Create Light Rays in 3 Simple Steps with Photoshop

[Music] hi there this is animation pixel-perfect and today i'm going to show you how to create beautiful sun rays or light rays coming through an opening in Photoshop whether this trees in the forest or a simple window in a room the concept remains the same all we need is a couple blend modes and a filter that's it so without any further ado let's get started so here we are back in the magical world of Photoshop and if you are go ahead and download this for and follow along you already know what it will check the links in the description to get started let me give you a clue have a look at this image here we have a forest and here we have some openings some bright areas so we already have the bright areas we already have the shape of the openings what can we do with it think about it now step number one would be selecting the bright areas and there are lots of ways of doing it but we're gonna use color range and I might be thinking how come color range it's about brightness right let me show you so go to select and then color range now besides color color range also has highlights shadows and mid-tones yes it does so in the Select drop down menu select highlights we want to select the highlights first of all decrease the fuzziness all the way to the left and just focus on the range so white other areas which are going to be selected so you're just gonna select just those areas you can also put a selection preview and you can set that to black matte so that everything that is selected will show up in color and everything that is not selected will be black so as you can see some green areas are being selected that's fine no problem at all just increase the range and you'll be good but if you increase the range too much see the bright areas are going black we don't want that so you need to find the right balance right there now let's increase the fuzziness just a touch make the transitions a little smoother not so much now once it's okay once you're satisfied just hit OK now we have a selection of the bright areas now let's put that on a new layer to do that with the selection active just press ctrl or command J now you have the highlights on a new layer you can just name them highlights this brings us to step number two which is blurring the brow areas to create the light rays we already have the shape of the bright areas why don't we blur it to create the light rays in a particular direction yes we can do it but before we do anything always convert the highlights into a smart object so that we can change the values later or make changes later so go to filter and then convert for Smart Filters and then hit okay all right now this is a smart object whatever filter we apply blurring or anything we can change the values later go to filter and then blur this is fun choose radial blur now instead of radial blur we don't want spin we just want soom right select zoom increase the amount all the way 200 now the higher the quality you choose the more time it's gonna take the process so we have three qualities draft which is the poorest good means medium and best means the highest quality so first let's set it to draft and we're gonna position the Sun so find out where the Sun is in this case have a look at the shadow right here shadow is facing this direction so in this case I think the Sun is right over here somewhere so we need to add the light rays from that point source so we need to place it accordingly up and a little bit to the left and just set it to draft because we might have to edit that later hit okay so at this point it's okay it's not that great it needs to go a little up double click on the radial blur and let's move it a little up and just hit OK let's see what happens to the blur center so blur Center is right now at this point at the top a little bit down and a little bit towards the right so bring it a little down and a little bit towards the right here okay yes right now it looks perfectly fine in that area once you have figured out the right position go back to radial blur and set the quality to best and make sure it's hundred hit ok now the quality will be fine as you can see it's taking a little more time to process it there we go we have beautiful light rays over here but the intensity is too low so how do we double up the intensity very easy just make a couple copies of it with a highlight selected press ctrl or command J a couple times one two three for probably let's go one more time ctrl or command J once more this looks absolutely amazing right off the bat however have a look at this this area is a little too sharp right and sharpness towards the light source is fine but this area has to be a little blurry so we need to add some blur to it to add some blur we have to add some collective effects so of course we can merge all of it but that would be destructive we want to keep it as non-destructive as possible so why don't we group them all into a smart object that's wonderful so select the first highlight copy and then hold the shift key and select the bottom most one right all of them are now selected now right-click on it and just select convert to smart object all of them group to one smart object which is amazing now anytime you want to edit any of this all you have to do you have to just double click on the thumbnail another document will open up with all these layers isn't that wonderful you can close it for now now let's add some blur to it let's name it just highlights just go to filter blur gallery and then field blur now field blur allows you to create different points of blur so right here we have this point we don't want any blur right here in the middle so we'll take this point in the middle and decrease the blur to zero pixels here I'm gonna create one more point and I'm gonna increase the blur that's fine else create one more here 15 is fine let's create a couple around so as it gets further from the light source it gets a little blurry it looks more realistic now hit OK and there we go you have to blur right in place this looks amazing now since these are light sources we don't want it too dark in anything we always want it to brighten stuff so what is the blend mode which brightens stuff screen right so change the blend mode of the highlights from normal to screen have a look at the instant difference right you can now see the leaves everything is brightening it's realistic so this is the normal see it's darkening stuff not looking right and let me set that to screen wow that looks absolutely wonderful now to make it more realistic we don't want the highlights in all the areas we want to just subtract it from some areas in a after fashion so let's create a mosque so click on the mask button right there take the brush make sure it's a big soft brush with black as the foreground color you can press X to toggle between the foreground and the background and just take it away from a couple of areas like this you can also decrease the flow if you want to be subtle about it so I'm gonna decrease it to about 18% and just paint on a couple of areas where you don't want it so much just a little bit here and there right that is pretty nice now once we have done that if you want to add some color to these light rays you can do that as well let's create a solid color adjustment layer click on the adjustment layer icon and then choose solid color whatever color you want to choose you can so I'm gonna choose a bright yellow we can always change it later hit OK once you're satisfied and then hold the alt or option click on the line between these two to create a clipping mask so the yellow is now applied to it you can change it any time double click on it maybe you want to make it a little more reddish or a little more yellowish whatever you want to do you can so I'm gonna keep it at that this one is fine hit OK I love this color now after applying this color there's something missing something is missing and this brings us to step number three and that is creating the light spots on the surface so the light is falling with these light rays which is fine but there are no light spots on the surface so who we need to create that right without them it just it's pointless so the light is falling on the surface and there's no light in the surface just doesn't make sense so only need to do we need to create light spots for the same color you chose here so create a new layer click on the new layer button now you can name it light spots there you go take the brush make sure this color is selected so double-click on the foreground color and the color picker shows up so you can drag from the image and just take it here it picks up that color right so you can even go outside of Photoshop that color once it's picked maybe a I'm gonna make it a little more saturated and just hit OK and then start brushing with that color you can change it later keep in mind solid color adjustment layer clipping mask and change it anyway so let's paint on the areas you can increase the flow back to 30 forty percent I'm gonna go 40 and paint on a couple areas this area will be a little too bright don't worry about it it's gonna look a little strange first but it's gonna look okay later now once we have done that change the blend mode from normal to color dodge so normal to color dodge there you go it's still not looking right why it's because it's also brightening the dark areas so double-click on the right hand side of the lane this opens up the layer Styles dialog box we need to take it away from the dark areas so in the blend if section take the slider of the underlying layer from left to right like so now it's very harsh so hold the alt or option click on the slider to break it apart and just break it apart like this until it looks pretty nice so to my eyes this looks pretty good now once you're happy with this hit OK and control with the fill fill controls the projection when you have selected one of the special eight blend modes so color dodge is one of those special eight blend modes that when you changed the fill the projection of the blend mode changes so decrease the fill a little bit seeds getting more and more realistic gradually increase it to the point it looks real yes that's fine about let's go for sixty percent so here's two before here's the after I think I have to erase over here maybe I should a little bit so take the eraser and decrease the flow to ten percent and let's just erase it over here it's kind of too much but it's wonderful you can take the brush and again just additionally paint some areas now if you want to add some more light to it you can do this as well so create a curves adjustment layer my favorite all-time favorite click on the adjustment layer and then choose curves now let's take it up just like this now it's yellow light so we need to go to the blue Channel and take the highlights down because blue is the opposite of yellow and decreasing the blue makes yellow appear so there you go and then select the mask press ctrl or command I and take the brush white as the foreground color and then you can just dab in a couple of areas just like that that's it nothing much you can increase the flow a little bit just creating some atmosphere some lights here and there maybe here I just simple atmosphere and if you want you can also do this you can double-click on the right-hand side of the lamp take it away from the dark areas so hold the alt or option click on the slider and break it apart and just take it away there you go and it's looking great but something is missing the sense of separation because the light rays are too broad we need to shape it a little bit and that's easy to do with the light spot selected create a mask take the brush make sure it's black as the foreground color flow 800 and then according to the light rays just start separating them like this arrays it now you can turn off the curves for a moment then you can just erase a couple areas maybe from the middle see it's creating a separation we need some separation here as well see it's making it look very realistic so without the mask with the mask you are having some kind of some sort of separation see these separation is looking amazing here stuff before here's the after now it's looking more realistic you need to create those separations here see before after so this line this area is not getting light so it's getting some separation so the more the separation you create the better now if you want you can also create some specular highlights yes that's wonderful so if you create one more new layer on top of the light spots and you can name this extreme highlights and then you take the brush with yellow color selected you just start making dots over here just like this and then change the blend mode again to color dodge and at this point double click on the right side of the lab this is fun and just uncheck this transparency shapes there have a look at this highlight amazing isn't it so from the underlying layer always take it away from the dark areas just like so hit OK and have a look at this highlight it's amazing so you can create a couple more here as well now you can also decrease the fill here as well if you want to but these really look good let's zoom out and see how these look it's kind of too much at this point maybe we should also paint a couple other areas as well now let's decrease the fill and gradually increase it I kind of like this but I don't like it in this area so I'm gonna take an eraser and erase it from here flow hundred percent erase it from here as well that's beautiful let's zoom out this is wonderful now you can just turn on the curves and see how this looks curves is kind of too much so I'll just double click on the right hand side of the lamp and then take it even more further just limit it to the bright areas and then just decrease the opacity just a touch so here we have our image finally ready with beautiful light rays let me show you the before and after so this is the before and this is the after isn't that beautiful let's do a quick little recap first of all select the bright areas that's it so that we have the shape ready second step blow it out using your favorite method in this example we chose radio blur and third step is creating those light spots light rays without light spot doesn't make sense right so select the bright areas blur it out add the light spots that's what it is I hope this tutorial helped you and if it did make sure to give us a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not just subscribe ring the bells that you my friend don't miss any other future tip trick or tutorial thank you so much for watching and I would like to thank all these special and nice people for supporting this channel on patreon and helping keep picks in perfect free for everybody forever thanks for all your support thank you for watching I'll see you guys in my next one till then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating [Music]

Channel: PiXimperfect

Views: 829,698

Rating: 4.9661369 out of 5

Keywords: light rays, sun rays in photoshop, light beam, radial blur, lighting effects, photo manipulation, adobe, photoshop, tutorial, screen, blending modes, blend-if, color dodge, create highlights in photoshop, dramatic, piximperfect, unmesh dinda

Id: 0FEw2BrsTek

Length: 15min 27sec (927 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 05 2019