I've made loads of tutorials on this channel showing how to manually create
all kinds of effects in Photoshop, but there are tools out there that
automatically create cool visual effects with the click of a button,
so I thought it would be useful to showcase some of the best that I've used.
This Flames Photoshop Action is loaded with hundreds of steps that can be applied
in seconds to produce an intense fiery explosion around your original image.
In this little review I'll show you how to install the assets,
apply the effect and customise the final result.
This isn't a sponsored video by the way, but if you use my links to pick up this
resource it will generate a small kick-back at no extra cost to help support my channel.
This flames effect would be ideal for creating promotional graphics,
product ads, movie posters or even just fantasy art.
And being able to immediately apply the effect in
a few clicks certainly beats trying to figure out how to make it from scratch!
Follow the links in the description to pick it up for yourself. You can buy it individually for $15,
or download it as part of your Envato Elements subscription if you're a member like me.
To make use of the Action, first you need to install the
assets. The package includes a set of brushes as well as the action itself.
Just double clicking the file is often all you need to do,
but you can also navigate to the brushes tool menu and choose Import Brushes.
Likewise for the Action file, you can choose Load Actions from the Action panel,
or double clicking the ATN file should import it automatically.
The package contains versions going back to CS3 if you aren't on the Creative Cloud subscription.
To make use of the Action,
you need an image to apply it to. The best resolution is between 2000-4000px,
so the original dimensions of this dancing woman photo from Unsplash.com should be ideal.
One initial manual step the action process requires is to highlight
the subject of your image. This can be done using several selection methods,
such as tracing with the pen tool or painting with a brush,
but the automatic Select Subject command in Photoshop is pretty accurate these days.
Go to the Select menu and choose Subject. It doesn't matter too much if some portions of
your image fail to be selected properly as it will help the flames seem to wrap around the subject,
but you can fine tune the selection to capture any crucial areas that might have been missed.
Activate the Quick Selection tool and hold Shift
to add areas to your selection, or the ALT key to remove areas.
Create a new layer and fill this selection with any colour. Using the ALT+Backspace
shortcut is an easy way to fill it with the current foreground colour.
Next there's one crucial step that can be easily overlooked that will completely prevent the action
from working. This layer must be renamed to brush, all lowercase letters.
Ideally the creator would have added an extra step to the Action process that could avoid
any issues relating to this, but as long as you remember to rename the layer it'll be all good!
Go to Select and Deselect, or use the CMD+D shortcut, then you're ready
to apply the flames effect.
Open the Actions panel and expand the Flames folder. You can see the lengthy
process this action performs, which shows just how much time this action can save!
I'm using the Normal flames size, highlight the main action and click the play button,
then sit tight as the flames effect is automatically created.
What's great about this action is it leaves the effect completely layered
and organised into groups. Quickly collapse all those folders by holding
the ALT key while clicking the little collapse arrow icon for the main group,
then release ALT to expand it again, so all the sub-folders remain collapsed.
I tend to find the sharpening effect is a little too high,
so turning off the Overall Sharpening layer altogether looks best for my images.
Another configuration I like to make is to adjust the Subject Brightness Control,
which seems to be the source of a lot of the harsh pixel grain.
Open up the Shadow Brightness Controller levels and alter the highlights slider in the Properties
panel. Cropping these highlights can often help to reduce the harshness.
You might also want to tweak the levels for the midtones and highlights too. Exactly how
much depends on your image but this step can help to reduce the overall crispiness.
One extra step you'll really want to make is to play around with the Reveal Flames layers. These
groups with the black layer masks contain extra effects that can really enhance your final result.
Hold the Shift key and click the layer masks
to toggle them on and off to take a look at the contents.
The Action should already have selected a nice soft brush for you. Just make sure
your foreground colour is set to white to reveal areas of the mask,
then paint to restore these additional flames.
It helps to toggle the mask on for a moment to find a nice looking flame,
then paint in that area to restore it.
If you want to hide a portion of these flames again, just use the x key to flip
the foreground and background colours around so you're painting with black.
The same can be done with the second flames layer,
which just helps to make the fire seem to engulf and surround the subject.
Another option you might want to take a look at
is the Inverted Subject layer. This only needs to be used in moderation,
but you might find a specific portion of the image looks better when inverted, for example
it makes the feet and hand much more visible in this image, as if they're glowing in the fire.
Paint to reveal these specific areas with white in the layer mask.
All these settings give you a clue as to what to do with them in brackets,
so Brush Mask lets you know that can can restore or erase these parts,
whereas Opacity tells you to adjust the layer opacity to see the difference.
All the individual components of the effect are saved in separate layer
groups so you can customise the final appearance.
Let's take a look at another quick example using this photo of an Eagle from Unsplash.com.
This image is cropped quite tightly,
so first I'm going to enlarge the canvas area to provide more space for the flames.
This makes the overall image size a little larger than the optimal
resolution so it's scaled down slightly with the Image Size menu.
The Select Subject command makes a nice easy selection,
which can then be filled with the ALT+Backspace shortcut on a new layer.
Then the crucial but easily forgotten step of renaming the layer to brush,
all lowercase letters.
Since this image is quite large I'll use the normal size flames action again.
And in seconds this bald eagle is transformed into a Phoenix!
The harsh crispy effect is quite prominent on this image too,
so in the settings I'll turn off the sharpening completely.
ALT-click to collapse all the folders, then expand again to make the group arrangement a little more
organised, then the Subject Brightness Control can be configured to calm down the gritty areas.
The Inverted Subject effect makes the eye look particularly cool on this image,
so painting this area with a small white brush gives the eagle-phoenix lazer eyes.
Then Shift-click to toggle on and off the extra flames layers to see
which areas would enhance the result.
Restoring most of the first flames layer helps to engulf the phoenix in fire,
but not the areas that would obscure the main head.
Turning down the Original Subject Color opacity
helps to blend in the bird with the reddy-orange of the flames,
turning this photograph into a pretty cool fantasy image that only took minutes to make.
Follow the links in the description to give this Flames Photoshop Action a try yourself.