Trik-tips Design

Creating Energy Spheres in Photoshop

2009-02-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

1. Download the brush set and install it.
2. Now I’ll show how to take a child with a big imagination and turn him into the powerful being he imagine himself to be.
3. We’ll start by creating a new layer on top of our original and filling it with black. Next we want to select Filter >> Render >> Lighting Effects >> Lens Flare
4. Use the 105mm Prime with the Brightness setting of your choice.

5. This will create a bright flash. Move it to the point where you want the ‘energy ball’ to appear.
6. You may notice that when you move it, you can see the edges of the layer. To rectify this, select the layer and add a ‘Layer Mask’.
7. Select default colors (white and black). With the layer mask selected, use the Gradient Tool >> Radial Gradient >> Reverse and drag from the center outwards. This will mask everything in a sphere around the center.
8. Set both of these layers to the ‘Hard Light’ setting.
9. I like to use the Image >> Adjustments >> Photo Filter to make the colors “pop”. I also used this setting to make the lens flare a bluish color. There are other ways to do this so experiment with your options.
10. Using the Brush set we installed earlier we want to apply them to the energy balls. I used the color black, with the layer’s Blend Options set to ‘Overlay’.
11. With this layer selected, set the Layer Style settings like so:

12. Using the same technique that we used in Step 7, we want to mask the edges of our brush layers.
13. To create the ‘arc of light’ we’ll use paths. Select the ‘Ellipse Tool’ and change it from ‘Shape layers’ to ‘Paths’. Now, draw a large circle or ellipse that includes both energy flares.
14. Once the arc is drawn we want to stroke it (no jokes please). Select a brush that’s very small, maybe about a brush with a 5px diameter and use the color white. Go to ‘Paths’ right click on the selected path, and select ‘Stroke Path’. Check the ’simulate pressure’ option, this will give the ring a bit of perspective with a heavier stroke on one side and a lighter stroke on the opposite side.

15. Repeat this step twice. Each time use a different brush setting that is bigger than the one before it. I started with the 5px brush, then I used a 45px brush followed by a 100px brush. Each time use a different color. The topmost (bigger) arc should be set to ‘Linear Dodge (Add)’ with an opacity of 35%. The middle layer should be set to ‘Overlay’ and the original (the white one) should be set to ‘Linear Dodge (Add)’.

16. I grouped these together then, using the technique from Step 7 again, I use layer masking to block one half of the sphere I created.
17. To create the energy ‘tendrils’ that are leaping from the arc. Duplicate the grouped folder from Step 16. Then merge the group or folder into one layer. Select Filter >> Liquify and distort the arc to look like it should for your image. Secondly, we’ll select Filter >> Distort >> Ripple and tweak it to look a bit more like electricity.
18. Now we’re done. Outside of some techniques that I used to make the image more polished, this completes the tutorial.

Dark Art Picture Style

2009-01-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

The first you open this picture, press Ctrl+J to duplicate layer then change blend mode: Soft light These are the stocks needed for this tutorials, click here to download

Cut the lady out of background (Feather=5)

Move the lady to the first picture, press Ctrl+B to open Color Balance, set information like this:

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate lady layer, blend mode: Screen and adjust Opacity of layer copy: 70%. You will get the result:

Open cloud stock, use Elliptical marquee tool to make selection like this (Feather=20)

Move selected part of cloud to background, use Free Transform (Ctrl+T) to make it fit in background, change blend mode: Screen

Duplicate cloud layer, use Free Transform (Ctrl+T) to reverse layer copy then move it to bottom of background

Get Moon from this stock, feather 10px:

Move moon layer to background and put it under cloud layer. Press Ctrl+B to open Color Balance and set information like this:

You will get:

Use Elliptical Marquee Tool to draw a lozenge then click Right mouse, choose Stroke: white, 1px

Dupliate lozenge layer to make another layer copy (about 5,6 layers) then sort them like this:

Merge all lozenge layers to one layer then open Layer Style, set information like this:

Go to Filter -> Radial Blur:

Duplicate one more layer to make the ribbon lighter, then continue merge them to one, change blend mode to Hard light, you will get:

Duplicate layer, use Free Transform to revolve lozenge like the picture below:

Put some birds over cloud and you will have:

Move "paper" stock to background then change Blend mode to Linear Burn:

Open Color Balance (Ctrl+B) of paper layer, set information like this:

And this is my final result:

(Click on the picture below to see full size)

Create a Powerful Mental Wave Explosion Effect

2009-01-30T01:04:00.000-08:00

Step 1

Open a new document. I used 800x600px. Look for a road photo on the Internet. The one I used can be downloaded here. After downloading, place the photo in your document.

Step 2

Now we need a photo of a person. The one I used can be found here. Once you have your photo, it's time to extract the guy from the background. Using the Pen Tool(P) create a path like in the image below. After that go to the Paths Palette and create a selection from that path. Then go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. Lastly, I named this layer "dude."

Step 3

Go to Edit>Transform>Scale and reduce the size of the guy. Then go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. We do that to match the light direction.

Step 4

Go to Image>Adjustments>Curves. The idea here is to darken the guy a little bit so he will fit better with the background. Use the image below as a reference.

Step 5

Holding Cmd/Ctrl click on the mask thumb of the "dude" layer. That will create a marquee selection of the guy. After that create a new layer. Rename it to "shadow" and fill it with black. Then go to Edit>Transform>Distort and move the vertices to make the shadow in perspective. The last thing here is go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur.

Step 6

Grab the Ellipse Tool(U). Select Paths instead of Shape Layer. Create a Circle, like the image below. After that grab the Direct Selection Tool(A) and adjust the bottom of the circle.

Step 7

Create a new layer. Rename it to "clouds." Then go to Filter>Render>Clouds. While holding Alt, click on Clouds. After that go to the Path's Palette and create a selection from the path and mask the layer.

Tip: As you will be using the Render>Clouds, you will probably need to apply the filter several times until you got the clouds just right. Keep working with it until the light and dark areas are in a good position.

Step 8

Go to Filter>Liquefy. In the Liquefy Dialog Box select the Bloat Tool (B). Then for the settings use: Brush Size 550, Brush Density 100, Brush Pressure 100, Brush Rate 60, and Turbulent Jitter 75.

Then select the Show Backdrop Option. That will allow you to see the clouds and the background. It will be necessary to use the Bloat Tool in the right place. Click a few times and deselect the Show Backdrop. Then you will see the effect and will be able to repeat it more times in the correct place.

Step 9

Change the Blend Mode of the cloud layer to Soft Light. Then create another layer and rename it to "Clouds 2" and repeat Steps 7 and 8. We will need another cloud to make it more turbulent. This time, however, use Multiply for the Blend Mode.

After that, create yet another layer. Rename it to "Clouds 3" and repeat Steps 7 and 8. For this layer use Color Dodge for the Blend Mode. The last thing here is with the Eraser Tool (E) delete some parts. This layer is used to give highlights to the clouds.

Step 10

Group the "Clouds 3" layer and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. After that, select the Brush Tool (B), give it a black color, and mask some parts of the clouds that are close to the ground.

Step 11

Select the "Clouds" layer and go to Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen More. Then repeat this Sharpen filter on Clouds 2 and 3 layers.

Step 12

Create a new layer. Rename it to "Glow." Fill it with white and go to the Path Palette. Create a selection from the clouds path as we did in Step 9. Then mask the layer.

After that go to Layer>Layer Style>Outer Glow. Use the default settings. Then go to Layer>Layer Style>Create Layer. This command will create another layer from the Outer Glow. You can delete the white layer and leave just the Outer Glow layer.

Step 13

Create a folder called "Lights." Move the "Glow" layer to this folder. Next select the "Glow" layer. Then go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Then select the Brush Tool, black for the color, and start masking the glow. We need just the outline; however, some bright spots in the middle will give a nice result.

Step 14

Create a new layer beneath the clouds group. Using the Elliptical Marquee Tool create a selection like the image below. Fill the layer with black and use 40% Opacity.

Step 15

Go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. After that select the Gradient Tool(G) and use a black and white gradient. Then mask the layer, like in the image below.

Step 16

Duplicate the layer and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Apply. Then go to Edit>Transform>Distort. Repeat the same thing we did for the shadow of the guy on this layer. Group these two layers and rename the group to "Shadows."

Step 17

Create a new layer right above the road photo. Go to Filter> Render> Clouds. Then go to Filter>Distort>ZigZag. Use 100 for the Amount and 5 for the Ridges. For the Style use Pond Ripples.

Step 18

Now go to Edit>Transform>Distort. Distort the layer until you get the right perspective. After that, change the Blend Mode to Overlay. Again, as we are using Render Clouds, the results may vary so you might need to erase some parts to make it more realistic.

Step 19

Create an Elliptical Selection like the image below. Then fill it with black. After that, create another Elliptical Selection, but smaller. Then delete that part of the layer. With the Magic Wand Tool(W) select the black part of the layer.

Step 20

Duplicate the road's layer and select it. Make sure that you still have the Marquee Selection from the Step 19. Then go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. You can delete the black ellipse layer from the Step 19 or just hide it.

Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Bevel and Emboss. This is another way to create the ripple effect. You could use Displace as well.

Step 21

Go to Layer>New Layer Fill>Gradient. Use Radial for the Style. For the colors use #ddc396 and #2f1e00. Change the Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 22

Here I used another image from Stock.Xchng, image. Just place it on top of all layers and change the Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 23

Now let's make some adjustments. First, lets darken our Magneto dude a bit more. Select the Burn Tool(S) and burn the back of the guy. After that, change the Blend Mode of the "ripples" layer to Soft Light. You can delete some parts of the clouds as well.

Step 24

Create a new folder, beneath the "dude" layer. Name the group "power" and change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge. After that, create a new layer inside of this group. Then using the Brush Tool with white color, create some lights coming from the hands of the guy. Tip: use a regular brush with 0% for the hardness.

After that you create another layer. Use some brushes to add more effects. I used some abstract brushes from http://brusheezy.com. Then add a Pink Outer Glow Layer Style.

Step 25

Import the truck image, you can download it at image. Then with the Magic Wand Tool(W) select and delete the background of the photo. Leave just the truck. After that go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. Move the truck to the side of the road.

Step 26

Go to Image>Adjustments>Curves and make the truck a bit darker. After that, using the Rectangular Marquee Tool(M), create a rectangular selection a bit bigger than the truck. Then go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur. For the settings use Amount 2, Method use Spin, and set Best Quality. Next go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Then use -75 degrees for the angle and 3 pixels for the Distance.

Step 27

Now we will create the truck's shadow. To do that select the Truck's layer, click with the right button of the mouse and choose Select Pixels. Then create a new layer and fill it with black. Put this layer beneath the truck layer and go to Edit>Transform>Distort. Distort the shadow to make it look more real. Then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Change the Opacity of this layer to 60%.

Step 28

Group the truck and the shadow layer and rename it to "truck." Then organize your folders in the Layers Palette.

Give Your Photos a Retro Comic Book Effect

2009-01-29T23:28:00.000-08:00

How about a fun effect for your incredibly boring photo albums? Creating a old comic book effect for your photos is easy and the results are visually appealing. More fun is achieved when adding captions to your photos using comic book fonts and design elements.

This tutorial will show you how to give a comic book look to your photos using a couple of filters and some additional decorations.

Click on the image below to see a larger and more clear image of the final results.

Old halftone print effect

Download and open this photo in Photoshop. Now we are going to increase the overall contrast of the picture by burning it a bit. Go to IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > LEVELS With this image we are going to set the INPUT LEVELS to 60 / 1.00 / 220. But this is only for this example. Choose the best settings for each photo.

In this step we are going to give the photo an illustrated look with some graininess to give the illusion of an old and bad quality paper. It is not a realistic effect, it is just some distortion to the image to help us achieve the final look. Go to FILTERS > ARTISTIC > FILM GRAIN. In this case we are going to use: GRAIN: 4, HIGHLIGHT AREA: 0, INTENSITY: 10. Try different settings for different photos

Duplicate the layer and name the new layer HALFTONE

In this step we are going apply a halftone pattern to the image to give the final old comic book printing effect. Go to FILTER > PIXELATE > COLOR HALFTONE. Set MAX RADIUS: 4 and leave the rest with the default values. Press OK and then go to the LAYERS PALETTE and set the BLENDING MODE to DARKEN.

Adding comic book elements to the picture

The effect looks nice so far. It is not a realistic old comic book effect, it simple resembles that look. To make it more real, now comes the fun part. We are going to add some unique elements that are very popular on comic books and strips
Select the HALFTONE layer and set a STROKE LAYER STYLE of WIDTH: 20px, POSITION: Inside and COLOR: #F5ECE1.

Add a new layer and draw a small rectangle at the top left of the frame of the image. Give it a STROKE of 3 pixels and paint it orange. An orange to yellow gradient looks better. Draw another rectangle, a bit larger this time, on the lower left corner of the frame. Give it a STROKE of 3 pixels and paint it white. The final result should be like the one below:

Lets add a border to the image: Add a new empty layer above the layer containing the rectangles we created in the previous step. Select the RECTANGLE SELECTION TOOL from the TOOLS PALETTE. Draw a selection from the top left (right inside the frame) to the bottom right border of the image.

Go to EDIT > STROKE, set WIDTH: 4px, COLOR: BLACK, LOCATION CENTER and press OK.

DESELECT the current selection and go to FILTER > BLUR > BLUR MORE. Then apply a small distortion using FILTER > DISTORT > RIPPLE… (Amount 20%, Size Medium). Now, lets sharpen the stroke a bit with FILTER > SHARPEN MORE and there you have a nice simulated hand drawn border.

Adding captions using a comic book font

To add captions to the photo you can use any font you like, but only using fonts specially designed for comic books you will be able to achieve the desired look. Download the free font Digital Strip and install it. At the end of this article you will find a lot of free and commercial comic book fonts and resources.
Using the Digital Strip font you’ve just downloaded, type a date on the top orange rectangle. Play with the first letter of the text by adding a stroke, a shadow and a bright contrasting color.
Then write a caption for the photo at the bottom white rectangle. Highlighting some words in bold also looks good.
And that’s all. Your image should look similar to the one below:

Adding other comic book elements to your photos

If you want to learn more about comic book design, you can browse sites like Comic Book Fonts or Balloon Tales for some inspiration. Balloon Tales has published a fantastic comic book lettering tutorial that you should read if you want to make some stunning sound effects. There are lots of comic book resources, but these two are very colorful and loaded with design tips and examples.

As an example, I’ve created two images using other design elements such as balloons and sound effects:

Comic book fonts and resources on the web

Check this selection of freeware and commercial comic book resources:

FREE FONTS: Blambot	FREE SOUND FX CLIPART: Blambot	FREE COMIC BOOK BALLOONS: Blambot
FONTS: ComicBookFonts	TIPS AND TUTORIALS: Balloon Tales	FONT: Monster Mash
FONT: Zoom	FONT: Braaains	FONT: Goosebumps

Smoking Woman

2009-01-28T21:26:00.001-08:00

In this tutorial, I’m going to show how to create one smokin’ woman using a couple source pics..

So follow along and I’ll try to share a few secrets into some of the magic, without the smoke and mirrors.

Well, maybe a little smoke.

With the general idea already in my mind, I needed to find a suitable background image.

The image I found turned out perfect because of the line of direction of the main figure’s vision. He’s looking directly where we’re going to place our smoke, creating unity among our elements. How convenient!

1. The first step was to remove most of the smoke from the original image, as we’ll be bringing in our own later on.

I did this simply by taking the Clone stamp tool, shift-clicking a clean area of the background to sample, and painting over the smoke covered areas with our selected sample.

It doesn’t need to be perfect at this point, as most of it will be covered by the end anyways.

2. Next, I brought in a high contrast image of a model. Not only do the natural stark shadows and highlights of this image look good, but hey, the contrast will do half the work for us in the long run.

Using a combination of the Move and Distortion tools, I resized and situated the model right where we want her.

Then set the layer’s blend mode to “Screen“.

3. Now that we have our basic composition in place, it’s time to get to the real action.

Using the liquify tool, I smudged the edges of the figure and pulled out trails to draw a smokey effect.

I did that until I was left with a wispy looking figure.

And remember, the more work you do in this stage, the less time it’ll take to cover your overlooked areas later on.

It’s almost good to go just as is, if I do say so myself.

But since we saved time by finding excellent source pics to begin with, let’s spend our free time fine tuning this thing up.

4. Our lady could always be more smokin’. And what’s more smokin’ than, well, smoke?

Using the Lasso tool, I copied and pasted a segment from an image of actual smoke onto a new layer.

I set this layer to “Screen“, just as we did with the woman. Using the Move tool, I resized the piece to situate around our lady friend.

I repeated that step numerous times until our lady was covered entirely hiding my earlier (now hideous in comparison) attempts to freehand the smoke entirely.

5. Now we’re getting somewhere! But I still wanted to expose a few of the highlights of the smoke a bit more. Just to give it that extra pop.

I did this by using a white brush to paint a rough outline around the figure on a new layer, then set this layer to “Overlay“.

6. Then, as a final touch, I filled the entire image in a light blue on a new layer, then set this layer to “Overlay“, and set the opacity to 25%.

Of course, this step is not 100% necessary, but it adds a little extra mood and brings the whole image together harmoniously.

And there you have it. With the magic of Photoshop, you’ve created the smokin’ woman of your dreams.

Learn How to Create a Fiery Demon Montage

2009-01-28T04:43:00.000-08:00

Step 1

Create a new document that's 950px wide and 1200px high. Drag in our cityscape image and position it so it looks good. Navigate to the curves tool located at Image > Adjustments > Curves (Command + M). Now give the backdrop a dark red glow (this will make our explosion look real when we get to that step). To do this, you'll need to darken the overall RGB a touch. Increase the red. Then lower the green (a little bit) and the blue a fair bit. Here's what I've got so far, hopefully you're on the same track.

Step 2

Now it's time for the demon to start taking shape. Import the stocks of the man and the wings. Next, position the man so he is a bit higher than the bottom of the canvas. Now, resize and re-position the two demon wings using the Transform tool by going to Edit > Free Transform (Command + T). You'll want to put the wings so they connect on his shoulder blades, this will give it a more anatomically correct look, again adding to the realism. If you're still following correctly, you should have something that resembles the image below.

Step 3

This is the where we start blending. More specifically, we want the wings to look attached to the man's back. To do this, grab a nice soft, round, 50px brush, with the color set to black #000000, Hardness at 0%, and Opacity at around 30. Once you've got that, create a layer mask on each of the wings. To do this, first you need to click on the layer containing one of the wings, then click the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette, see the first image below for an example result.

To have a more precise looking blend, you should click, not just click and drag, that way you can choose how much you want taken away from the wing. Note: don't worry if you think it doesn't look right yet. We're going to make it look even better with some more curves in the next step.

Step 4

This step is very easy. It's just a simple little adjustment, but we'll be using levels this time, instead of curves. First, group together both the wings and the man. That way they'll all be on the same layer. To do this you Command-click on each layer you want to merge, then right-click and select > Merge Layers. Simple eh? To add the levels adjustment layer, you will first need to select the layer we're working with, then head to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. You will then see this dialogue box shown below.

Step 5

Let's develop the demon some more. To do this, we'll add some realistic shadows to it. Create a new layer between your man, and your adjustments layer (in this position the shadows will appear darker, requiring less work). Now you need to select a brush that is 60px wide, 0% Hardness, 25% Opacity and has 40% Flow.

Now use this brush to draw the shadows. Keep in mind that our light source will eventually come from the top left of the picture, meaning you'll want more shadows on the demons' right hand side, and under the left wing. Another good place to add shadows is the bottoms of the wings, as well as the tops of the wings. All marked below. Once you're done you should end up with something resembling the image below.

Step 6

This step is all about the explosion! We'll leave the demon as it is for now, and come back to it soon. But first we need to tackle our explosion! If you open and import your explosion, you'll see it's not the easiest thing to work with, as it has many different colors. It also has a combination of soft and sharp edges, which would sink the hearts of even the best Photoshop gurus. So what do we do? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret of mine: When in doubt - Rub it out! (badaboom boom).

That's right, we're going to use the eraser. All you need to do is grab the eraser and using a nice 80px soft brush at 100% opacity we're going to get rid of the surrounding area of the explosions. Then take a softer opacity brush, say around 60% with a flow of 100 still, and go gently around the explosion's.

Your last step is to neaten them up using a smaller brush (around 50px) and a lower opacity (around 40%). Then rub away. Eventually you'll have something which looks like the results in the animated GIF below. All in all, it took me two minutes to cut out these explosions, and they now look good. The last thing you've got to do is seperate each explosion into it's own layer, using either the Pen tool, the lasso tool, or the marquee tool. Whichever you're more comfortable with.

Step 7

Now that we have our three explosions cut out and separated into individual layers (they don't have to be perfectly cut out, because we'll amend any bad bits using the Clone Stamp in the next step). All that's left is to put them together. First, you need to pick a spot to blow up. I chose the top left hand corner for this tutorial. So I'll stick them up there. Next you need to position them and resize them accordingly using the Free Transform tool again. Once that's done you should have something like the image below.

Step 8

Now that you're happy you will need to do some stamping! Grab the clone stamp tool. I know many of you know how to clone stamp, but I'll go through it quickly for anyone who doesn't. All you do when using this tool is find somewhere you want to copy/sample and Alt click it. Then you just normal click where you want that sample to copy too. For the best results, I recommend using a 0% hard brush. Just because it comes out way better.

With the Clone Stamp tool in hand, you want to achieve a very nice looking natural explosion. The beauty of this step is no explosion is ever the same, they're all very different. And that's what sets your picture apart from the rest.

As you can see, my final effect (after 10 minutes of clone stamping) is much lighter than the original explosions. This is because I focussed more on the white area's. And I also added a nice little layer that just contained some white soft brush strokes set to Color Dodge. You may want to try the same thing. I also erased some of the explosion that covered the buildings. This makes the explosion feel distant and gives your image a depth of field. You might want to try that as well.

Step 9

This step involves two things. First, you have to do a curves adjustment on your explosion (if you think it will look better, no harm in trying). So select your explosions layers one by one and change the curves. For my example, I lowered the red, and increased the blue and RGB to lighten it all up. The image below shows the effect after tinkering with the curves.

The second thing this step involves is selecting a large (100+) soft, bright, orange brush and brushing behind (and on if you like) the explosion. This adds realism to the explosion, as an explosion gives out light. To do this create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) behind the explosion and fill it with bright orange.

What you do now is again click the Layer Mask Icon and this time fill the layer mask with black. You should see no orange anymore. Now select a brush size of well over 100px. Then with Hardness set too 0, Opacity to 40% and the color set to white - brush away.

Step 10

It's time to turn the city orange! This will add to the explosion ten-fold, and make it look super cool. Create a new adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels) above the orange background you just created. And change the settings to what I have set below. Or play around with it yourself and see what looks good, what looks bad, and learn from it. It's such a great tool.

Step 11

Create a new layer above every other layer. Press Command + Shift + E. This will merge everything into a new layer. Now set this layer to Soft Light at 100% Opacity (lower it if wanted). This should give your image some pop.

Step 12

We're nearly done! All we need to do now is some extensive coloring. I'll take my time on this step so everyone understands.

What we're going to do here is study where the light is coming from, and then decide where we need to start painting. It's all hand labour from here (it's easy and can be done with a mouse). Okay, so create a new layer above our levels layer (the most recently made one). Fill this with another bright orange (I used #ff6c00). Then click on the quick mask icon again with this layer selected. Now you'll want to get yourself a decent sized brush (25px or so) with 0 Hardness, and 40% Flow and Opacity. Select the color white.

Before you start painting! Look at this diagram below. I've already created my adjustments layer, and done a little bit of painting. I've outlined where you will need to paint based on the light source.

Obviously you will need to paint over the explosion. It's pretty much the more the better here. I'd focus more on the bottom (as it's coming through the buildings) to add realism.
The back drop needs to pretty much be all lightly covered in an orange tinge, this will help the explosion look like it is actually there and not just pasted in.
Here we have the tops of the wings on the right. The light will be very vibrant here when you're finished (grab yourself a smaller brush and focus on this area). The closer to the top of the wing you get, the brighter you should be getting. This gives it a natural flow.
Repeat the previous step on the other side.
5 is the back. Note that the left wing will be casting a shadow over the back, so make sure you create an abrupt end to the orange (around the bottom of where 5 is written - along the line). You will then want to focus more light onto the ridge of the demon's right shoulder blade because that's where the light will hit the most on the back.
Detail is key here. Use a mall brush and zoom in closely! You want to be right in close to the fingers. Once there, you want to treat each finger as if it were the tops of the wings on three and four, getting brighter as you reach the top ridge of each finger. If you get this detail right, you'll make the picture stand out. It's the detail that makes the final picture great.

How to Create a Flaming Photo Manipulation

2009-01-28T01:58:00.000-08:00

Step 1

For this project, I used two nice images that suits for the manipulation; image1, image2. I would like to thank the author of this two great pictures, which is thiquinho and huibidos from sxc.hu. And before we continue with the steps, I need to inform you that this tutorial is written using Photoshop CS3.

Step 2

Let's start with image1, open and duplicate this image by using the Image > Duplicate command from the menu bar. In the Duplicate Image dialog box, you can name it anything you like, but to follow this tutorial reference, name it "PassionFire" and hit OK. By doing this, we kept the original image. Be sure to save.

Step 3

With the "PassionFire" image active, duplicate the "background" layer. Set the foreground and background color to black and white by pressing D on the keyboard. Click the "background" layer again and fill it with the foreground color ~ which is set to black. See the images below.

Step 4

Reactivate "Layer 1," then press Command + Shift + U to apply desaturate command. Now invert the color by pressing Command + I. Your image should look like a film's negative now.

Step 5

Duplicate "Layer 1," then apply the find edges filter from Filter > Stylized > Find Edges. Next, invert the color by pressing Command + I and change the Blending Mode to Hard light. There, your image now has contrast white line and a very dark background.

Step 6

To give the white line more contrast, duplicate the "Layer 1" copy then change the Blending Mode to Screen.

Step 7

Now we move to the second image. Drag image2 into "PassionFire" document image window using the Move tool. If the Paste profile mismatch dialog appears, just click OK to fix it.

Step 8

The fire image from "image2" should be in "Layer 2" now. Change its Blending Mode to screen, this will hide all the black colors in "Layer 2." If done right, your image should be similar to the one below.

Step 9

Duplicate "Layer 2" by pressing Command + J. Make sure you use the Screen Blending mode, same as the original "Layer 2." Next, make "Layer 2" become invisible by hiding it from the layers panel.

Step 10

Click the "Layer 2 copy" to make it active, then use the Free Transform command ( Edit > Free Transform) to rotate and resize the fire image like shown below. Don't forget to press Enter when you're done transforming.

Step 11

Still in the same layer, now use the warp command (Edit > Transform > Warp) to bend the fire image - so it following the hair flow. Press Enter when done. See the example below as a reference.

Step 12

If you feel the result is not quite good enough, simply use the Liquify filter to fix it. I assume you already know how to use the liquify filter; the Forward Warp tool and Twirl Clockwise tool is the only tool I used to get this result (see image below).

Step 13

Duplicate the "Layer 2" copy, then use the Free Transform command to resize and rotate the fire image in the current layer. Don't forget to reposition the fire image too. Once you get this composition (see image below), hit Enter.

Step 14

Repeat the previous process to get the hair covered with fire. Just duplicate and modify the layer until you get all the hair part covered. If needed, use the Liquify Filter again. The end result of this process should look like the image below, notice how many layers are used.

Step 15

Okay, now activate "Layer 2" and make it visible again. Then Change the Blending Mode to Vivid Light. This step will colorize only the white line in the layer below it.

Step 16

Still in "Layer 2," apply the Free Transform command to resize and rotate the fire image like shown below. The purpose is to cover up the girl's body and hair with the fire texture. Press Enter when you're done transforming.

Step 17

We're gonna blur the fire image in "Layer 2," To do so, apply the Gaussian Blur filter from the Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur menu. Fill the Radius around 10 to 15 pixels, then click OK when done. Blurring the fire image will cause its texture to blend smoother with the layer below it.

Step 18

Now add a layer mask to "Layer 2." Then use a soft round Brush tool with Opacity at 100%. Set the brush size according to your need, then just mask until the fire outside becoming hidden. See the process below.

Step 19

Sure we will remove the white line shown in the image (marked in red rectangle below). First, add a new blank layer below "Layer 2." Then simply paint it with black using the soft round brush tool.

Step 20

Now go to the top most layer (mine is: "Layer 2 copy 6"), add two adjustment layers which is Hue/Saturation and Brightness/Contrast. Careful not to change the layer adjustment order, or the color effect will be wrong. Below you can see the setting I used to complete this step, also pay attention to the adjustment layer order.
By adding a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, we unify all colors. The Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer brings more color contrast and makes sure the image color's looks like real fire.

Step 21

I'm sure you notice the fire sparks effect. I create it using the Brush tool with this simple setting. No special brush needed, but if you have one that will be useful then feel free to use it. Below you can see all the settings I used within the Brush palette, of course you can change the setting as you like. Just make sure the brush spatter enough and vary the size.

Step 22

Now to use the modified brush, create a new blank layer below the adjustment layers ( mine is named "Layer 4"). Choose 50% gray from the swatches palette, then you can start creating the fire sparks. Remember not to be monotone, resize the brush size if needed. I start using a big sized brush, then reduce it to smaller size (you can change brush size faster by pressing the bracket keys on the keyboard ).
If you're not sure how to do this steps, just imagine where and how the fire sparks will flow if it was real fire. For me, imagining stuff is very helpful.

2009-01-22T00:38:00.000-08:00

High-Tech Swirling Aurora

Learn how to add a stunning beam of light that twirls around the object. This tutorial is more than a beam of light, it contains steps to create three versions of the aurora effect.

Creating the path
Start with a photo of a person or object that you would like to add the effect to.

Go to Layer > New > Layer to create a new layer. Name this layer Light Swirl.

Select the Pen tool and chose the Paths button.

With the pen tool, start from the bottom or the top and draw a path similar to the image below. Or you may experiment with your own path for your own unique effect, but for the first time, we recommend using the path pattern shown below.

Stroking the path

Select the brush tool

and use the setting below. Depending on your image size, you may want to select a larger or smaller brush size. A good rule of thumb is for ever 100 pixels wide or tall, there should be 1 pixel. For example, on a 800x600pixel image, you would start off with a 8 px brush size.

Select white as the foreground color. To do this quickly, simply press D then X. Pressing D will reset the colors to black and whiter and pressing X will switch the two colors.

Select back the Pen tool and right mouse click on the image to display the path option menu. Select Stroke Path.

A window will appear where you can select the settings. Use the settings below:

This is what your image should look like now. The path you created earlier should be stroked with a brush and it should start thin on the ends and thick in the middle. If it's all just one straight line, make sure that you have the "Simulate Pressure" option checked in the previous step. If you forgot to do that or if the brush size is too small or large, go to Edit > Undo to undo the previous step and correct the setting. If you want to change the stroke size, select back the brush tool and change the brush size. You may also undo and experiment with other brush shapes and settings, but we recommend, if you're doing this for the first time, sticking with one that will produce the similar results as the image below.

Now we'll add some lighting effects to the stroke. To do this, we'll use the Outer Glow layer style. Right mouse click on the Light Swirl layer and go to Blending Options. Enable Outer Glow and select blue as the color. Adjust the spread and size to get the results that you desire.

Your swirl should now have a blue glow around it and look like light instead of paint.

Add a layer mask to the current layer with the swirl. To do this, go to Layer > New Layer Mask > Reveal All.

With the layer mask selected, use the Eraser tool to erase every other line intersecting the person or object so that the light looks like it is going around.

Once you are done, you should get a 3D effect similar to the image below.

Adding the aurora special effect

If you like the effect and want to keep it that way, you may skip to step 20. However, if you want to add an aurora effect to the light, continue with the tutorial. Press Ctrl+J or go to Layer > Duplicate Layer to create a duplicate layer.

Rotate the image 90 degrees CW by going to Image > Rotate > 90 degrees CW. We need to rotate it for the Wind filter that we will be using later. The Wind filter only adds a wind effect moving left or right and not up or down; therefore, we need to rotate the image and rotate it back after applying the Wind filter if we want it to blow up or down.

Go to Filter > Stylize > Wind. Go to the next step and do not click OK yet.

Choose one of the three effects from below that you would like to use. Then, follow the corresponding instruction for each.

Effect A

1. In the Wind filter settings, choose From the left and then click OK.
2. Press Ctrl+F to repeat the previous filter until you get the effect that you want.
3. Go Image > Rotate > Arbitrary and enter in 270 degrees CWto rotate the image back to the proper orientation.

Effect B

1. In the Wind filter, choose either From the Left or From the Right; either one is fine.
2. Go to Image > Rotate > 90' CW.
3. Press Ctrl+F to repeat the Wind filter.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 twice. Your image should now be back to its proper orientation.

Effect C

1. Choose From the Right in the Wind filter settings.
2. Press Ctrl+F several times until you get the effect that you like.
3. Go to Image > Rotate > Arbitrary and enter in 270 degrees CW to rotate the image back to the proper orientation.
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Select the new layer (2nd layer) and go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. From the Style menu, choose Blue Omni and click OK. Reduce the opacity of the current layer to about 50%.

Finished Results

Here's what the image looks like after adding this Photoshop effect. This effect is great for making dull photos that sometimes doesn't make much sense into a high-tech digital art.