How to Make Lightning in Photoshop CS2

Photoshop is a wonderful program for creating graphics and all sorts of cool effects. You can use it to create many different atmospheric effects, such as rain or snow. This particular tutorial will show you how to create lightning.

Instructions

1. 

   Create a new document. Make it whatever size you need for your project. If you are going to have the results printed, you will probably need to use a high pixel count of 150 to 200 per inch. If the result is going on the web, 72 pixels will do fine. In this example, we will be using a 500 by 500 canvas, with 72 pixels per inch.

2. 

   Go to the Tool panel, and select the "Fill" tool. Make sure that the foreground color at the bottom of the Tool panel is set to black (you can click on it to reset it). Now click on the canvas to fill it with black.

3. 

   Go to the bottom of the Layers panel, and create a layer. Change the foreground color in the Tool panel to white.

4. 

   Go to the Pen tool in the Tool panel, and use it to start drawing out a series of lines that look like a rough lightning shape. Then go to the Paths tab, right-click on the path, and select "Stroke Path," using the Brush tool.

5. 

   Go back to Layers, and click "FX," selecting the "Outer Glow" option. Use the settings in the image. Now you have a lightning bolt made in Photoshop.

Resources

• Photoshop