Cool Photoshop Effects: Lighting Tutorial

Cool Photoshop Effects can be achieved rather easily when you have a great tutorial. So, this article is exactly that; a great Photoshop tutorial. This tutorial will show you how to create a great lighting effect. Lastly, do not forget to subscribe and follow us on TWITTER.

Step 1

Select the image that you want to work on. I chose this image because it is indoors and there are many possibilities to work from. Some of these possibilities include lamps and the fireplace.

Step 2

Duplicate the original image. To do this, click on the original layer and CTRL + J.

Step 3

With the slection over the duplicated layer(layer 1) click Select > Color Range. In the Color Range menu, mark all the items just like the image below and then click ok.

Step 4

After completing the step above, duplicate the selection you have made twice, just as in the image below. The way to do so is click CTRL+J twice. Note: You may not notice anything different at the moment because you have duplicated a part of the existing image below. Do not worry, you will notice in step 5.

Step 5

Select the two layers. “Layer2 + Layer 2 copy”. The way to do so is to hold the CTRL button down and with the mouse, click on the layers one by one. After this, merge the two selected layers by clicking the right button on the mouse over the existing layers and click > Merge Layers. Below is a screenshot of how it should look just in case you get confused. Note: If you are using PS7 try this method of deselecting(hiding) the layers that you do not want to merge: Layer > Merge Visible.

Step 6

Now, with the layer you just merged together, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Make the blur at a strength of 50 like the image below and press ok.

Apply the layer as “screen” like the image below. I have done this so we get more lighting effect in the creation of steps to come.

Your image should look like this.

Step 7

Now we will select the original image and duplicate it once more then move it all the way to the top, making it the first layer on your palette. To do this, click the original layer and Ctrl+J. Then you will hold the layer you duplicated with the mouse and push it to the top making it the first layer. I hope you are enjoying the COOL PHOTOSHOP EFFECTS in this tutorial.

Step 8

This is where the fun begins. Go to “Brightness Contrast” and make the Brightness -150 and Contrast 100 like the image below.

Now select “Hue Saturation” and lower the saturation to -60.

Note: you must leave the “Hue Saturation” layer below the “Brightness Contrast” layer as shown in the image above. Your image should now look like the image below.

Step 9

Now we want to merge all the upper three layers together.

To do this, hold the CTRL button and click with the mouse on the three layers you’ll be merging. Now that they are selected, right click on them and merge the layers. Your palette should look like the picture below.

Step 10

Now we have a dark room on the top layer and below it we have the original room with the stronger lights as well. We will need to do this in future steps. We shall be erasing parts of the dark room layer so what shows below is the light room. To start off, use a soft eraser brush over the lighting sources such as the lamps and fireplace. Note: For those of you who know how to use layer masks, it’s advisable that instead of using the erase technique mentioned above, that you use a mask over the dark layer. This way if you erase something that you shouldn’t have erased, than you can just go back and fix it at any time.

Step 11

Now you should be using the erase over the boarders of the objects and where you want the light to hit the objects. This may be a slow process because in some small places you may need to make a selection and erase it slowly to avoid the light from going where it shouldn’t.