This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create a surrounding ribbon of light to a photo.
Before we begin, if you're not already a subscriber to Blue Lightning TV, click that "Subscribe"
button to let you know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials.
For your convenience, I provided this photo for you to work on.
Its link is in my video's description or in my project files.
This effect looks best with subjects that are over very dark backgrounds in order for
the ribbon of light to show up well.
Let's remove all the color from the photo.
You can easily restore the color later if you want.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Black & White".
This removes all the color from the image.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
In this layer, we’ll create a curvy stroke that we’ll use to make the ribbon of light.
Check your foreground color.
If it's not white, click it and when the Color Picker window opens, pick white.
Open your Pencil Tool and Pencil Picker.
Make its size 7 pixels.
its Hardness: 0% and its Opacity: 100%.
Open your list of Pen Tools.
If you're using version CC 2018 or later, open the "Curvature Pen Tool".
If you're using an earlier version, I'll show you what to do in a minute.
I did an in-depth tutorial on the Curvature Pen Tool, so if you want to watch it, I provided
that link, as well.
Place your cursor approximately here and click once to create an anchor point.
Release and click on the other side of the subject a bit lower.
Then, click on the other side a bit lower than the second anchor point.
The Curvature Pen tool instantly creates a perfect arc connecting all the anchor points.
Continue to click and release to create more arcs all the way to the bottom.
In earlier versions, open your Pen Tool. Click once to create an anchor point.
Release and click again, but don't release your mouse or pen.
Press and hold the Shift key as you drag your tool down to create an arc.
Release and click and hold to make another anchor point.
As before, press and hold Shift as you drag it down to create another arc.
Continue these steps all the way to the bottom.
Right-click or secondary-click directly on a path.
Click "Stroke Path" and pick "Pencil".
Make sure "Simulate Pressure" is checked.
Hide the Path by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + H. We'll convert the stroke 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".
Double-click an empty area of the layer to open its Layer Style window.
I'll move it over, wo we can see the stroke.
Click "Outer Glow".
Click the color box and in the Color Picker's hexadecimal field, for now type in: 0101FF.
I'll show you how you can change the color later if you want.
The Blend Mode is Screen and the Opacity is 75%.
The Technique is Softer, the Spread is 0 and the Size is 10 pixels.
Open the Contour preset list and click the gear icon.
Click "Small List".
Scroll to "Half Round" and click it.
The Range is 50%.
Go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 3 pixels.
Let's collapse the Smart Filters to save space in the Layers panel.
Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Open the copy's effects and double-click
"Gaussian Blur" to open it. Blur it 10 pixels.
Then, click OK or press Enter or Return.
Let's collapse the effects.
We'll convert the two ribbon of light layers into one Smart Object by Shift-clicking the
lower one to make it active, as well and clicking Convert to Smart Object.
Change its Blend Mode to Screen.
Next, we'll make a selection around the subject, so we can isolate it from its background.
I've done hundreds of tutorials showing how to do this, so for your convenience and for
the sake of time, I've already done it for us.
Open your Channels panel.
If you don't see it, go to Window and Channels.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the thumbnail of Alpha 1 to make a selection of its shape.
Open back your Layers panel.
We'll make an inverted Layer Mask of the selection by Alt-clicking or Option-clicking the Layer Mask icon.
We'll restore back the parts of the stroke, so it re-appears in front of the subject's body.
The parts to the stroke that we don't restore will appear to be behind the body.
We'll brush white over the layer mask, so invert your foreground and background colors
by press "x" on your keyboard.
Open your Brush Tool and Brush Picker.
Pick a soft, round brush.
Make its Size approximately 40 pixels, its Hardness: 0% and its Opacity and Flow 100%.
Brush over the strokes that you'd like to see in front of your subject.
If you want to re-hide them, press "x" on your keyboard and brush over them again.
Make the Black & White adjustment layer active and Shift-click the bottom layer to make it
active, as well.
Convert them into a Smart Object and make a copy of it.
Open your Channels panel.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the Alpha 1 channel to make a selection of its shape.
Open back the Layers panel and click the Layer Mask icon to make layer mask of the selection
next to the copy of the photo.
Double-click an empty area of the layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Inner Glow".
The color is the same as before., the Blend Mode is "Lighten" and the Opacity is 50%.
The Technique is Softer, the Source is Edge, the Choke is 0 and the Size is 50 pixels.
The Contour is Linear and the Range is 50%.
Next, we'll hide the light on parts of the body that shouldn't be illuminated as much
like the top of the head and bottom of the feet.
Make the layer mask of the middle layer active.
Since we'll be brushing black over this layer mask, make your foreground color black.
Open the Brush Picker.
Make sure the Hardness of your brush is 0% and reduce its opacity to 50%.
To adjust the size of your brush, make sure your CapsLock key is off and press the left
or right bracket key on your keyboard.
Brush over those areas to hide them.
If you want to intensify the ribbon of light, make that layer active and make a copy of it.
To adjust its brightness, just reduce its opacity.
To change the color of the light, Shift-click the middle layer to make it active, as well
and press Ctrl or Cmd + G to place them into a folder.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Hue/Saturation".
In order to restrict the change of color to just the layers within the folder, we'll need
to make the adjustment layer into a Clipping Mask.
To do this, click the Clipping Mask icon or go to Layer and "Create Clipping Mask".
Check, "Colorize" and slide the saturation to the right to increase its color intensity.
To change the color, drag the "Hue" slider.
To match the color on the body to the ribbon's color, double-click "Inner Glow" to open it
in the Layer Style window.
Click the color box and pick a color as close as you can get to the ribbon's color.
Feel free to adjust its opacity and size if you like.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!