If you want to fake lens flare in an image, drag a layer of blurred-out lights on top of your photograph (they will appear just like blurs or highlights from the bokeh of a lens). Then, change the blend mode of the blurred lights layer in the Layers panel to Overlay, Soft Light, or Hard Light. The type of blend mode will depend on the underlying image and the desired effect.
Tip by: Lindsay Adler -- www.lindsayadlerphotography.com
Photoshop User Magazine -- 13th Annual Top 100 Photoshop Tips -- Pg 47
October 2012
With permission from Maarius Dennis, one of our team members, and the owner of MAAD Photography, along with his lovely model/wife, I selected the above photo to illustrate this tutorial.
To start, the only touch-up I did was on the eyes to ease the red-eye effect in the pupils. I'm not sure if I could explain it, but the Red-Eye Tool in earlier versions seemed to be much more effective than in CS6. To compensate, I spent a couple minutes using brushes and masks to get us to this:
To start, the only touch-up I did was on the eyes to ease the red-eye effect in the pupils. I'm not sure if I could explain it, but the Red-Eye Tool in earlier versions seemed to be much more effective than in CS6. To compensate, I spent a couple minutes using brushes and masks to get us to this:
Yes, it's subtle, but it does make a difference. Factors I've learned need to be considered are: which blend mode will be used, and the color(s) of the lights being used as the lens flares.
I won't show all the variations I played with, as I did in the previous tutorial. Instead, I've chosen to display just one of the blurred lights in all three blend modes.
I won't show all the variations I played with, as I did in the previous tutorial. Instead, I've chosen to display just one of the blurred lights in all three blend modes.
Overlay | Soft Light | Hard Light |
So as to not distract too much from the true subject of the photograph, I added a radial gradient mask to keep too much of the light from infracting on her face.
The thumbnails don't do much to exemplify the differences, but a closer inspection of each (or better yet, your own experiments) will help you get a better idea of which blend mode, and why.
The thumbnails don't do much to exemplify the differences, but a closer inspection of each (or better yet, your own experiments) will help you get a better idea of which blend mode, and why.
Brian Sheets
15/July/2013
15/July/2013
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