Ray of Light

Ray of Light
Ray of Light

Use Photoshop to create and add a dramatic ray of light to your photos. It's easy, accurate, and fun!

Finding and Identifying the Light Source

Before we can create the ray of light, we need to separate the bright areas from the image.


Step 1

Open a photo you would like to edit. Or, you may use the photo used in this tutorial (from iStockPhoto).


Step 2

Before we start, we need to duplicate the layer (Layer> Duplicate or Ctrl+J).

Duplicate Layer

Step 3

To find and separate the light source in the photo, we'll use the Levels tool (Image> Adjustment> Levels or Ctrl+L). Drag the middle input slider all the way to the left.

Forming the Ray of Light


Step 4

Now that we have the light source identified, we can distort it into a ray of light. For this process, we'll use the Radial Blur filter (Filter> Blur> Radial Blur) with these properties set:

  • Amount: 100
  • Blur Method: Zoom
  • Quality: Best

After you have those properties set, click and drag the blur center to the area where you would like the ray of light to zoom out from.

Radial Blur Filter

Step 5

You'll notice that there are visible speckles on the ray of light. Don't worry about it, we can simply apply the filter two more times and most of it will be gone. Press Ctrl+F to redo the previous filter again. After the filter has been processed, press Ctrl+F again to redo the previous filter once more. In total, you'll have pressed Ctrl+F twice.

Ray of Light

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Blending and Enhancing the Ray of Light



Step 6

Now that we have our ray of light created, we can blend it into the image by changing the blending mode of the current layer to Screen.

Screen

Step 7

The ray of light is blended into the photo but it doesn't seem very strong. To increase the visiblity of the ray of light, we'll use the Levels tool (Image> Adjustments> Levels or  Ctrl+L). Drag the right input slide towards the left to increase visibility. You may also press the Auto button to have Photoshop automatically set it to an appropriate level.

Levels Tool

Step 8

If you are working with a large image, you may notice that there are more speckles on the ray of light. To remove this, we'll use the Despeckle filter (Filter> Noise> Despeckle). Press Ctrl+F to repeat the filter until the speckles disappear. Use Despeckle filter sparingly because it will blur the ray of light.

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7 comments on “Ray of Light”

  1. Sorry to say, this did nothing for me :/ I guess the light source has to be concentrated very strongly and in several areas for this to work. I used an underwater photo with the light source being the sun visible at the top of the photo. The sun was strong enough to make light rays in the original photo (I needed more, which is why I was looking at this tutorial) but not strong enough for the filter to do anything at all. Perhaps another time. Thank you for posting anyhow :)

  2. Great tutorial, many thanks. Been trying to figure out an effective way to do this for ages. Thanks.
    James.

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