Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create the look of the hyper-vibrant, Blade-Runner-style,
Cyberpunk, Neo-Noir images.
This tutorial is for Photoshop versions CC and later.
Before we begin, if you're not already a subscriber to Blue Lightning TV, hit that small "Subscribe"
button at the lower right to let you know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials.
For your convenience, I provided this image that you can download,
but feel free to use a different photo if you like.
The result will look best if it’s a nighttime shot of a city street or alley that’s illuminated
with lights or neon signs.
This photo was taken by Isaac Weatherly from Pexels.
Its size is 1920 by 1080 pixels with a resolution of 150 pixels per inch.
The first step is to convert our visible image into a Smart Object, so we can modify it non-destructively.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, right and click "Convert to Smart Object".
Let's name it, "Base".
Go to Filter and "Camera Raw Filter".
Make sure the Base panel is open.
Make the "Temperature": minus 20 and the "Tint": 50.
This color casts our image to blue and pink,
which is the signature color grading of Cyberpunk, neo-noire images.
The "Exposure: is 0 and the "Contrast" is minus 20.
Make the "Highlights": minus 100 and the "Shadows: plus 100.
The "Whites" are 40.
The "Blacks", Texture and Clarity are all 0.
"Dehaze" is 80 and "Vibrance" is 60.
The Saturation is 0.
Click the "Split Toning" icon.
Split toning tints the shadows of an image in one color and the highlights in another color.
The Highlights "Hue" is 0 and the "Saturation" is 30.
The Shadows hue is also 0 and its saturation is 20.
This essentially increases the intensity of their respective color casts.
Click the "fx" icon.
The Grain is 0 and the "Post Cropping Vignetting" is minus 30.
This adds a soft dark vignette around the inside perimeter of our image.
We can fine tune the vignette with these settings.
For this image, make the "Midpoint": 50 and feather it 100.
Then, click OK.
Next, we'll bloom out the brightest areas of the image.
Go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Open the "Distort" folder and click "Diffuse Glow".
The "Graininess" is 0, the "Glow Amount" is 1 and the "Clear Amount" is 9.
Next, we'll create a foggy, ethereal atmosphere, which is a common theme in outdoor scenes
of cyberpunk, neo-noir movies like Blade Runner.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
Open your Brush Tool.
Check your foreground and background colors.
If they aren't black and white, press "D" on your keyboard.
If white isn't your foreground color, press "x" to invert the colors.
Open your Brush Picker.
We'll adjust its size in a moment.
Pick a soft, round brush.
Make its Hardness: 0% and the Opacity and Flow: 100%.
To adjust your brush's size, make sure your CapsLock key is off and press the right or
left bracket key on your keyboard.
For this image, make the brush size 800 pixels.
Let's make more by zooming out of our image.
To do this, press Ctrl or Cmd and the minus key on your keyboard.
Place your brush above the image and press and hold Shift as you drag below it.
Pressing Shift kept the brush perfectly vertical.
Zoom back in by pressing Ctrl or Cmd and the plus key.
Reduce the brush stroke's opacity to 50%.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask next to the brush stroke.
Open your Gradient Tool and make sure the Linear Gradient icon is active.
Open the gradient presets and click the black and white box.
Place the tool just below the bottom of your document.
Press and hold Shift as you drag the tool up to approximately here.
Then, release.
If you have someone or something in the foreground, the fog shouldn't envelop it as much as in the background.
We'll remove some of the fog over the subject by zooming into the subject.
Press "z" to open your Zoom Tool and drag it over that area.
Press "B" to open back your brush tool and reduce its size.
Reduce your brush's opacity to 40% and brush over the subject.
Then, zoom back out.
Lastly, we'll create an ethereal mist over our entire image.
Go to Filter, Render and Clouds.
Change its Blend Mode to Soft Light and reduce its opacity to 50%.
We want to stretch out the mist.
To do this, open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T. At the top,
click the chain-link icon between the Width and the Height.
This unlinks them.
In the Width field, type in 200%.
To accept it, press Enter or Return.
Even though we can't see it, the mist extends beyond both sides of our document,
which adds to our file's size.
Since we don't need the excess mist, let's crop it off by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + A to
select our visible document and go to Image and Crop.
Then, deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!