Light Ray / Wind Effect (I guess)

[Shortysnmn2010]

Well, this is my first post, so hey =D. Came acorss this stie trying to look for some tutorials, and I've found a few good ones in here ^^. I made one some time ago, that had bits and pieces of other tutorials (I hope I didn't make one identical to someone else's =&#092, and a few things of my own.

I used Photoshop CS, and I used a picture whose dimensions were 1280x960 pixels. I believe you can work with this on 7.0 and 6.0, and if you feel that the pixels are too large for the computer to handle (I use 1 GB of ram, 512 MB should be ok, I think), go ahead and use 640x480 – it’ll look pretty much the same.



Your picture will not look like the ones I provide, but the whole aspect of it will be the same.

1. First off, go to new and select a new picture with dimensions desired (make sure it is in RGB color mode&#33

2. Go to layer --> new layer , this will create a new layer (layer 1). Right click and delete your background layer.

3. Select the gradient tool (press Shift + G if you see the paint bucket tool). Make sure you have these options selected:


4. Make sure you have the angle gradient selected. Now, make many gradients on layer 1. They will overlap and look weird. For best performance, try to go in a circle. Also: click, hold, drag, then unclick to make long gradients. You should then get something similar to:


5. Go to Filters --> Distort --> Twirl, and set the angle for 300 degrees.

6. Go to Filters --> Distort --> Polar Coordinates, and set it to “Polar to Rectangular.” You should have something like:


7. Follow the following commands:
- Select the entire image (Control + A)
- Copy the entire image (Control + C)
- Paste the entire image (Control + V)

8. A layer 2 is formed. Go to edit --> transform --> flip vertical. The image is flipped.

9. In the layers page (lower-right corner – if it isn’t there, press F7), select layer 2 and set its mode from “normal” to “screen.” This is what it should look like:


10. Create a new layer (layer 3). Repeat steps 3 through 8 (a layer 4 will be formed, treat that as you would layer 2, and layer 3 as you would layer 1). Note: in step 5, make the angel “-300” instead of “300.” Change the mode on layer 4 to “screen.”

11. Select layer 4, and press Control + U. It’s time to select your color scheme. Select “colorize,” and move the hue value to anything you with (I personally like 184). Click OK and do the same for Layer 3. To make it look more colorful, select a slightly different hue than you did with layer three (for example, I would use 230).

12. With layer 3 selected, click the empty box to the left of the thumbnail picture of layer 4. A link/chain should appear. This links layer 3 and layer 4 together. Press Control + E to merge the two into one layer (called layer 3 – layer 4 is gone now).

13. Click on the eye that is to the left of the thumbnail picture of layer 3. The layer disappears, leaving you with your original two layers. Use the hue function to make them colorful (it looks really good to have all the layers similar colors, but not the same).

14. This is where your own decision comes in now. Depending on how you made the gradients, you’ll either have a lot of black or white. Select layer three and select whatever mode looks best; Overlay, Lighten, or Soft Light are good choices. It should look somewhat like:


15. Make a new layer (layer 4), and repeat steps 3 & 4.

16. Add a twirl filter to the picture, using a value of 200 or -200, whatever you like.

17. Add the polar coordinates filter to the later as well.

18. Select, copy, and paste layer 4 (step 7), creating a new layer 5. This time, go to edit --> transform --> rotate 180 degrees.

19. Change its mode to “screen,” and add a hue to layers 4 & 5.

20. Select layer 4, link layer 5, and merge the two layers together.

21. Choose a mode on layer 4 that blends well with the others pictures (Overlay, Lighten, or Soft Light are good choices).

22. Select layer 4 and change its Opacity to 50% (on the layer slide).

23. You’re officially done! If you do not like the way your picture looks, you can tweak it around by any of the following:
- Change the hue on certain layers
- Change the mode of a layer or two
- Change the opacity on a layer or two
- Transform any layer by either flipping it vertically/horizontally, or by rotating it 180 degrees

24. Finished result should look something like:


Hope you guys enjoyed ^^

[Coconut]

use imageshack to upload =P

[parrymason]

I don`t see any pictures! :blink:

[Dutch-Soldier(nl)]

I've tried this tut. but it's not that clear, because i cant see any pictures.

GreetZ

Dutch-Soldier(nl)

[Shortysnmn2010]

Fixed the pictures, sorry about that ^^;; Hopefully it'll be easier to follow..

[pinklemonade]

The result doesn't look bad... I'll go try it now ^__^ Good job XD

[Hayato-Zen]

The result looks nice, Im liking it alot, Also the tut was good, im gonna go try

[Coconut]

i really like that, i might change the colors around and use it for a background

[Dutch-Soldier(nl)]

I'm going to try this tutorial, i put my result online!!

[Coconut]

I'm going to try that, I'll post later tonight when i get home from school =/