How to Add Lighting Effects to a Photographic Image

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By Richard Burke
eHow Contributing Writer

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Original Image

One of the great advantages of digital imaging is being able to play with an image to transform it to something completely different. In this article we will explore using lighting effects in the GIMP Image Editing Program which is a powerful free image editing solution. The same principles apply with other programs, although the tools may be slightly different. The object here is to take an existing image and transform it into a different image based on the same content. In this example we will use a simple scenic view of Pittsburgh to illustrate the procedures. Remember, this is creativity; there are no right or wrong solutions. Experimentation and play are the goals and with a little patience you just might create something wonderful.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

GIMP Image Editing Program
A copy of a JPEG Image for experimentation
Patience and Practice

Step 1

Lighting Effects Window

Open your file in GIMP and select FILTERS/LIGHT and SHADOW/LIGHTING EFFECTS. This will open the Lighting Effects panel in the options tab. Use the distance slider and observe the length of the light effect; the larger the number the longer the light effect. Watch the blue dot move as you change the distance. Don’t worry about the image being darker; you can adjust this later.
Step 2

Adjust Direction

Click on the LIGHT tab. Here you can change the intensity, color and direction of the light effect. Grab the blue dot in the preview window and decide the angle you want for the lighting effect. Notice as you move the dot the intensity of the effect will change as you move it around the image. This is due to the different levels of light in the image that are used for extrapolation.
Step 3

Adjust Light

Once you have settled on the angle, adjust the color and intensity of the effect. Notice, you can add six different lights so you could have multiple effects within one image. You can also isolate each light which keeps the effect from blending into the image and makes it more intense.
Step 4

Adjust Materials

Click the MATERIALS tab to change the composition of the lighting effect. You can mix the type of effect you want by controlling the different elements like glowing and shiny. You can also create metallic lighting effects which could be useful in automotive shots.
Step 5

Apply Bump

The BUMP tab can also be used to add additional light to the image highlights. You can specify an image map from another image or from the same image. You can also specify the type of logarithm you want to use for the bump process.
Step 6

Final Image

The final image is really achieved though experimentation. This image has a spotlight applied and a 10 percent bump form the original image map. If you don’t like the rendered image, just UNDO and try again. There is no magic formula for how to use these types of effects with an image. The important thing is to experiment with the tools you have so you will know what to do when you have the appropriate image.