Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create a mystical glow effect.
I provided this photo of a deer, as well as two brush sets. One entitled, "Explosion_Brushes"
and the other entitled, "Firefly Brushes".
I downloaded both from Brusheezy.com, which is a great source for free Photoshop brushes.
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The first step is to create two selections - one around the antlers
and the other around the rest of the deer.
For your convenience, I already made these selections for you and saved them in the Channels panel.
If you don't see it, go to Window and Channels.
There are many ways to make selections, however, for this example, I used the Quick Selection Tool.
I'll quickly show you how I did it.
In versions CC 2018 or later, click the "Select Subject" button.
This automatically selects the subject.
In earlier versions, drag the tool over your subject to select it.
To check the selection, press "Q" to see it as a quick mask.
Then, revert it back into a selection by pressing "Q" again.
To remove areas of the selection, press and hold Alt or Option as you drag over those areas.
To make a selection of just the antlers, we'll remove the selection under the antlers by pressing and
holding Alt or Option as we drag over it.
Then, go to Select and Save Selection.
When you see this window, type in "Antlers" and click OK.
It'll be saved in the Channels panel.
To use the selections I already made for this image, open the Channels panel
and Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the thumbnail of the antlers channel to select its shape.
Open back the Layers panel and press Ctrl or Cmd + J to cut and copy it onto its own layer.
We'll convert the antlers 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".
Place it into a folder by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + G. Make the photo active.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click Color Lookup.
Open the 3DLUT preset list.
LUT is an acronym for Look-Up Table.
The presets in this list are color schemes used in the movie industry to create certain styles or moods.
Click "Moonlight.3DL".
Click the Adjustment Layer icon again and click "Exposure".
"Exposure" mainly adjusts the highlights with minimal effect in the extreme shadows,
while "Offset" darkens the shadows and midtones with minimal effect on the highlights.
"Gamma" is the relative bright and dark values of the image.
For this image, make the Exposure minus point 5 and the Gamma point nine.
Make the antlers layer active and make a copy of it.
Change the copy's blend mode to "Linear Dodge"
Go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 5 pixels.
Then, click OK or press Enter or Return.
Make a copy of it and double-click Gaussian Blur of the copy to open it.
Increase the blur radius to 100 pixels.
Make a third copy and double-click Gaussian Blur of this copy to open it.
Increase the blur to 250 pixels.
Make a fourth copy, open its Gaussian Blur filter, and increase it to 500 pixels.
Close the folder and make a copy of it.
Reduce the copy's opacity to 50%.
We'll place both folders into another folder by Shift-clicking the bottom one and pressing Ctrl or Cmd + G.
Let's name it "Antlers".
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
We're going to brush in a white mist in this layer, but before we do, check your foreground and background colors.
If they aren't black and white respectively, press "D" on your keyboard.
Invert them by pressing "x", so white is our foreground color.
Open your Brush Tool and Brush Picker.
Make sure the Opacity and Flow are both 100%.
Assuming you already installed the brushes I provided, scroll down, and open the "Explosion" Brushes folder.
Click the first one, which is "001_Explosion".
Place your brush approximately here and click once.
We want to confine this texture to just inside the glow of the antlers.
To do this, we need to make the texture layer into a clipping mask.
One way to do this is to over your cursor between the texture layer and the folder.
When you see this icon, click once.
You could also go to Layer and Create Clipping Mask.
Next, we'll colorize the glowing antlers and the misty texture within it.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Hue/Saturation".
We'll clip this adjustment layer to the Antlers folder as well.
We'll see that there's a clipping mask icon above the adjustment layer.
Click it.
Check, "Colorize".
For this image, I'll make the color a golden yellow/orange, but feel free to make it any color you like.
For the Hue, I'll type in: 24 and for the Saturation, I'll type in: 60.
Make a new layer.
In this layer, we'll add glows onto the deer's back and head.
I'll name it, "Glow on back and head", but you can name it whatever you want.
Open your Channels panel.
If you don't see it, go to Window and Channels.
Ctrl or Cmd-click the thumbnail of the "Deer body NO Antlers" to select its shape.
Hide the selection by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + H. The selection is still there; it's just hidden from view.
Open back the Layers panel and change the active layer's blend mode to Soft Light.
Open the Brush Picker
and pick a soft, round brush.
Make the Flow: 30% and the Opacity: 100%.
The difference between Opacity and Flow is this: Opacity controls the opaqueness or transparency
of the paint, while Flow controls the speed at which paint is laid down
much like painting with a spray paint can.
Unlike Opacity, Flow gives you the ability to gradually build up to your color by doing
multiple passes in the same area.
To adjust your brush's size, make sure the CapsLock key is off and press the left or
right bracket key on your keyboard.
Reduce it to approximately this size.
Brush over the top of the neck and back as you build up the brightness with each stroke.
Adjust the size of the brush for smaller areas.
Brush over the top edge of the ears, nose, and cheek.
Deselect the hidden selection of the deer's body by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D.
Go to the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and press and hold Alt or Option as you drag a copy
of it above the glow on the back and the head.
Invert its layer mask by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + I.
This hides the adjustment layer.
To reveal it back through the areas we just brushed over, Ctrl or Cmd-click the thumbnail
of the glow to select its shape.
Then, fill the layer mask with white by pressing Alt or Option + Delete to fill it with the foreground color.
Then, deselect it.
Make a new layer.
Click the foreground color to opent he Color Picker.
In the hexadecimal filed, type in FFC26A.
The, press Enter or Return.
Notice our foreground color is the color we just typed in.
Open your Brush Tool and Brush Picker.
Open the "Explosion" Brushes and click the "001_Explosion" brush again.
Go to approximately here and click once.
Reduce its opacity to 30%.
Make a new layer and name it "Fireflies".
Open back the Brush Picker
and open the "Fireflies" brushes.
I'll pick "Firefly 20", but pick whichever one you like.
Place your cursor over the antlers and click once.
Reduce its opacity to 40%.
Make new layer and name it "Big Glow".
Invert the foreground and background colors by pressing "x" on your keyboard,
so white is your foreground color.
Open your Brush Picker
and pick a soft, round brush.
The opacity and flow are both 100%.
Place your cursor over the antlers and make the brush approximately this size.
Click once.
Change the Blend Mode to Overlay and reduce its opacity to 60%.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!