Achieve Brilliant Lighting Effects in Photoshop

By Mark Jay Caccam

Design55 Comments AD Lighting effects can make or break any digital artwork. When done properly, lighting can add visual impact, draw the viewers eye, convey depth and emotion, and tie together all the elements of the piece for a quality finished result. make your digital art more enticing. "n this tutorial, youll learn the essential process of achieving brilliant lighting effects in !hotoshop. #sing default brushes, blending options and a few stock images, youll learn step by step a variety of techniques that you can use in your own digital artworks to achieve professional results. $his is tutorial is %am packed with tips, shortcuts and techniques, and each detail is e&plained to allow beginning users to follow along. 'ut even if youre an advanced user, youll be inspired and take away some useful new ideas for your artwork. Lets get started( owever, achieving brilliant lighting is not always an easy task, particularly for newer digital artists. !erfecting contrast, color variation, sharpness and depth will help

Tools Required
o

Adobe !hotoshop )*+ ,or higher-

Final Image Preview

Step 1 The Background:

*tart by creating a new canvas, si.ed /0123/4+2 pi&els. $hen, grab this custom background that " made ,click the image for the full si.e-5

6e&t, were going to combine this with another background, so click the image below or visit the following link and download this background5http577%ake.daniel.deviantart.com7art7$e&ture84'8 /292:::2:

6e&t, reduce the ;<ill option of this second background to 10= ,see screenshot below-5

Step

The Foreground:

6ow, we need our foreground sub%ect image. Were going to use this little rocker boy. >ou can use the following image that " used5 http577tonya8t%photography.deviantart.com7art7?ocker8@89@2/++9/ or you can use any of your own images that you desire. Ane thing youll notice about this image is the hair, which will be a bit difficult to e&tract. *oftware such as Bertus <luid Cask can easily e&tract these images, but for this tutorial, " will be e&tracting it manually using the pen tool and " will apply some cutting techniques.

#sing your pen tool, slowly trace around the sub%ect, then go to the D!athsE tab and then right click the path you made, make selection, and then you have your foreground sub%ect. "f youre a bit unfamiliar with e&traction techniques, read this article on $ypes of F&traction in !hotoshop.

!dvertisement
6otice that there are still some white edges left in the hair, so again you can use the pen tool to cut it off. >ou could manually try to remove only the white area, but " found it quicker and more effective to give him a haircut. And for finishing " used a soft brushed eraser and LayerGCattingGDefringe ,width /- and resi.ed it to fit the document.

6ow we will make some shadow for the boy, which will help create depth for our image. <or the shadow " used a soft brush, +22p& using black color to brush the perspective shadow ,see below screenshot or use your %udgment-. $hen, go to <ilterGHaussian 'lurG42p& to give it a more natural feel. ?educe the opacity if necessary, erase some overlapping black parts caused by the gausian blurr, and you should have a result like mine5

6ow, we need to make the boy seem less ;pasted onto our background. $o do this, well burn the edges of the boy a little bit, using the burn tool with the settings of /22p&, ?ange5 midtones, F&posure5 I2 and then go to LayerGAd%ustmentsG'rightness7)ontrast. )heck the use layer clipping mask and

apply the following settings5

Add some crack to the walls to have more details and add visual impact. >ou can use a stock image, or the following brush5 Download.

Step " !dding !#stract $lements:

" used a rendered ):d. $here are packs of ):D renders all over the internet, deviantA?$ is a great place to start.

?esi.e it and use desaturate ,)$?L8* "<$8#- to make it pure grayscale. 6e&t, move it into your desired position, for this image, " wanted to make it seem as though it was the boys wings.

6e&t, erase some areas that you dont want in your image. "t should match the foreground sub%ect and the shadowing we created already, in order to allow the perspective to remain. >ou can use the selection of your foreground sub%ect to remove areas and make it seem like the render is wrapped around the sub%ect.

Duplicate the ):d layer, then bring back the duplicated one to the bottom of the layers boy. 'y doing this, you can add a backup of unwanted erased parts, and you can make the render feel more solid.

6e&t, we use the same ):D render, desaturating it and resi.ing it. *lowly we can add more elements, varying the si.e to achieve our desired effect. Frase any unwanted areas, and try to build your render around the boy.

Step %:
"n making the light effects, " only used default tools in !hotoshop. #sing the pen tool for illustration, you can draw some paths and stroke them. )reate a new layer, then set your brush to white, 1p&, soft ,hardness set to 2=-. 6e&t, draw paths along the sub%ect where you want light to appear. While the pentool is active, right click on the surface, choose stroke path, and check the ;simulate pressure

option.

Apen the blending options, and apply the following settings to your layer.

Duplicate the line layer twice, and then blur the duplicated one. <ilter8G'lur8GHaussian 'lur at /2p&. Duplicate it again, and make a new group and then set the blending option to linear dodge ,see below screenshot-. Linear dodge is one of the most powerful layer modes in achieving quality lighting effects. 6e&t, make a new layer and then fill it with black and set the blending options to linear dodge. Hrab the brush tool, and brush a little bit of red in his shoulder and use this command )$?LJ< three times ,to blur it again-. $his will enhance the glow effect from the lighting.

?epeat this process and try to make some brush ad%usments make it bigger or smaller. $ry making it /2p&,Ip&,4p&, whatever you want. $ry to put some it to the bottom layer of the boy. eres how it looks after my illustrations and repeating the process of previous grouped layers. Kust e&periment use soft eraser to fade it some parts nicely. " used motion blur to achieve some movement in the piece.

Averall, " had 1 groups for the lighting effects.

Step & $'tra $((ects:

Add some small particles, like its splashing away from the boy. "n this step, " used a nebula stock. $here are many available through http577resurgere.deviantart.com7 orhttp577hameed.deviantart.com7gallery7L40:0:+/M*tock5 !lace it on canvas and change the blending option to Linear Dodge, then desaturate it to make it black and white. $his will add some e&tra contrast to our image, apart from %ust the red. 6ow that it is desaturated, you can duplicate and place it anywhere you want, %ust play around to see what gives a good result. " suggest putting some of it behind the boy, to create a nice illusion and enhance the depth. Frase any unwanted parts using a soft eraser.

Step ) Smoke:

" added some smoke, for the original work " used a stock image of smoke. #nfortunately, " was unable to find the same image " used, but " will still show you the erased parts of the smoke. $heres plenty of free stock images of smoke ,check http577s&c.hu for e&ample- and see what works for you. "f you want the same image that " used, it is available below5

*imply paste this smoke image into the document, move it over the boy and set the blending mode to ;*creen or ;Linear Dodge depending on your desired result. >ou can ad%ust your layer order to

achieve the appearance of the smoke behind or in front of the lighting effects.

Step * +ore $((ects:

6e&t, we can add awesome lighting effects to dramatically increase the visual impact of the piece. <irst create a new layer ,)$?L8* "<$86- . <ill it with black and change the blending option to ;Linear Dodge. Hrab the rectangular marquee tool, and use your gradient tool ,from white to transparent-, then erase the sides a little to make it softer.

Step , Final -ighting !d.ustments:

We are almost done. 6ow we will add some more red lights to incorporate the e&tra color into the piece. Well be using a soft brush, paint bucket and blending options here. )reate a new layer, fill it with black, change the blending option to ;Linear Dodge. #se the brush, and then refer to the screenshot below5

Were essentially done now, but we should make some ad%ustments to achieve better depth and sharpness. )reate a new layer, and ;Apply "mage ,)$?L8AL$8* "<$8F-. 6e&t, go to <ilter8 G*harpen8G*harpen. $hen, apply a curves layer by going to Layer8G6ew Ad%ustment Layer8

G)urves. Apply the following settings5

After applying the curves, add a layer mask ,Layer8G6ew Layer Cask- and erase some of the curves layer ,particularly around the head of the boy. ?educe the opacity to :+=, and then you can add your own gradient maps and ad%ustments if you so choose. eres my result after ad%ustments5

/onclusion
>ou can add any more effects you want, but for now "m satisfied with the result, and hopefully you are too. ?emember to keep e&perimenting, as small changes can have incredibly different results and you never know what may end up looking incredible. opefully you learned something from this

tutorial, and thanks for reading(

AD