back with another video tutorial for Adobe Photoshop.
I've seen some cool images floating around on Pinterest lately, that combine everyday
photos with neon lights to create contemporary art pieces that combine two contrasting themes.
They will often feature illuminated words, or random shapes that stand out from the background
with a vibrant glow.
In today's tutorial we're going to create a similar colourful neon sign effect that
enhances a typical photo with an integral message, all tied together with a colourful
Images of jungle foliage are pretty common, so I'm using this free photo from Unsplash.com.
You can use neon shapes to draw attention to certain areas of a photo or art piece,
or use a word or quote to give the image a core message.
To make the text look somewhat like a neon sign, it must be set using a mono-weight font.
Script fonts in particular look great.
I'm using Neonoir from the Adobe Fonts library.
Alter the size and layout of the text so it fits into the scene.
Press CMD (or CTRL on Windows) + T to Transform, then right click and choose Skew.
Drag the handle on the right upwards by 10 degrees to give the text a rise effect.
Scale and position the text paying attention to the surrounding elements that could be
made to overlap the text to give a sense of depth.
Let's add a bunch of Layer Styles to produce the neon glow effect.
Double click the text layer to open the layer style options.
Begin with a Color Overlay and choose the colour of your neon tube.
Since this neon is being placed against jungle leaves, a vibrant green is a good choice.
Add an Inner Glow layer style next.
Change the colour to white, then check the Center option so the glow emits from the middle
rather than the edge.
Bring up the opacity to see the effect more clearly, then change the blending mode to
Linear Dodge.
Zoom in and alter the Size figure so the green colouring can still be seen at the edges of
the neon tubes.
In the Contour option, choose the Half Round profile to make the colour change more abrupt.
Add an Outer Glow next.
Set up the colour with a similar green to the original tube.
Change the blending mode to Linear Dodge, then bring up the opacity while the options
are being set.
Increase the size to take away the hard edge of the tubes.
Around 10px will do.
Bring down the opacity to around 60% to fine tune the appearance.
Add a Drop Shadow and change the blending mode to Overlay.
Set the Angle to 90 degrees so the shadow is placed directly underneath.
Increase the Size to around 30px, then the Distance to around 10px so the shadow just
creeps from underneath the text.
We've already used the Outer Glow option and it's not an effect you can duplicate.
Instead, we can add an extra Drop Shadow and convert it into a glow style effect.
Change the colour to a green to match the tubes, then set the blending mode to Linear
Dodge.
Reduce the Distance to zero, then bring up the size to around 50px to layer up a slightly
larger glow.
Reduce the opacity to around 75%.
Add another Drop Shadow, this time bring up the size to around 135px and set the opacity
to 50%.
Layering up glows like this helps retain the vibrancy nearer the tubes, while still having
a large ambient glow around them.
OK these layer style settings to see the neon light effect.
Add a Layer Mask to the text layer and set up the brush tool with a round tip, and fairly
high hardness.
Make sure the Flow setting is at 100%.
Begin painting with black over the areas you want to erase to give the impression that
they're hidden behind a leaf.
Pan around the canvas by holding the Spacebar while clicking and dragging.
Erasing these portions of the text helps make it appear part of the scene, rather that being
overlaid on top of the image.
If you ever need to restore the neon text, switch the foreground colour to white and
paint back in the mask.
Carefully select the areas you want to conceal, you don't want to go too overboard and not
be able to read what the text actually says.
Now let's continue adding some effects to the background to tie the neon glow with the
scene.
In the Adjustment Layer menu, add a Photo Filter.
Choose Cooling Filter 82 from the preset list, then bring up the Density to 60%.
Currently this adjustment layer is affecting the background and the neon text, so click
and drag the layer between the two layers in the layer stack.
Add a new layer, which will be placed above the Photo Filter but below the text.
Use the ALT+Backspace shortcut to fill it with black.
Change the blending mode to Soft Light, then bring down the opacity to 20%.
Add a subtle vignette using a Gradient Adjustment Layer.
Using the default black-to-transparent gradient profile, change the Style to Radial, then
click Reverse so it flows the right way.
Increase the Scale to around 250 so it gradually flows in from the canvas edges.
Add a Gradient Map next.
We need to alter the colours using the eyedropper, but it won't work if the layer mask is selected.
Make sure to first activate the actual Gradient Map icon in the layer, then you can click
the white swatch and eyedrop a green from the artwork.
Drag this gradient swatch towards the middle to add a bright green ambience to the photo.
Change this layer's blending mode to Color Dodge, which will boost the colours in the
highlights.
It can blow out the brightest parts, so reduce the Fill setting in the Layers panel to around
70% to tone it down.
Add one more layer, then change the foreground colour by eyedropping a green hue from the
scene.
Grab the brush tool again and set up the tip with zero hardness.
Bring down the flow amount so you can build up the colour with multiple clicks.
Dab spots of green around the neon text to add more ambient glow to the surrounding areas.
Change this layer to Overlay with 50% opacity so it acts as a subtle colour cast.
The final result is a colourful neon sign effect that combines two visual themes you
wouldn't expect to see together.
Using Photoshop Layer Styles we created a vibrant neon glow effect, which was then tied
in with the surrounding scene by simulating ambient glows and highlights.
If you enjoyed this tutorial or learnt any new tricks, a thumbs up on the video to help
recommend it to others would be greatly appreciated.
Subscribe to the channel to stick around for more content, and be sure to head over to
my Spoon Graphics website to bag yourself my free design resources bundle.
As always thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.