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A Cool Lighting Effect In Photoshop

In Effects by Fabio

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create that effect we saw on the screen at the Macworld San Francisco. It's basically some lighting effects with blurs and blend modes, but the effect is awesome.

Step 1

Create a new document. On the Background layer, double-click to open the Layer Style dialog box and apply the Gradient Overlay with black and green (#9dc5c7).

Step 2

Create a new layer. Set white for the foreground and black for the background color. After that, go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Rename the layer to "Clouds."

Step 3

Change the Blend Mode of the clouds layer to Multiply 60%. Duplicate the layer and rename it to "radial blur." After that, go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur.

Step 4

Duplicate the background layer and move it up in front of the other layers. Rename it to "Gradient Light" and go to the Layer Styles dialog box. Change the Fill Opacity to 0% under the Advanced Blending settings. After that in the Gradient Overlay settings, change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge and the scale to 70%.

Step 5

Place your logo in the center of the image and change the Layer Styles. First change the Color Overlay to black and then add a Bevel and Emboss as shown in the image below.

Step 6

Create a new Folder and call it "lights" and move it behind the logo layer. Inside that folder, select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a circle that will be almost entirely behind the logo. Using the Pen Tool (P), create some shapes that will be the lights. Use the image below for reference. Make sure that all of these objects are inside the "lights" folder.

Step 7

If you are using the CS3 version of Photoshop, you can convert the layers to Smart Objects in order to use the non-destructive filters feature.

Apply a Gaussian Blur to the layers. Each one will have a different value because of their sizes.

Step 8

Select the lights folder and change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge. Duplicate the two bottom lights and move them to the center.

Step 9

Using the Ellipse Tool (U), again create a small circle but this time in front of the logo. This circle will be a reflection on the logo.

Conclusion

Now you can add some text—I've used Myriad Pro Light. Although this effect looks very cool and sort of complicated to achieve, it's really easy and can be done pretty quickly. Using Render Clouds, blurs, and blend modes, we can create really amazing lighting effects.

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Comments

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  1. Very cool as usual.

  2. Very amazing, very amazing. A fantastic effect as always.

  3. Nice. Looks very much like the Apple image.

  4. Nice, but the reflection (small circle on the UL of the logo) is somewhat distracting.

  5. nice effect. now i’ve an idea how those eerie moods can be duplicated

  6. Another great tutorial. I like the “mood” it sets, especially with the cloudy background.

  7. I like the technique used for the beams of light. Different from how I would have done it– so I learned a new method here.

  8. Very cool indeed!

  9. Gravatar

    KING NOTHING

    VERY FANTASTIC EFFECT…..THKS…

  10. Gravatar

    Kim Dolleris

    Beautiful!

  11. great Fabio …nice work … i will try this tut ;) thanks

  12. another quality design tut.
    i wish i had the vision and inspiration like you do, Fabio.
    nice work ;)

  13. Nice, but it’s almost completely the same as all his other (abduzeedo) tutorials. It’s always lighting with clouds in the background.

  14. :)) great tutorial. Thank you.

  15. Another fantastic tutorial - they’re coming thick and fast now :)

    A couple of things:

    i) #9dc5c7 isn’t green is it? I see blue :o
    ii) I agree with JoDo that the reflection is a little distracting.

    I’m really starting to get a feel for the power of blending modes, effects and brushes in photoshop!

    Thanks Fabio.

  16. Good Work!!!

  17. I use this wonderful free plugin (http://amicoperry.altervista.org/luce/main.html) for the lighting effect..
    Anyway the tutorial is cool.. Thanks..

  18. Awesome!

  19. Nice tutorial! ;) They are coming fast! :D

    Thanks! :´)

  20. nice clean tutorials as usual

  21. WOW, great tutorial. Thanks for posting it. I like your aesthetic, it is graphic but clean and contemporary as well. I use photoshop mostly for photo-retouching and just told a friend that I had never found a use for the color dodge layer type. It is really great to see what other people do with photoshop since there are really no limits!

    -Chad

  22. this is pretty cool. beteen this the and the lighting effects/ glow effects tuts, i have some aweome ideas.

    keep it fabulous, Fabio!!!

  23. Magnífico tutorial! Me ha encantado!

  24. Sweet tutorial, just what I have been looking for! Well Pleased…

  25. Great tutorial. I blogged it. Was hoping to figure out how to do that rainbow vertical lighting effect seen at MSNBC and others.

  26. Awesome effect!

    Keep Rocking!

    Aloke Pillai

  27. Yes!

  28. Nice tutorial as always.

    Mahalie: I managed to reproduce the MSNBC “vertical rainbow” effect.

    First layer is a rainbow gradient. You can use a layer style with gradient overlay.
    Second layer is a motion blurred black and white fibers (filter>render>fibers) - blending color opacity 20%;
    Third layer is the same motion blurred black and white fibers - blending multiply opacity 50%;
    Fourth layer is a black vertical motion blurred brush stripes for the dark areas - blending multiply opacity 70%;
    Fifth layer is a white vertical motion blurred brush stripes for the light areas - blending luminosity opacity 20%.

    Probably there’s a better way (there’s always one) but I did it in 5 mins and its quite close tothe target.
    Check a quick example:
    http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8387/gradientfibersmm9.jpg

  29. I have one question, or remark as you wish!
    I always learned to make my stuff in CMYK, for printing reasons…

    Many times I see that the stuff you guys at PSDtuts make, is in RGB.
    That’s why my results (and maybe of other people) are never the same.

    Like the pen-drawn radials are totally scr*wed when made in CMYK and ofcourse the blending modes are not the same.

    Anyway, what does anyone have to say? Or do you guys make everything in RGB? I know it somethimes looks better but when it comes to printing the stuff for magazines or flyers, CMYK get the better result (or so I was told…)

    Pls comment!

    cheers!

    Pascal

  30. Nice, very nice:)

  31. not bad, very simmalair to the rock star one

  32. What is the font you used to mimic the apple font.

  33. Pascal, maybe I’m wrong, but:

    if you plan to use your artwork for printing, cmyk is the best choice, of course.
    if you have to produce something for screen view, for example a website, you definitely need to use rgb.

    Moreover, when you “save for web” from photoshop, colors generally seem brighter and images seem to have lower contrast. Thats because the color profile for web is sRGB (not only a general RGB), while photoshop generally applies a different profile. So you’ll have to “edit > convert to profile” them. With a calibrated screen they’ll look exactly the same.

    Hope that helps.

  34. weeeee!!

    its cool!!!

    tnx alot…

  35. fabio- you are a master of all elements of good design. take a bow!

  36. Bookmarked!

  37. Rock on! Great job!

  38. I cannot get step 6 to go correctly…. I can create a new folder but it will not let me do the ellipse tool, it gives me an error message…. i can create a layer in that folder and move it behind the logo, but when i use the ellipse tool, you can see it on the heart, it’s white right above the heart, and then sort of transparent on the heart (the rest of the circle)… i have tried figuring it out myself, searching help and even google… it’s frustrating me and i just thought i would ask for some assistance.. thanks to whomever responds…

  39. you make people pay to download the psd…….. you evil b**thead. i didnt want to have to do this but…

    *charges up a kamehameha*

    *launches it with full force at you whole lunch table*
    yeah…. now you learned your lesson creep

    ( >_

  40. i’m using PS 2
    and when I set the light rays to color dodge they go all screwy on me.
    any ideas???

  41. wow.. you’re amazing on photoshop =D
    i have CS3 and i am able to follow all of your tutorials but i can never get the clouds right?
    what page size do you use for your graphics as i think this might be the case…

    keep going =]

  42. hi
    very nice tutorial

  43. Gravatar

    satish nishad

    excellent site for tutorial i liked so much

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