Creating Light Glows & Beams

Adding sun glows and sun rays / beams is a great way to add some more visual interest and an artistic element to your image, and in this video I'm going to show you how to do it!

Creating Light Glows & Beams Quick Guide

Creating Light Glows - Simple Method

• If you want to choose a colour from the image to use in your sunglow (recommended!) first click on the eyedropper tool from the Toolbar.
• If you have multiple layers, select the background layer.
• Click on any colour in the image to select it.
• Click back on the top layer of your layer stack.
• Go to Layer, New Fill Layer, then Solid Colour.
• The settings here should be Color: None / Mode: Normal / Opacity: 100%
• Click OK.
• Click on the layer mask on the layer in the layers panel.
• Make sure the foreground box is white.
• Click on the Gradient Tool from the toolbar.
• Choose Radial Gradient from the Options Bar.
• Make sure Dither is Checked as is Transparency.
• Click and drag your mouse from the edge you want the gradient to appear from. Try to ensure this comes from the same direction that the natural light is coming from.
• Drag further down to make this larger, or shorter for a smaller glow.
• If you want to change the colour, click on solid colour icon on the layer, and choose a different colour.
• Mask off your subject if required.
• You can also reduce the opacity to tone down the effect if you wish.

Creating Light Glows - Two Tone Method

• Click on the Create New Fill Gradient Layer
• In the Gradient Fill dialogue box that opens up, change the Style dropdown option to Radial.
• Click on the gradient box to bring up another dialogue box.
• On the bottom gradient, double click on the small box at the bottom of the far left, and choose a soft yellow or peach tone.
• You can choose a different colour for the small box on the bottom of the far light (lighter tone)
• Click OK.
• Before closing the Gradient Fill dialogue box, move the "glow" into position, making sure that you place this in the same direction as where the sun would have been.
• Move the Scale slider down to suit.
• You can also reduce the opacity to tone down the effect if you wish.

Creating Light Beams

• On the layers panel, go to the bottom and choose Create New Adjustment Layer
• Choose Gradient.
• In the Gradient Fill dialogue box that opens up, change the Style dropdown option to Angle.
• Change Method to Classic.
• Click on the gradient box to bring up another dialogue box.
• Change the Gradient Type to Noise
• Under Color Model, change it from RGB to HSB.
• Move the right hand side slider for the "S" section all the way over to the left.
• Click OK.
• Change the Blend Mode of this layer to Soft Light.
• Double click on the Gradient Fill icon in the layers panel, and then move the "beams" into position, making sure that you place this in the same direction as where the sun would have been.
• You can play with the angle to get this how you want it.
• Using the Layer Mask, brush away any sunbeams in unwanted areas.
• You can also reduce the opacity of the layer to tone down the effect if you wish.
• You can use this in conjunction with the soft glow method if you wish.