Are you ready for the lesson? You will enjoy this lesson, I promise!
In this lesson, I will show you how to apply light effects to a portrait of a man. You will learn about the technique of combining images and textures using blending modes, adjustment layers and brushes, including the creation of light effects.
So let’s get started!
Final result
Download the archive with materials for the lesson
Note: The author used paid materials. In the archive you will find an alternative version of the images for the lesson, or you can use your own materials.
Step 1
Create a new document 915? 630 px in Photoshop, fill it with white. Open the original image with the night city, and then move this image to our working paper, placing it as shown in the screenshot below:
Step 2
Next, go Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur (Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur). Install Radius (radius) blur 8 px. This step will add depth to the scene:
Step 3
Let’s go Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Curves (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Curves). Reduce the brightness of the image. Now go to the adjustment layer mask Curves (Curves) and using a soft black brush with low opacity (about 20%), hide the blackout correction at the top of the image. You can see the result of the brush processing on the layer mask in the screenshot below:
Step 4
Create a new layer and using a soft black brush, hide the light highlights in the center and at the bottom of the image.
Step 5
Add adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) to change the color of the night lights to green / blue:
Step 6
Create two new layers. Paint on one layer with # 00d9f0 color on the left, and on another layer, paint over # 79c839 on the right, so we will create light effects in the background. Change the blending mode for these two layers to Chromaticity (Color) opacity (Opacity) layers 100%:
Step 7
Open the original image with a highlight in Photoshop. Move this image to our working paper. Change the blending mode for the layer with the glare on Lightening (Screen), 100% layer opacity:
To a layer with a highlight, add a layer mask, to do this, click the second icon at the bottom of the layers panel. Using a soft black brush, reduce the saturation of the highlights, as shown in the screenshot below:
Step 8
Now, to the layer with the light flare, add an adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) as a clipping mask to change the highlight color to blue:
Step 9
Add another adjustment layer. Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) to change the highlight color to green. Now go to the mask of this adjustment layer and using a soft black brush, hide the correction on the left side of the image to keep the blue color of the flare. Thus, the highlight color will match the background:
Step 10
Open the original image with a portrait of a man. Separate the image of a man from the background. Move the selected image of a man to our working paper:
Step 11
Use adjustment layer Curves (Curves) to darken the image of a man.
Now go to the mask for this adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) and using a soft black brush, hide the blackout correction in the left and right side of the image of a man, as shown in the screenshot below:
Step 12
Add another adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) to brighten the right side. Now go to the mask for this adjustment layer. Curves (Curves) and using a soft black brush, hide the correction over the rest of the image, keeping the effect of darkening:
Step 13
Add adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation), so that the reflecting light on the man’s left shoulder matches the color tone in the background:
Step 14
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Overlap (Overlay) 100% layer opacity. Fill this layer 50% gray (50% gray). Choose a tool Clarifier 
/ Dimmer 
(Dodge and Burn Tool (O)), in the settings of this tool, set Range (Range) on Mid tones (Midtones), and the value Exposure (Exposure) approximately 20-50%. With the help of this tool, carry out the correction of light and shade on the image of a man, particularly on the shoulders. You can see the result of brush processing under the mode Normal (Normal) and the final result under mode Overlap (Overlay):
Step 15
Create a new layer on top of all other layers. Using a soft brush, color brush # 79c839, add a green glow to the right side of the image of the man, shoulder, face, arm, hair, jacket. Change the blending mode for this layer to Chromaticity (Color) 80% layer opacity:
Create another new layer. Using the same brush, add emphasis to the details of the image of the man, jacket, cheek, hand, lips:
Step 16
Open the original image with the matrix in Photoshop. Move this image to our working paper. Change the blending mode for the matrix layer to Lightening (Screen), 100% layer opacity:
To the matrix layer, add a layer mask and use a soft black brush to hide the matrix texture over the male image to combine the matrix texture with the existing background:
Step 17
Add adjustment layer Levels (Levels) to make the effect more gentle – there is no need for the binary code to catch the eye too much.
Step 18
Add adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) so that the color of the binary code matches the background color:
Add another adjustment layer. Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) to change the color of the binary code on the right side of the image to green. Switch to the adjustment layer mask Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) and using a soft black brush, hide the correction on the left side of the image, keeping the green tint only on the right side.
Step 19
Create a new layer, change the blending mode for this layer to Linear Dodge (Linear Dodge), opacity (Opacity) layer 100%. Using a soft brush, brush color # 00d9f0, add a glow to the left eye, then change the brush color to # 79c839, add a glow to the right eye.
Step 20
Open the original image with a light effect in Photoshop. Since This light effect is created on a transparent background, then simply drag the light effect onto our working paper. Place the light effect on the man’s left eye, and then change the blending mode for the effect layer to Lightening (Screen), layer opacity is 100%. Using tool Free transformation (Free Transform Tool (Ctrl + T)), change the perspective of the light effect, as shown in the screenshot below:
To the layer with the light effect, add a layer mask and using a soft black brush, blur the effect to make it look more tender:
Step 21
Duplicate the light effect layer. Flip horizontally a duplicate layer, for this we go Editing – Transformation – Flip Horizontal (Edit> Transform> Flip Horizontal). Place a duplicate layer with a light effect on the right eye:
Step 22
Select the layers with light effects, and then press the keys (Ctrl + G) to group them in one group. Change the blending mode for the layer with the group from the mode Skip (Pass Through) to mode Lightening (Screen), layer opacity is 100%. Add adjustment layer Channel Mixing (Channel Mixer) to change the color of the light effects to blue:
Step 23
Add adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) to change the color of the light effect to the right of green to match the color in the background. Remove the effect on the left eye with a soft black brush:
Great job! You did it! Cool, is not it? Now you can create portraits of your friends or your family members. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Good luck, do not hesitate to lay out their work! See you again!
The final result:
Author: blog.123rf.com
