beams of light

[stacy]

I know I have seen a tutorial on creating beams of light (like through clouds

or trees) and I thought it was in the CS2 for photographers book, but I can't

find it. I know it talked about masking etc...anyone have any ideas? Have you

seen anything like this? Thanks!

[emre]

Create a new layer in Soft Light or Hard Light mode. Paint some straight lines on it, blur, add some grain. Reduce opacity and adjust layer mask as appropriate.

[beckyh]

There is a step-by-step tutorial in the O'Reilly "Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook" by Tim

Shelbourne. Could that be what you're remembering?

[AaronFalkenberg]

Emre pretty much put it in a nutshell. One thing I find a little problematic is getting the nice radiating look (narrow at the source, wider/flared as the beams stream out). Easy on a preassure tablet, not so easy with a plain old mouse.

[pam_r]

Aaron, if you use the polygonal lasso tool, or better yet, the pen tool, you can get the flared look you're after. Here's a quickie explanation:<p>

 

First, so you can see well beyond your image, hit the "F" key to set your viewing area to full screen mode. Using the polygonal lasso tool, draw shapes like this (hold down the shift key while using the tool to add to subsequent selections. Otherwise you'll draw one ray at a time:<p>

 

<IMG SRC="http://upload.pbase.com/pam_r/image/80519155.jpg"><p>

 

 

After you've drawn your rays, go to Selection>Feather (or right-click and choose "Feather" with your selections active) and choose an amount. Too much feather and the selection will blend together in a blob. Too little and you'll have unrealistic sharp edges to the rays:<p>

 

<IMG SRC="http://upload.pbase.com/pam_r/image/80519187.jpg"><p>

 

 

Open a new layer and fill your selection with white or a very pale yellow as I did here:<p>

<IMG SRC="http://upload.pbase.com/pam_r/image/80519229.jpg"><p>

 

 

Then play around with blend modes to taste:<p>

<IMG SRC="http://upload.pbase.com/pam_r/image/80519234.jpg"><p>