Page 5 | Ray of Light | Photo Manipulation

Questions and Answers

How did you create the effect on the "final results after further editing" photo?
Why does my Photoshop freeze when using the Radial Blur filter?
What types of photos should I use with this Photoshop ray of light effect?
I want to add more rays of light. How can I do that?

How did you create the effect on the "final results after further editing" photo?

Select the ray of light layer and use the Hue/Saturation tool (Image> Adjustments> Hue/Saturation or Ctrl+U) to increase the saturation by 75.
Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue/Saturation) above the background layer (between the two layers). When the Hue/Saturation tool appears, set the following properties:
Colorize: Checked
Hue: 200
Saturation: 25
Lightness:0
Change the blending mode of the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (middle layer) to Soft Light.

Why does my Photoshop freeze when using the Radial Blur filter?

Your Photoshop may just need more time to process the filter. The Photoshop Radial Blur filter is an intensive filter in terms of how many calculations it needs to do. The filter will take along time to process depending on your image size; the larger your image is, the more time it will need to process the filter.

What types of photos should I use with this Photoshop ray of light effect?

The best photos to use this effect with are photos with a visible light source (ex. sun, car headlight, fire, etc.) that's partially covered by objects. Experiment this Photoshop effect on different photos, it may even give you appealing abstract results.

I want to add more rays of light. How can I do that?

After you've used the Levels tool to separate the bright areas from the photo (Page 1, step 4), use the brush tool to draw white lines where you would like the additional ray of light to appear. The thicker the line, the brighter the ray of light will be. After you're done, continue with the rest of the tutorial.