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This not-very-obvious technique for lightning originated in a
post from Marcos
Gabriel to comp.graphics.apps.photoshop.
With some modifications, it is extremely versatile, as you will see.
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As originally posted, the technique begins with foreground set to
white and background to dark blue. Using these colors, render
clouds.
(I'll talk you through the basic technique, even though I'm
showing a variation that I'll explain later. You may see different
colors; that's OK. Just keep going. I'll switch you over to my
version of this technique in a few minutes; it's much easier to
control.) |
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The next step is to render difference clouds. |
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The next two steps are to solarize (which in many cases will not
make much visible difference in the image, if any) and from the
Image menu, adjust -> equalize. |
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Again from the Image menu, adjust -> invert.
We have lightning! |
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Some clean-up (credit to Rick
Nelson) will result in more realistic lightning--which, after
all, is rarely as fuzzy as the previous step. This clean-up is done
with the Image menu again, using adjust -> levels. You will want
to move the middle slider way over to the right. It stops doing much
when the corresponding value in the dialog box goes to .10, so you
may want to click OK on the first try and then do it again.
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It's confession time. I haven't exactly done this the way
I've told you. Instead, I created a dark blue background, added a
layer, filled the layer with white, then did the lightning (exactly
as described so far) in a layer mask. If you look at the layers
palette here, you'll see more clearly what I'm talking about. Beyond
making it easier to control color, you'll soon see why this is so
useful.
This isn't really as mean a trick as it seems, because I'm going
to teach you a useful trick with layer masks: how to paste into a
layer mask! You can take the lightning you've done so far, and keep
working with it. |
Here's the trick of pasting into a layer mask. Before starting,
do a select all of your lightning, then cut (not copy) it to
the clipboard. Fill the layer with your background color. Now we
need to create a layer with a layer mask, so add a new layer, fill
the layer with white, then add the layer mask (layer -> add layer
mask -> reveal all). With this layer still active, open the
channels palette. The layer mask for the active layer will show up
as a channel. Make that channel active, and paste your lightning
into it.
If you want to edit the layer mask, make it visible and hide the
other channels. When you're done, hide the layer mask channel, make
the RGB channel visible, and go back to the layers palette.
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This can be a very useful way to edit your lightning, especially
if it becomes part of a complex image. Here, you see the results of
editing while the mask was open as a channel; I've used the eraser
to remove some more artifacts that wouldn't be part of real
lightning. |
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Now for some fun. Go back to the channels palette and create a
new channel. Paste your lightning into that. Go back to the layers
palette, and select your colored background. Then open the lighting
effects filter, and choose the new channel as your texture channel.
(This was done with a different lightning sample.) |
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Now try this. Start a new window, and leave the background white.
When you create your layer for lightning, fill the layer with black,
and do the lightning in a layer mask. Then create another lightning
layer and do it again. (This works because, using the layer mask
technique, your layer is transparent except for the
lightning.) Not bad for fake marble, is it? |
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As above, but now using red and stacking up five layers of
lightning. It makes a rather nasty tangle of blood vessels, perfect
for a pair of bloodshot eyes. In this case, I flattened the red
lightning, copied it all to the clipboard, and used "paste inside"
to paste into the eyeball areas. By using paste inside, I could move
the lightning around in the selection area to find exactly the right
part to place behind the iris. |
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There are other ways to combine lightning into complex images;
see my Last
Supper for an example.
Now you know how to do lightning. Enjoy. |
Copyright © 1997 by Diane Wilson. All rights reserved.
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