Ray of Light
Ray of Light
Monday, March 31 2008 11:24 Denny Tang Photoshop Elements Tutorials - Photo Effects
Open a photo into Photoshop Elements. The photo should have a light source such as an
overexposed sky, highlights in clouds, etc..
Step 2: Duplicate the background layer
Select the Background layer in the Layers palette then press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer.
Select the brush tool and set your foreground color to black. Paint over areas that are not bright.
With the image used in this tutorial, everything except the windows and the bones in the medical
image were painted black.
Step 5: Change the blend mode to Screen.
In the layers palette, select the top layer and change the blend mode to Screen. This will make
the layer blend so that only the highlights (white areas) are visible.
Step 7: Duplicate the layer and repeat the Radial Blur filter
Right now, the ray of light in your image will look very faint. In this step, we'll repeat a process
of duplicating the layer and repeating the Radial Blur filter to extend and brighten the ray of
light. Press Ctrl+J (duplicate layer) then Ctrl+F (repeat previous filter; Radial Blur) three times
or until you get results that you like. You should end up with several layers and a more visible
ray of light.
With the top layer selected, choose Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation. Inside the
Hue/Saturation tool, checkmark the Colorize option near the bottom right. Then, adjust the hue
and saturation setting to tint the ray of light. For an warm tint, use the settings from the image
below.
Sometimes the ray of light can get in the way of important areas such as the face. If you want to
erase the ray of light from any area, select the top layer then select the brush tool with a black
foreground color and paint over the areas.
Final Results