Photoshop is the ultimate tool for everyone interested in editing photographs to extents of mutual likings. Photoshop allows us the ability to design and add special effects to Photographs while simultaneously ensuring that the quality of the photograph is not compromised. In this article, we shall look into the process of creating sunrays using Photoshop.
- The first step of every Photoshop action is to upload the photo into Photoshop first. Now press the shortcut keys Ctrl + J/Cmd + J to create a new layer. The new layer created is visible only in the layer panel.
- The next step is to go to the layer panel and click on the ‘Add adjustment layer’ option and then select the ‘levels’ option.
- Now go to create clipping mask option and select it. Further, go to the grey bar and drag it to the extreme This is done to help us trace the light source in the image.
- Now go to the layer panel and activate the ‘Layer 1’ and then click on filter>blur>radial blur.
- Now in the radial blur option set the amount to about 100. Then set the blur method to zoom and then the quality is set to ‘best. The centre of the radial blur is approximately placed at the point where light has been traced to. Then press Ok. After this, a black image will be visible.
- Next step is to open the layer panel. After pressing F7 to open the layer panel, click on the layer thumbnail in the ‘level adjustment layer’ to open the level panel. After this, go to the grey bar and drag it to the left.
- Now the layer 1 is activated, and then the shortcut keys Ctrl + Shift + U/Cmd + Shift + U are pressed to convert the layer 1 to black and white.
- Next, reduce the opacity of the layer 1 to 50% and then go to the layer panel and then click on the Add layer mask. Now make the background colour as black and press the keys Ctrl + Backspace/Cmd + Delete.
- The next step is to go to the tool panel and there select the gradient option. Now make white as the foreground colour and then set the mode as ‘foreground to transparent’ and set the type to ‘radial gradient’.
- In this step, apply the gradient to the image as shown below.
- This step involves applying the post-processing effects on the image. Go to the layer panel and click on the ‘add adjustment layer’. Now click on ‘exposure’ and increase its value by 1.
- The final step in creating sun rays using Photoshop CS6 involves selecting the ‘Photo filter’ option after selecting the ‘add adjustment layer’ option in the layer panel. Now the filter is set as ‘Warming filter (85)’. The density value is to be changed to 91% and then ‘preserve luminosity’ option is turned on.
Thus, using the above steps, we can create sun rays effect using Photoshop CS6. The steps are typically designed for beginners, and with the progressive use of Photoshop over time, the usage and application of special effects become considerably easier.
