacity to 70%. Then, add these two layers together, and change the frame rate to 40%. Copy the effect from the layer to draw a curve to the star-drawing layer, adjust the Outer Glow mode by changing the Size from 5 to 2 (right-click the Layer and choose Blending Options> Outer Glow ):

Bokeh effect:

This is the last effect we mentioned in this article. Create a new layer and work directly here, select the Ellipse Tool and draw a circle with a size of 50 px. Right-click the Layer and select Blending Options, change the specifications as follows: Color Overlay #cccccc, Stroke Size 2px, Position inside and Color white. After that, create a new layer below the last layer, right click and choose Merge Down , add 1 point of Gaussian Blur to this layer with Filters> Blur> Gaussian Blur. Continue, change the Blending Mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 14%. Create 2 new layers and replace the effect creation method until the same result is achieved:

Here is a pretty famous sample photo when applying Light and Glow effect harmoniously in Photoshop:

Or refer to the sample video below:

Good luck!

Micah Soto

Update 25 May 2019