Create a simple glow effect. Glow in Photoshop: step-by-step lesson on creating the effect, tips

In this tutorial I'll show you how to create an interesting glow and add mood to an image. For this we will use blending modes(blending options), selection tools and a little of your imagination.
Before processing.

Lesson materials:

Let's get started. Open the image you want to apply the effect to. The author chose this.

Step 1. You need to separate the girl from the background. Do this using the method that works best for you. The author used the tool Feather (Pen Tool), drawing a path around the girl’s figure, you need to close the outline and form a selected area. Set the feathering to 1 px.

Step 2. Copy the selection (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) him on new layer, name the layer "Young woman».

Step 3. Duplicate the layer "Young woman". Apply an adjustment to a copy of this layer Brightness/Contrast in the menu Image - Correction(Image > Adjustments > Brightness and Contrast).

Step 4. Select the layer "Young woman". Let's go to the menu Filter - Blur - Motion Blur(Filter > Blur > Motion Blur). We set these settings Corner(Angle) - 40 degrees, Bias(Distance) - 120. Merge layers "Young woman" and a copy of it.

Step 5. with a girl and call him "Smoke". Using the tool Lasso(Lasso Tool), draw an area around the girl. Set the feathering to 150 px.

Step 6. Make sure your Foreground color is white and your Background color is black. Now let's go to the menu Filter - Rendering - Clouds(Filter > Render > Clouds). After that, set the blending mode for this layer Overlap(Overlay).

Step 7 Create a new layer below the layer "Smoke" and name it "Gradient". Select Tool Gradient(Gradient Tool) and click to bring up the Gradient Editor. Set the foreground color #c6229e and background color #1dbdda. In the tool settings, set Linear. Draw a gradient from the top left to the bottom right, set the opacity of this layer to 60%.

Step 8 Set the layer "Gradient" blending mode Overlap(Overlay), then merge the layers " Smoke" And "Gradient". You should get something like the screenshot below. You can experiment with different gradient color combinations and different blending modes for the Gradient layer.

Step 9 Create a new layer below the layer "Gradient" and name it "Glow". Using white soft Brush(Brush), paint over the edges of the girl with a brush. This will create a glowing effect behind the girl.

Step 10 Make the tool active Brush(Brush tool), go to the brush settings palette (F5) and enter following settings, as shown in the screenshots below. Save this brush by clicking Save new brush(Create New Brush) and name her "Splash". Then you can select it again in the brushes palette and use it later. Drag the customized brush over the image as in the image below. Achieve the desired effect.

Step 11 Create a new layer, name it "Stripes". The name speaks for itself. We're going to make glow stripes. To make them, select a tool Polygon Lasso(Polygonal Lasso Tool) and create a triangle. Then, using a soft white brush, paint on the opposite side of the base of the triangle. You can also experiment with different shapes and sizes to create the effects you want.

Step 12 Now let's do the lighting on the girl herself. To do this, create a new layer above the layer "Young woman" and set its blending mode to Lightening the base(Color Dodge). Load the girl's outline that you made earlier in the contours palette or use a combination Ctrl keys+ click on the thumbnail of the layer with the girl. The selection will load. Using the tool PIpetka(Eyedropper Tool), select the color of the glow around the girl that we made earlier and use the same color, with a soft brush, to draw along the inner contour of the selected area.

Step 13 Now we will create the light lines. Create a new layer called "Lines" above the girl layer. Set the color foreground(foreground color) white, select tool Brush(Brush Tool) and open the brush settings window. Select a soft brush, approximately 9 px. In the tab Dynamics of shape(Shape Dynamics) install Size fluctuation(size jitter control) on pen pressure(Pen Pressure). This will give your brush strokes an interesting effect.

Here we will learn a simple technique with which you can create beautiful, clearly defined, elegant effect shine and apply it to anyone thin outline. To achieve the goal, we will need the Pen Tool, the ability to work with styles and layer blending modes.

1 Step

Let's start by creating a background for the image. Select the Gradient Tool (G), switch its type to Radial and fill the background with a color from red-brown to black (colors #922f00 , #000000 ).

2 Step

We'll need quite a bit bright color in the middle, so duplicate the background layer and set its mode to overlay Color Dodge. There are several types of blend modes: burn, dodge, colorize, and invert. Color Dodge is probably the most powerful brightening mode. As you can see in the picture below, it turned out to be a pretty good bright center.

3 Step

Now it would be nice to get a nice textured base out of this background. Therefore, now we will create some kind of foggy haze. Create a new layer, set the foreground color to white and the background color to black. Now open Filter > Render > Clouds, as a result we will get something like the picture below.

4 Step

Set the layer's Opacity to 30% and set its blending mode to Overlay. In many cases this would be enough, but we will enhance the effect even more.

Open Filter > Sketch > Chrome and use values ​​of 4 and 7 for the Detail and Smoothness parameters respectively.

At the end of the manipulations, the result should be more realistic.

5 Step

Now, before we start creating the glow, we need something that will glow. Here we take the Pen Tool in our hands and apply some graceful curve to the drawing. Fortunately, it's not that difficult. An example of such an S-shaped curve is shown in the illustration below.

6 Step

Now create a new layer, select the Paintbrush Tool (B) and select a thin hard brush. Since soft brushes are relatively blurry, we need a hard one with a Hardness setting of 100%. Set the brush thickness to 3px. You can choose any color - we will cover it with the style color anyway.

7 Step

Switch to the Pen Tool (P) again. Now right-click and select Stroke Path. There, select Brush and be sure to select Simulate Pressure. Click OK and see what happens. Right-click again and select Delete Path.

8 Step

You should end up with something similar to the image below. Just a thin, graceful line.

9 Step

Let's add a little glow. The easiest way to create an aura of glow is to use styles. In short, I added two glow effects. I configured Outer Glow first and then added Drop Shadow with settings that make it not a shadow, but a glow. This can be achieved by adjusting the distance and changing the blending mode to something like Color Dodge. Oh, and I also used a Color Overlay to make the line bright white, making it look like it's glowing from within.

10 Step

And so now we have a line emitting a glow. The beauty of using styles is that they can be copied and added to other layers. To do this, right-click on the layer, select Copy Lyer Style, then create a new layer, right-click on it and select Paste Layer Style.

11 Step

Now repeat the process a few more times to get a couple more wavy lines. Here I made one of them thicker by changing the brush size before the Stroke Path process. I also erased part of the third line with an eraser to connect it with the rest this way. The result is a wonderful triangular shape.

12 Step

It is very important to pay maximum attention to your text. Use simple fonts and play with their sizes and letter spacing. Using simple tricks a lot can be achieved. I got good contrast by increasing the glow for the words, then made the words Advanced and FX much smaller in point size and letter-spaced them.

You can adjust the discharge using the Character window. If you don't have it open, open it through the Window > Character menu. Play with each parameter to understand which one does what.

13 Step

Now let's apply luminous particles to the image. Create a new layer, select a thin brush (Paint Brush) size 3px and apply a few dots to the drawing. It will look good if they are concentrated near the center so that the particles appear to be emitted from that area. The points closer to the center can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them with the brush again, as if expanding them. Now copy the glow styles and add them to this current layer.

14 Step

Now everything looks pretty nice, but you can make it even better if you add some color to the image.

Create a new layer and use a radial gradient to draw a blue sphere on the white background as shown below.

15 Step

Now set the layer's blending mode to Color and change its Opacity to 50%.

I changed the blending modes for each layer to Color and reduced the Opacity so that they were smoothed out all together.

16 Step

That's it: the advanced glow effect combined with a beautiful, subtle background haze gives a great result. Don't forget to experiment with the settings and try different options radiance - there are many color combinations that look simply amazing. Good luck!

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Translated from the site psd.tutsplus.com, the author of the translation is indicated at the beginning of the lesson.

Here we see several new parameters that are different from those we looked at previously. These are “Method” (Technique), “Range” (Range) and “Oscillation” (Jitter):

Blend Modes

Blending modes allow you to set the Outer Glow blending mode to a layer. If you are creating a glow effect, then " Linear clarifier" (Linear Dodge) or "Screen", if you want to create an "outer shadow" type effect, then it is better to use "Linear Burn" or "Multiply", if you are creating a stroke, then it will do "Normal" mode.

Opacity

This option adjusts the transparency of Outer Glow. A value of 0% makes it completely transparent. those. invisible, value 100% - completely opaque.
The parameter is fully consistent with that in “Shadow” and other layer styles.

Noise

This parameter is also similar to those in “Shadows” and others. Increasing the “Noise” value adds graininess to the glow, with it you can get effects like “glow dust”.

The example shows the left text with a noise value of 0%, the right - 62%

Color and Gradient

"Color" allows you to change the color of the glow.
If the radio button is enabled for "Gradient", then your possibilities are not limited to just one color, with the help of several gradient colors and transitions you can create very complex and abstract glowing effects:

The example shows orange and rainbow gradient:

Technique

The "Method" drop-down list gives us two different options for rendering the glow, Softer and Precise. The "soft" method gives us a more organic and natural glow with smooth transitions, blur, and rounded corners, while Precise causes the glow to more closely match the shape of the object it's coming from.

In the following example you can see the difference between soft organic and precise methods:

Spread

The Sweep option changes the fade in intensity of the glow linearly, or in other words, changes how gradually it fades out as it approaches the edge.

Usually this parameter is left at 0%, but if you need sharp edges of the light, you will need to increase its value. A value of 100% gives a sharp boundary.

The figure shows the "Span" values ​​at 0 and 60%

Size

The name of the option speaks for itself. This adjustment allows you to change the size of the glow in one-pixel increments.

Contour

The contour of the shape allows you to change the decrease in glow towards the edges in a non-linear mode. By selecting different curve profiles, you can get different glow attenuation. Using Contour can be useful when you are trying to achieve a specific type of glow or some abstract effect.
Additionally, the Anti-Aliasing checkbox allows you to improve the quality of the shine with a very slight drop in performance, so I recommend always checking it.

The figure shows what effect a sinusoidal circuit can have:

Range

The Range option is similar to the Span option. It allows you to control the decay of the glow towards the edge in almost the same way.
A lower value gives us a hard glow, while a higher value high value gives a softer finish.

The following example shows how the Range value affects the softness of the light:

Jitter

While Range is similar to Span, Jitter is similar to Noise. The difference is that Noise creates transparency in adjacent pixels using a Normal blending mode, while Jitter does the same thing but in a blending mode similar to Overlay.

In this article we will tell you how to use Photoshop create a full-fledged glowing wallpaper.
We will use our own brushes, several blending modes, lighting and blurring methods.
This article was written using free sources and you can easily reproduce the entire process by following it point by point. In order to relieve common task, we have attached the PSD source at the very bottom of the article, which can be easily used for reference.

Here's a preview of the finished image...

→ Stage 1
Create a document in Photoshop in RGB mode with an extension of 1400x900 pixels. Paint the background black. Create new words, rename it "BG" or something like that and fill it with a radial grading (#55015F - #000000). Drag from the center to any edge of the document, as shown in the image below.

→ Stage 2
Select the “GB” layer, then go to Filter > Distort > Twirl with set value 250. Click OK and see what happens.

→ Stage 3
Now insert your image. I used it with a bouncing roller. Since I'm very creative, I named this layer "roller guy".

→ Stage 4
Now define the character's shape. Open the Channels menu, hide everything except the blue channel, then select the white background with a magic wand(magic wand). Click on the RGB layer, which is located in the Channels palette, and then switch back to the layer view. Enlarge your selection a few pixels and delete it.

→ Stage 7
Merge the copied layer with a new blank layer. Next, open the menu Layer > Layer Mask, Reveal all, and using a soft black brush, paint over the character's face, hands and pants on the layer mask. You should end up with something similar to the bottom of this image.

→ Stage 8
Connect the original layer with the character and its copy, rename the resulting layer with any name. (If you are organizing these layers into folders, then copy and merge the folder). Next, use the Dodge and Burn tools on some areas of the resulting layer.

→ Stage 9
Copy the resulting layer, and convert the copy of it into a Smart Object. Next, select this smart object and go to the menu Filter> Blur> Radial Blur, set the modes to “Zoom” and best quality, apply this filter three times in a row (to make repetition easier, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F). Finally, change the blending mode of the character copy to Linear Dodge.

→ Stage 10
Duplicate the character layer again, convert it to a Smart Object and apply a Radial Blur filter, but this time move the center of the blur a little to the left. Apply this filter several times, then place the second copy of the character layer above all other layers and change its blending mode to Linear Dodge.

→ Stage 11
Now download this set brushes: (downloads: 59). Add one single shape to a new layer, call it something like Brush1. Use this color #E700FF.

→ Stage 12
Add a gradient overlay to the Brush1 layer using the colors shown below. Then position this layer above the "BG" layer. Finally, add an Outer Glow filter.

→ Stage 13
Now add new source light over the character, use the brush shown below and color #E700FF. Also add an outer glow and change the layer's blending mode to "Screen".

→ Stage 14
Add two more glowing brushes, repeating the effect of the previous layer.

→ Stage 15
Select the layer with the character and both its copies, place them in a folder and give it an appropriate name, mix the folder (merge), duplicate the layer and place it behind the original. Select the copy of the layer and go to Edit > Free Transform. Next, make the character smaller and rotate it a little. You can do this as much as you see fit.

→ Stage 16
Now hide all the character layers, show the smallest one and apply a layer mask, fill it with a radial gradient from black to white. Then repeat this with each separate copy of the character.

→ Stage 17
Now we will add a complex of diffused light in order to add brightness to the image. Change the blending mode ( Blending Mode) of each layer with the character to dissolve (Dissolve). Then lower the opacity of the copies to 75%, 70%, 65% and 60% in that order. Now merge all the copies into one layer, rename it as a copy of the main layer and place the copy above the original in the layers panel.

→ Stage 18
Next, apply a layer mask on a copy of the character layer Layer mask > Reveal all, after that, using a soft black brush, paint the layer mask so as to hide some areas of the diffuse glow.

→ Stage 19
Hide the scattered layer for a while. Now quickly adjust the Hue/Saturation settings of the Brush1 background layer to improve the lighting. Also add white light behind the character using one of these brushes: (downloads: 147).

→ Stage 20
To complete the diffused light effect, unhide a copy of the character layer again and add an outer glow effect (using the options below). Next apply Filter > Blur > Gausian Blur with the Radius set to 7.2, then click OK.

End result

That's it! An easy and quick way to create a conceptual glowing wallpaper!

Download PSD source:

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The first thing we need to create the effect is soft glow- this is to make a copy of the background layer, and the easiest way to achieve this is to press the key combination Ctrl+J. After applying this combination, there should be two layers in the layers panel - the background one and its copy; Photoshop automatically named the copy “Layer 1” for me.

Step 2: Rename the New Layer

It's good practice to give layers in the Layers panel meaningful names. Let's give our copy a descriptive name. To rename a layer, simply double-click directly on its name in the Layers panel, the layer name will be highlighted, then enter your own name. Let's rename this layer "Soft Glow". Press Enter to accept the name change:

The "Layer 1" layer is now renamed "Soft Glow".

Step 3: Applying the Gaussian Blur Filter

In order to create a real soft glow effect, we first need to blur the “Soft Glow” layer a little, for this we will use the Gaussian Blur Filter. Go to the main menu tab Filter --> Blur --> Gaussian Blur (Filter --> Blur --> Gaussian Blur), after which the filter dialog box will open, where we can set the degree of blur by moving the "Radius" slider ). The further you drag the slider to the right, the stronger the blur effect will be. Photoshop gives us the ability to preview the filter's effect in the document itself, so watch the image as you move the slider to judge the results.

You should not blur the image so much that the picture becomes unrecognizable. After applying the filter, the main details of the picture should be visible! We're just trying to soften the details a bit, so lower Radius values ​​tend to work best. However, keep in mind that the amount of blur depends on the specific image, its size, etc. Typically, for a subtle glow effect, a Radius value of somewhere up to ten pixels should be fine.

This is what my blur effect looks like with a radius of 3 pixels. Notice that even though the photo looks blurry, we can still see a lot of detail. We'll see even more detail once we change the layer's blend mode in the next step:

Sub.fig.Blur effect with a radius of 3 pixels.

For an even softer, dream-like glow effect, try increasing the Radius value to 20 pixels:

Below I've shown what a blur effect looks like with a radius of 8 pixels. We can still make out details in the photo, but the blur is definitely worse this time. Choosing the desired blur value is yours personal choice, and will depend on the image. In my case, I think 8 is too much, so I'll stick with three pixels. When you are satisfied with the result, click OK to close the filter dialog:

The blur radius value is 20 pixels.

Step 4: Change the Layer Blend Mode to Soft Light

Now that we've blurred the "Soft Glow" layer, let's change how it interacts with the original image in the Background layer underneath it. We do this by changing its Blend Mode. By default, the blending mode of any layer is set to “Normal”. At the top of the layers panel, click on the button with the word "Normal" (Normal), this will open a menu of other blending modes, where you select from the list " Soft light" (Soft Light) from the list.

The Soft Light mode does two things in Photoshop - it increases the overall contrast in an image and intensifies the colors, making them more vibrant. Here's what my image looks like after changing the blend mode to Soft Light, which creates a warm, subtle glow:

A subtle warm glow effect created by the Soft Light blending mode.

For a stronger effect, instead of Soft Light, try using the Overlay mode. Overlay is very similar to Soft Light, Overlay also increases contrast and color, but makes the effect more intense. Here's what my result looks like with the Overlay blend mode. Overlay might work better with other images, but in my case the effect is too strong, so I'll switch back to Soft Light:

The effect obtained by changing the blending mode from Soft Light to Overlay.

Step 5: Adjust the Layer Opacity

To fine-tune the effect, simply reduce the layer's opacity. This option is located on the right top corner Layers panel, right next to the blending mode option. The default opacity value is 100%. The more you lower this value, the more the layer with the original photo underneath will be visible through the “Soft Glow” layer. In other words, as we lower the opacity, we will see more of the original image and less of the blurry image.

To change the opacity value, click on the small arrow to the right of the current value and then drag the slider. I'll lower my value to 75%, but again, your value depends on your image and artistic taste.

This is what the final result looks like:

After adjusting the opacity, the effect is ready. But now that I'm done, what if I really like the result and want to change it? I did a light glow, but for example, now I think a stronger, more “romantic” glow would look better? How can I go back and change it? To change the degree of glow, I need to change the amount of blur, which I created using the Gaussian Blur filter in step 3. How can I do this?
There is only one answer - none. Once we clicked OK in the Gaussian Blur filter dialog box, we applied the blur effect to the layer. In other words, we have made a permanent change to the image that cannot be undone.
Agree, it is much better to create an effect (including using Gaussian Blur) in such a way that it is fully editable even after you completely finish the work.

And this is not at all difficult to do, you just need to use smart objects ( Smart Objects) and smart filters. They may seem intimidating to a novice user, but they are actually very easy to use. Smart Objects are just as easy to use as regular layers and filters in Photoshop, but they give us much more editing flexibility.