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Lighting Effects

 

Corey jazzed up this photo by making a custom brush and applying an outer glow layer style to create the repeating patterns behind the subject.

Corey Barker

Corey Barker is Executive Producer of PlanetPhotoshop.com and is an Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Corey has also made numerous appearances on the highly rated podcast, PhotoshopUser TV, and is co-host of Layers TV.

49 Comments

  1. April said on — August 25, 2008 @ 2:47 pm

    Do you know if there is a way to select the luminosity in photoshop elements 6?

  2. mitzs said on — August 25, 2008 @ 4:20 pm

    Corey, you rocked the house with that one! I am blogging about that one tonight. It is easily one of my fav of your tutorials.

  3. labai said on — August 25, 2008 @ 4:23 pm

    i didnt understand how did you make the brush that you do layer style on it

  4. Kim said on — August 25, 2008 @ 6:48 pm

    Corey! You rocked it again. I’ve been wanting to learn how to do some cool lighting effects and you make it look so easy. Can’t wait to try it! Thanks!

  5. Márcio Guerra said on — August 25, 2008 @ 6:58 pm

    Awesome as always… I hope the Photowalk was cool!
    Just one thing… I also have doubts… Ehehehe.. There was a time, when you were doing the top light effects, that apparently some smart guides appeared. Was it my imagination, or did they really showed? I don’t know if that is an option for Photoshop CS3 or just a “issue” from the recorded video, so, please, can you sort that out for us, and, if so, how to turn them on and off?
    Cool tutorial, once more… Thank you!

    Márcio Guerra

  6. Jamie said on — August 26, 2008 @ 8:16 am

    Another great tutorial by the the MAN Mr. Barker. Your my hero

  7. jean philippe said on — August 26, 2008 @ 12:41 pm

    I discovered your website 3 months ago on the french edition of advanced photoshop.
    All your tutorials are very very nice, I am a beginner on photoshop and your tuts are a really good source of inspiration and are so much better than the Adobe helper
    Thanks a lot

  8. Bob said on — August 26, 2008 @ 7:13 pm

    Cool! Looking forward to all your books and other dvds!

  9. Ofer said on — August 26, 2008 @ 11:01 pm

    Simply amazing ! ! !

  10. Ahmad said on — August 28, 2008 @ 7:04 am

    Nice work Mr.Corey Barker u r a professional
    I hope to be like u someday
    thnx A lot Man :D

  11. Denise said on — August 28, 2008 @ 9:23 am

    Oh I have problems…i cant do repeats it drives me nuts

  12. Emil said on — August 29, 2008 @ 9:52 am

    when i try to stroke my path, the fill- and stroke options are greyed out.. why is that..?
    I just need to know this, because this was an amazing tutorial :D

  13. Muizz said on — August 29, 2008 @ 1:26 pm

    dude u rock! Can’t wait to try it. :D :)

  14. Chelle said on — August 30, 2008 @ 2:04 pm

    Wow. Im currently in school for Graphic Design. A friend referred me to your tutorials. Thankyou sooo much! youre amazing!

  15. photojunkie said on — August 31, 2008 @ 10:20 am

    nice tutorial as usual with you.

  16. Chadro said on — August 31, 2008 @ 10:31 am

    Corey…Corey…Corey, you never cease to amaze us! If there was a photoshop president election you’d have my vote no problem :) . That pen tool is my worst enemy and you make it look so simple and no doubt this tut. just made it alot easier (cant afford your big pen tool tut. at kelby training). In referance to Márcio Guerra’s post about the guides. They are called Smart guides and you can turn them on in the View/Show/Smart Guides menu. I never knew about them either until this tut., just one of the many small things everyone learns from every tut. YOUR AMAZING! THANKS ALOT!
    p.s. cant wait to see your part in the next Layers Magazine

  17. Kevin said on — August 31, 2008 @ 11:55 am

    how do i get the brush to have the fine tips?

  18. mohamed said on — September 2, 2008 @ 6:55 am

    i like the way you show your work. Thanks

  19. thuheintnk_89 said on — September 2, 2008 @ 10:51 pm

    i like the way you show your work. Thanks

  20. Raze The World (Wallpaper) « Waktuwakta’s Weblog Pingback on — September 3, 2008 @ 7:13 pm

    [...] Watch this, just to get the idea how i did it, so.. enjoy. [...]

  21. jake whitney said on — September 4, 2008 @ 12:35 pm

    I tried this on a PC in CS2 and the step and repeat wouldn’t work.

  22. Joy Barza said on — September 5, 2008 @ 9:22 am

    HI corey! your tutorials are very helpful.. thank you! please help me with my dilemma.. ;(

    I’m currently working on cs3 but Im having a hard time trying to create a 3d effect of my image and I wanted it to appear as somewhat like a video or maybe in GIF format.. What I’m trying to achieve is an image of the INFINITY Symbol in blazing fire, just like the ZORRO effect and i wanted to create and export it to my slideshow, just like those paramount pictures. Please if you could give me a tip would be just great! thanks!

  23. Mohamed said on — September 5, 2008 @ 6:36 pm

    reall i like this tutorial so much and learned more techniques
    thx so much Corey on this tutorial:D

  24. Fidel said on — September 6, 2008 @ 9:54 pm

    thanks it was very helpful

  25. Dew said on — September 9, 2008 @ 1:29 pm

    i had that problem too, that the supposed path got filled in with black or whatever color was on. Then i figured out i hadnt selected paths in the pen tool. This tutorial is amazing, it’s making me consider to work more on photoshop and find out what other stuff I can do with this program =o.

  26. M.K.Andersson said on — September 10, 2008 @ 7:21 pm

    Very nice tutorials on this site and you make it very easy to learn.
    I have a great deal of experience in Photoshop but you open up my eyes for new things i havnt eaven thought of. And that means alot!

    Truly my favorit Photoshop tutorial site!

    Cheers

  27. youngjay said on — September 10, 2008 @ 7:28 pm

    when i used the pen tool it didnt work wen i did the effects

  28. james said on — September 16, 2008 @ 3:21 pm

    great effect. love it.
    im already starting to use this.
    thanks for the amazing tutorial.

  29. rachel said on — September 18, 2008 @ 3:42 am

    LOVE IT!

  30. Tanisha said on — September 18, 2008 @ 11:41 am

    I am also have a hard time making my brush have a fine tip such as yours. It is thick and leaves extremely thick marks and does not do the cool fade out trick that yours does. I thought I was following the instructions, which are very clear and precise but this is not working for me. Thanks for your help!

  31. naoom said on — September 22, 2008 @ 5:08 am

    photoshop CS 2 GOOD?

  32. Chris said on — September 26, 2008 @ 1:23 pm

    should I completely erase the background of my image before I start this tutorial?

  33. Chris said on — September 26, 2008 @ 1:26 pm

    Forgot…should the girl for example be in color or will grayscale work just as well?

  34. Bryan said on — October 1, 2008 @ 6:15 pm

    Hey, That was a great Cory. Just one thing. I think it would be a little nicer if you could post the pictures you use on the website so we can use them too. Thanks

  35. Yade said on — October 20, 2008 @ 4:25 pm

    Hey great tutorial =D

    I can’t seem to make the path part, I have CS2 is it possible to make with that PS?

  36. Lighting Effects - Design Tutorials Pingback on — October 21, 2008 @ 3:01 pm

    [...] http://www.planetphotoshop.com/lighting-effects.html No CommentsMake A Comment [...]

  37. Ryan said on — October 27, 2008 @ 9:40 am

    Great Tut! Opens up doors to a whole lot of neon ideas…. Thx!!!!

  38. Atallah said on — November 12, 2008 @ 9:28 pm

    very nice, similar to the abstract thing with the bridge image

  39. Marlo said on — November 16, 2008 @ 5:25 am

    Awesomeness. :)
    You’re simply great Mr. Corey :)

  40. Pinguym said on — February 10, 2009 @ 3:37 pm

    Could someone help me
    I have a little problem with the effect layer because when i transform that i cant copy that while i move it. the layer just change the position
    Thanks for the help
    The tutorial is amazing!!

  41. Kimalia said on — February 28, 2009 @ 3:33 pm

    i am useing sc3 and i cant make my brush (pen presure ) why?

  42. Zack said on — March 15, 2009 @ 6:33 pm

    Im using PS7 and can not select all the copy layers when I hold the shift key, how do I merge all the layers?

  43. Muhammad Ali said on — August 15, 2009 @ 8:24 am

    thanks a lot for this tutorial i learned few new things.

  44. Lopness monster said on — November 5, 2009 @ 1:36 pm

    U should stop wasting your time on this and play wow!!!!!!!!!!

  45. pa0liX said on — January 15, 2010 @ 11:41 pm

    woow i don’t know which brush is it i can’t find it using Cs3 extended plz reply love ur tutorials :D

  46. fritz said on — February 18, 2010 @ 2:41 pm

    Hello Corey!
    First i got to say, that ur Tutorial is very nice!!
    But i got i a little Problem..
    my Brush is thick and leaves extremely thick marks and does not do the fade out trick that yours does.
    what can i do to get the cool brush as u got?
    pls help me :P
    thanks!

  47. Simon Glazier said on — October 8, 2010 @ 6:28 am

    Thank you Corey for your tutorials, I’ve been using a few and I’ve learnt a lot from you. I will give this tutorial ago later on for a poster that I have designed.

  48. devin the dude said on — March 3, 2011 @ 4:48 pm

    duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude i love you :>

  49. Dylan said on — March 30, 2011 @ 8:01 am

    dude your so crazy! your my hero, i love you.<333

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Create A Composite Layer

If you have a multilayer composition and you
want to apply an effect to all the layers at once, don’t flatten the layers–use a composite layer instead. Hide the layers you want excluded, and press Shift-Command-Option-E (PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E). A new layer will be created at the top containing a merged copy of all the visible layers.

Another option is to create a new layer at the top of the stack and make it active. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) each layer you want to include to make those layers active, as well. Press Option-Command-E (PC: Alt-Ctrl-E).
by Colin Smith

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