How to Make Fake Light in Adobe Photoshop
A line from the Bible proclaims, "Let there be light," but getting the ideal lighting circumstances for your photographs may not be as simple as a statement. Whether you're suffering from a cloudy bout with nature or your camera's flash didn't go off correctly, you can take your images into the Adobe Photoshop graphics program and tinker around with hand-crafted lighting. Brighten your entire image or just cast a few rays of light, all with just a couple of clicks sure to brighten the editing process.
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Instructions
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Open Photoshop, click "File" and select "Open." Browse to the digital image to add fake lighting to and double-click the file so it opens in the Photoshop workspace.
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Click the "Image" menu at the top of the screen, click "Adjustments" and click "Hue/Saturation." Move the "Brightness" bar, the third slider option, to the right to lighten the entire image. Click "OK" when satisfied or click "Cancel" to return to the original image.
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3
Click the "Lasso" tool on the "Tools" palette and draw an outline around part of the picture to add light to, such as a section of the sky. When you see blinking lines surround the area, right-click the outline and select "Layer via Copy."
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Repeat the "Hue/Saturation" process, noting that this time, only the selected area gets lighter.
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Click the "Window" menu and click "Layers" to open the "Layers" palette; the palette may already be open in the bottom-right of the screen. Click the Background layer on the palette.
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Click the "Lasso" tool again and outline another section of the picture, such as a person's body. Right-click and select "Layer via Copy." Notice a new Layer 2 is added to the "Layers" palette. Double-click the layer to open the "Layer Style" window. Check the "Outer Glow" and "Inner Glow" boxes on the "Styles" column and click "OK." The outline now glows as if it were lit from behind.
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Click the Background layer again to give it focus. Right-click the shape tool on the "Tools" palette. This tool may look like a hollow rectangle, hollow circle, hollow line or solid star; the tools all share the same space. Right-click any tool and select "Custom Shape Tool."
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Pull down the "Shape" menu at the top of the screen and select the lightning bolt shape. Click into the "Color" box next to it and select a bright yellow paint color and click "OK." Position your cursor on the picture, press and hold down the mouse button and drag the cursor, forming the lightning bolt shape.
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Click the small lines icon at the top-right of the "Layers" palette and select "Flatten Image." Click the "File" menu, click "Save As" and type a new name for the picture; don't save it with the same name as the original or you won't be able to access the non-lighted version again.
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