Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to make fireworks.
Open a nighttime photo with plenty of sky.
If you'd like to use this one, I provided its link
in the video description or project files. This document
is 1280 by 900 pixels with a resolution of 150 pixels per inch.
If you're using a different photo, make its resolution a 150 pixels per inch, as well.
Make a new document to create your fireworks.
To do this, press Ctrl + N on Windows
or Cmd + N on a Mac. Make the width
and the height 2,000 pixels and the resolution
150 pixels per inch. We'll fill it with black.
If your foreground and background colors
aren't black and white respectively, click the small,
overlapping box icon. Since black
is the foreground color, press Alt or Opt + Delete.
To fit it onto your screen, press Ctrl
or Cmd + 0. Click on the New Layer icon
to make a new layer. Open your Brush Tool
and type in 300 pixels for its Size
and 0% for its Hardness. Press the F5 key on your keyboard
to open the Brush panel. Make sure all the settings are
unchecked, but Smoothing is OK. Press
F5 again to close the Brush panel. Invert the foreground and background colors
by pressing "x" on your keyboard. Left-click
once anywhere on your document. To center it,
open your Move Tool and press Ctrl
or Cmd + A and click on the
"Align Horizontal Centers" icon and the "Align Vertical Centers" icon.
To delete the selection,
press Ctrl or Cmd + D. Change the Blend Mode
to "Dissolve". Open your Zoom Tool
and drag a rectangle over it to zoom into it.
Click on the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
We'll merge these two layers by Shift-clicking
on Layer 1 to highlight both layers
and then pressing Ctrl + E on Windows
or Cmd + E on a Mac. I'll name it
"Sparks". The reason we replaced the layer
is because we want the look of "Dissolve", but in the "Normal" Blend Mode.
Make the background visible and make a copy
of the "Sparks" layer. We'll name it
"Radial Blur". Go to
Filter, Blur and Radial Blur.
Make the Amount: 100...
the Blur Method: Zoom... and the Quality:
Best. Then, click OK. Make a copy of the Radial Blur layer
and hide it. Next, we'll merge the original Radial Blur layer
and the Sparks layer. To do this, make the Blur layer
active and press Ctrl or Cmd + E.
Double-click on the layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Color Overlay" and the color box.
Pick a color for your first firework
and click OK to close both Windows. Make the top layer
visible and active. Reduce its Opacity
to 70%. Then, press Enter or Return.
Hide the background
and make a composite snapshot of this image by pressing
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E on Windows
or Cmd + Shift + Opt + E on a Mac.
Hide the two layers under it and make the background visible again.
Make a copy of the composite snapshot
and hide the copy. Make the original firework active
and go to Filter and Liquefy.
Make sure the Forward Warp Tool is highlighted.
Choose a large brush size and the Brush Pressure
is 100. Click on the center of the image
and drag your brush up, approximately this much.
Then, click OK. Press
"v" to open your Move Tool and drag the image
onto the tab your night sky. Without releasing your "mouse" or pen,
drag it down onto your photo and release.
Make a new layer
and press "B" to open your Brush Tool. To reduce the size of your brush,
press the Left Bracket key on your keyboard.
I'll reduce it to 150 pixels. Left-click
once over the center of the burst
and then reduce its opacity to 70%.
To make your firework more vibrant, merge these layers,
click on the Adjustment layer icon and choose
"Vibrance". Click on the "clip
to-Layer" icon to restrict the Adjustment layer
to effect just the firework and not the photo.
If you don't see this icon because you have an earlier version of Photoshop,
go to Layer and "Create Clipping Mask".
Increase the "Vibrance" to 100.
As a toggle back and forth, you can see the difference.
If you want your fireworks to look like they're behind buildings, structures,
or other objects, I'll show you how to do this once we have all the fireworks
in place. Merge the layers
and make a copy of it. To enlarge
or reduce the size of the firework copy, press Ctrl
or Cmd + T to open your Transform Tool.
Go to a corner and when you see a diagonal, double-arrow,
press and hold Shift + Alt on Windows
or Shift + Opt on a Mac as you drag it
in or out. Click inside the Transform
to re-position it. I'll ultimately place the firework
here, but I'll temporarily move it down to make sure
I have enough to drag it up when I use the Liquify filter.
I'll reduce the size of the Liquify brush
and drag the firework up. I'll click OK
and press "v" to open back up the Move Tool.
The more you Liquify an image, the softer it becomes.
So, I'll sharpen it by going to Filter,
Sharpen and "Unsharp Mask".
I'll make the Amount: 200%...the Radius:
1 pixel and the Threshold: 0
Levels. To change the color of your firework
you can use different adjustment layers, but for this example,
are choose "Color Balance".
Click the "clip-to-layer" icon
and play with the colors in "Midtones". For this example,
I'll slide the Yellow / Blue all the way to the left,
as well as Cyan / Red. I'll slide the Magenta / Green
all the way to the right. Next,
we'll add the un-liquified firework that we saved earlier
in the original fireworks document. Open the document,
hide Layer 1 and make the Layer 1 copy
visible an active.
Drag the firework onto the tab of the nighttime photo
and drag it down onto the image. If you don't see it,
it's because it's being clipped. To release the "clipping mask"
press Ctrl + Alt + G on Windows
or Cmd + Opt + G on a Mac.
We'll change its color, but this time, I'll choose "Selective Color".
Click the clip-to-layer icon
and in "Reds", I'll slide the Yellow
all the way to the left, which removes all the yellow from the firework
making it look fuchsia or pink. To re-size it,
make the firework layer active and open you're Transform Tool
I'll make the firework smaller and move in closer.
When you're resized and positioned it, press Enter or Return.
To hide your fireworks behind buildings, structures, or other objects,
place all of your firework layers into a folder.
To do this, make sure you have your top firework
active and scroll down to your bottom firework.
Shift-click on it to highlight all the firework layers.
and then press Ctrl or Cmd + G.
Click on the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask
next to the folder. Press Ctrl
or Cmd + I to invert the layer mask to hide the fireworks.
Invert the foreground and background colors
and press "z" to open your Zoom Tool.
Draw a rectangle over an area of your photo that includes the sky
and the buildings to zoom in closer Press "B"
open your Brush Tool and make the size as small as you want.
Now, carefully brush around the outside of the buildings
to reveal the fireworks.
Lastly, we'll add reflections of the fireworks
in the water. Make a copy of the fireworks folder
and Shift-click on the top, layer mask
to hide it. Click the icon on the upper, right corner
and choose "Convert to Smart Object".
Open your Transform Tool,
go to the bottom, middle of the Transform
and when you see a vertical, double-arrow, press and hold
Shift + Alt on Windows or Shift + Opt on a Mac
and drag it up to squeeze the image. Go to
Edit, Transform and "Flip Vertical".
Press and hold "Shift"
as you slide it down. Pressing "Shift"
keeps it aligned with the top fireworks. When it's positioned,
press Enter or Return. Reduce its Opacity
to 40%. We'll blur it
by going to Filter, Blur and "Motion Blur".
Keep the Angle: 0 degrees
and make the Distance, approximately 140 pixels.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!