Home Tutorials Wallpapers Interviews News About Contact/Ads Join Login Twitter Store

Amazing Photoshop light

effect in 10 Steps
by abduzeedo | Jan 08, 2008 Portugus

www.shutterstock.com Feedback - Ads by Google

Last year I had written a tutorial showing how to create some

lighting effects in Photoshop, it was called Magic Lighting
Effects. A lot of people liked it, but some people still have some
questions on how to achieve that effect.

When I added a buy me a coffee featured on my blog I decided to use an image I had
done when I was showing my cousin how to do the Magic effect. Instead of using a hat
I used a coffee cup and the process is basically the same, however this time I will
explain it in more details.

Step 1

Create a new document, apply a Layer Style on the background layer. Add a Gradient
Overlay and a Pattern Overlay.
Step 2

Here I've used an icon I found on a cool site, but you can use whatever you want.
Step 3

Select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a shape like I did. After that apply a Gaussian
Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) with radius of 30px.

Abduzeedo's Tags
more tags
inspiration daily inspiration tutorial wallpaper photography illustration photoshop
design graphic design web design video of the week sites of the week iphone wallpaper of the
week video best of the week interview giveaway fireworks Typography hdr posters quick tips funny poster motion
graphics T-shirt Design vector t-shirt logo photo manipulation 3d web 2.0 ads illustrator contest abdutees web blog inspirao

Icon Ads Wall

Do you want
Advertise
Advertise toAdvertise
Advertiseadvertise
Advertise here?
Advertise
Advertise Click
Advertise
Advertise Here
Advertise
Advertise
Advertis
Step 4

Create a new Folder name it Light Effects. Change its blend mode to Color Dodge,
and move the ellipse you created to this folder.
Step 5

In order to create the sparks we will use the amazing brush engine. Add a new layer,
inside the Light Effects layer, set white for the color and follow the images below.
Step 6

Using the Layer Styles add a Outer Glow to the sparks

Step 7

Lets add some smoke. Create a new Layer, call it Smoke. Change its blend mode to
Color Dodge and select the Lasso Tool. Set 40px for Feather and create a selection
like I did below. After that make sure that the foreground is white and the background is
black and apply a Filter>Render>Clouds. Tip: Continue applying the filter until you get
the best clouds.
Step 8

Add some text and using the Layer Styles again lets create a nice effect.
Step 9

Place your logo and you can even add more effects like I did on the Magic Lighting
Effect, but then you will have to follow that tutorial ;).
Conclusion

I have to say, if you know a bit of Layer Styles and the Brush engine in Photoshop you
will be able to create amazing effects. It will depend exclusively on your imagination
and playing with the tool. Sometimes just changing a some settings and you get a
totally different effect.
The PSD file used in this tutorial can be downloaded here.
About The Author

My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and
I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and
ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site
at http://fabiosasso.com.

www.EditorsKeys.com Feedback - Ads by Google

More content from: effects photoshop tutorial wallpaper

153 Comments

how could you apply these overlays on the basic background layer man?I have
CS2 but I cannot do it :|...It would be better a more detailed tutorial...
Anonymous
06/06/2009

I loved It...
Sekko DaVinci
06/03/2009

Anonymous
06/02/2009

Simply AWESOME

thanks for tutorial. but brushes not found. Ples give me a brus

TUrkPSD
06/01/2009

Awesome work man, and very well explained...

I applied the effect in one of my pictures... (How do I upload the picture?)
mito318 thanks
05/24/2009

Man, you really need to make your tutorials easier for people with less experience
to understand. This is really hard to follow, along with your magic light tutorial.
Make your tuts
better If you cared about your readers, you would do that. Jeez!!
05/12/2009

Realy awesome effect and the tutorial is good.

SteveButabi Thank you so much!!!

05/12/2009
 A really great effect! I will certainly be coming back to this site for more great tuts.

photo
retouching
05/09/2009

so awesome. Thank you so much!!!

steph
05/06/2009

I'm in Web Design school so my site is "Under Construction". With that said, I love
this effect and will try it on another project I'm working on. Thanks so much for
rosagena sharing. We learn so much from each other!
04/27/2009

i love your tuto i'm an amateur huahweuhwaue

and i'm also a newbie love your tuto so much
Dilla
04/24/2009

if you GOOGLE "coffee cup icon" the same pic will come up; the site was
iconarchive.com....
hannahbananza BTWs; i'm new to Photoshop and how the heck do you make a folder? I have
04/06/2009
ABSOLUTELY no idea what you mean.
 Very Nice.

photo and I wish to be so creative.

photoshop
04/06/2009

PHOTOMASTER
03/24/2009

Hey very good tuto XD

Hi,
Wonderful tutorial. Beautiful effect and very usefull! Thanks!
Heavynne
03/08/2009

My name is Ryan Murphy, I'm 15 and want to be a graphic designer.

Murphcane I'm inspired by your tutorials.

03/04/2009
Here's what I've done:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Enjoy.

Thanks, great work. I really liked it.

b4db0y
02/23/2009
 i used 9.5 px maybe that will help

CLOUDS?
02/10/2009

THE GAUSSIAN BLUR DOESNT WORK ON MINE WHATS UP WITH THAT?

Anonymous
02/08/2009

Hello!!!!! I have done my own work!!! Hope u like it!!! :D

PacoJarillo
01/16/2009

Maggie
 This was awesome! Thanks for your help. I love to mess around with photoshop
and it was fun to be able to follow some directions instead of me just fooling around
Jessoh with it myself all the time. Here's what I came up with
01/05/2009

Thanks for the tutorial east to follow and was awesome.

Bitterdulce
01/04/2009
 How to make this image with an uniform color background?
please help me
Giuseppe thanks!
12/26/2008

wooooowwww..so fantastic i thought photoshop can't do that great image thanks for
the tuto.im not a designer but i know how to use the photoshop tools.thnks...so
gilda wonderful....god bless..
12/24/2008

This is a great tutorial on how to add light effect in photoshop.

Learn
Photoshop
12/18/2008

WHATS THE PATTERN??!!! plz help!!!

First Steps
Graphic
Designer
12/18/2008

Ditto on all of the previous accolades for this fabu tutorial. Fabio is the man!

Craig S. I had to create mine using CS2, so I couldn't emulate it completely, but here's my
12/11/2008 twist on it:
Raven
12/05/2008

http://www.smoothedgedesigns.com/images/cupOjoe.jpg

This is the first light effect tutorial that I actually understand! Yayy me!! ^^

Calwen Amazing work! Where do you downloaded the coffee cup icon? I love this crystal
12/04/2008 style.
Thanks for the answer.
 how did you make th circle brighter than th rest of th background?

yuppy
12/02/2008

Djdevil
12/02/2008

Amazing Love it

i dont understand step 4 cuz how did you out the gold ligth????????????????????

desangles
12/01/2008

Great tut - thanks for sharing

Jumping Dog
Design
11/28/2008

Hey,

Torisuta First thanks for sharing this.

11/24/2008
I got a question... Why does the blending modes looking different on a folder (I dint
even know that folders accept blending modes) than on a layer?

Greetings
 My image is a little bit different:

Renan Ferrari
11/24/2008

Very good man Thanks

Anjum nawab
11/24/2008

THank you very much adding your website to my favourites =)

 Arfan
11/22/2008

Kovi
11/21/2008

oh, it is very good tutorial. I try it :)

This is a great tutorial. But, oddly, the coffee cup with light bubbling out of it reminds
me of Harry Potter (don't ask why, it just happens)...
Timothy
11/14/2008

At the outset I would like to thank you , one of the best lessons, which I liked from
the great lessons I thank you all my heart, and also I liked the application of brother
talal (Anony) the work of this wonderful
11/07/2008
of practical lesson

http://www.col-sea.com/vb/uploaded/172_1226017262.png

Wow, great stuff thank you very much. This helped me out a lot.

Henry
10/26/2008

thanks a lot!

mac
 10/19/2008
here's mine >

kelebek
10/16/2008

I like this effect, well done. Just one question, why color dodge has a different
outcome on a group of layers than on a single layer?

Looking at your photoshop tutorials for me is like walking into an Aladin's Cave! I
think it's wonderful that you share your tips with us im sure many people like me
bikerchick think they are so very valuable as i've only been doing Graphic Design for a few
10/10/2008
years. A huge thank you!

x
 Dude! i wish i could personally thank you for posting this.. every second you have
spent on making this site is worth it! truly its worth it..
izlekop
10/10/2008 always keep up the good work..

Excellent post! Thanks for sharing!

Ovi Dogar
10/09/2008 Ovi Dogar
AbsoluteCovers.com

Inspiring. Thanks for the tutorial.

Ted
09/22/2008

The download link for the psd file is broken. Could you please fix the link. This is an
amazing tutorial. Outstanding in all aspects thanks for sharing such great work.
Mike
09/13/2008

Do you speak spanish? Maybe you can try do this in spanish :P

Maxi
09/11/2008

Great great you also provided .psd file i am planning to make an rss image for it.
this is really creative work and i never gone through such sort of effect. amazing
MOin you seems to be a photoshop gennie man and the best part you are not greedy
09/10/2008
 keeping your work secret you shared source file. two thumbs up

valerie wow!!! really cool... im a student and Ive been studying photoshop for one semester
09/07/2008 and never done such cool things like this...thanks fabio your an artist... wish i could
do great stuff like yours... thanks..Godbless

download break link..

oscar sorry for my english..!! :(

08/29/2008

Hmm, this is classy!!

Sphynxylynxy I wish all tutorials on the net

08/07/2008 could be as shick as yours.

Much Appreciated!!

Thank you so much.

I too would like to know how you did the coffee mug next to the "buy me a coffee"
Anonymous link. I like that one much better.
08/05/2008

Great tutorial. The only thing is when I set the brush engine and white color for the
sparks, it doesn't come out as bright as you have. They're not distinct. In fact I can't
Julie really see them. What gives?
08/04/2008
 Vey nice, and useful. I love it. Thanks a lot

Daniel
07/30/2008

I would much prefer a tutorial on how he made the coffee cup next to the text "If you
liked this post, you can BUY ME A COFFEE, thanks!" at the bottom of each post.
Cameron
Smith Can you please make a tutorial on this?
07/25/2008
Thank you so much!

Color Dodge and clouds effect does wonders, Absolutely love the coffee design!
Great work!
Daniel Lew
Internet
Marketing
07/24/2008

Oh yea I'm the onetutorial Thank You so much!! Yuo are great!!

Mzik Dinle
07/21/2008

toplist, site ekle

pagerank
sorgulama
07/20/2008
 It's Wonderful! Thank's!

PTS
07/20/2008

this is awesome !
thanks !!! =D
DIDI
07/12/2008

Simply the best tutorials for photoshop on the web. I usualy never post comments
but this is worth it.
Gabriel
07/10/2008 Thanks you for your time ;)

Hi! im a 18 years old student grafic designer from the netherlands and i want to
thank you for sharing your stuff with us! Cause i love the work you make and you
Anony are realy helping me to improve my photoshop skills! so thank you very very very
07/09/2008
much ;) and here is what i made with your help:
http://www.freewebs.com/m0nky/cokeaddiction.png

Thank you! I just discovered your page and it is fantastic. I wonder why there are so
much boring books out there, only explaining the basics. People like you should
bnzr stick together and write a thick book of tuts.
07/07/2008
 Dude! i wish i could personally thank you for posting this.. every second you have
spent on making this site is worth it! truly its worth it..
kunal
07/06/2008 always keep up the good work..

Thank you my friend..

Mirc
06/30/2008

hello everybody!!
Thanks for this Tuto! it s amazing, i m reazlly impressed bye your Tuto, not only this
Ravi one but all!!
06/25/2008
But could you tell me why i can't download the PSD file? i wished i could.

Thanks!

really appealin effect good work.....it helped me

shimul
05/29/2008

Hello, fantastic job, but i can't find those kind of icons, where can i find some???
thanks mate!
Vicente
05/15/2008

Fantastic! Thanks.

Harry Roberts
04/30/2008

Hey,
This tutorial is helping me but i am stuck at the pattern gradient part. When i enter
NCR19 the patern gradient page it does not show a plain white pattern? Can you help me?
04/16/2008

Great tutorial. It's beautiful and simple :) Thanks.

Website
Design
04/15/2008

hello everybody!!
Thanks for this Tuto! it s amazing, i m reazlly impressed bye your Tuto, not only this
RIMKA one but all!!
04/14/2008
But could you tell me why i can't download the PSD file? i wished i could.

Thanks!

Ican't do the dodge tool, when I do that white circle I just get the same circle now
yellow or dodge, can u please explain how to od this ?
Tom
04/12/2008 I got Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extenden

excellent tutorial !

evertt de
sousa
 04/08/2008

Cool tutorial!

Brendon
04/06/2008

great job nice finishing god bless you

aboobacker
04/06/2008

great, excellent tutorial..

bto i would like to buy u one coffe

04/05/2008

very simple tutorial but wait.. the result is so amazing. Unbelieveable

The Fachia
04/03/2008

Just bought you a couple coffees :) Thanks for all the tuts.

Brian
03/21/2008

great tut :)

computer jobs
03/16/2008
 hy nice work
thanks for providing photo shop info
earn money it is a nice software and works wonders
online
03/08/2008

Nice tutorial, thanks for sharing.

Jerry I'm not real good at adding glow to images, but I think I can pull it off with this.
03/08/2008

Simply inspirational.. :)

Karan Kapoor regards,

03/06/2008 Karry

i will buy you a coffe definality

web design
company
03/06/2008

You should try some coffee from the Magpie; its simply the best there is.

Magpie
Coffeehouse
03/05/2008
 it's great,i haven't learn it before,coz i just design bout bridal...
but in my opinion your design can give more soft colour inside,so can make more
David live situation...
03/05/2008
ok thanks....

Eli Just letting you know of someone stealing your tutorial: http://www.mma-
03/03/2008 studio.com/?p=3

He has also taken tutorials from veerle.

well i just found the coffee cup:

Anonymous http://software.techrepublic.com.com/download.aspx?docid=240686
03/02/2008

ok ba?ar?l? olmu? tebrikler :))

Ay?egl Very Very Nice.. :))

02/28/2008 Thanks :*

HOOAH very nice

Anonymous
02/25/2008

Hey! Love your pic, and wonderd where you found the coffeecup. I'd like to try it out
^^.
Elin
 02/22/2008
please answer

RMKhan Realy an amazing tutorial thank u

02/22/2008

this one is awsome..must try!

Hairie
02/21/2008

Great tutorial!
Thanks!
DS
02/19/2008

A great tutorial, and very easy to follow. It never ceases to amaze me, what can be
achieved in PhotoShop. Thanks.
johno
02/18/2008

that's awesome.. I really want to learn how to do stuff like that in the Gimp (too poor
to get Adobe Photoshop). Where might i find how to do crazy awesome stuff in the
dis-FUNK- Gimp?? Do you know?
tional
02/18/2008

wow................its Amazing!very nice.... THANKS!

karu
 02/18/2008

hey thank you for the info

was very useful:)
penny stocks
02/17/2008

Simply amazing, putting to use the most standard of tools to create amazing
visuals... nice.
Brad
02/13/2008

It looks really nice, thanks for posting this up. :]

kevin.
02/12/2008

Hello!
Im a graphic designer, I live in Azores (Portugal) and I discover your page in the
JAIME SERRA "GOOD TUTORIALS".
02/12/2008
Can you tell me what is the font/typeface that you use in the logo
"ABDUZEEDO"???
t seems to me very nice and it has a very contemporary design (I think), so... can
you tell me its name.
Can you send me this font(if possible), .ttf or .suit!?? Please!??

I will be very grateful if you take a few seconds for me!

Jimmy
 Thanks so much!
Iv been workin with photoshop a few years now and its so great to diskover new
Ruth things! So thank you again for this beutifull tut.
02/09/2008

reminds me of the "Flaming Homer"

bratwurst
02/08/2008

it is amazing work, I like it soooooooooo much !!!

Yasir Assaf
02/06/2008

nice Awesome effect.thanks sir

senthil
02/06/2008

Nice one... thx

Rahill
02/05/2008

Very nice, thanks so much!

Ffanatic
02/05/2008
 hello is this corel photo paint x3

unnamed
02/05/2008

Pepykvz
02/04/2008

Hey... very interestin work! I want to be a graphic designer and i find this tutorials
very useful... (Im learnin english too... so... please dont look at the mistakes in this
comment) hehehe... if anyone wants to share with me some recomendations and
cool pictures add me pepicus_073@hotmail.com .
Im from mexico by the way... so... if u are interested in come here... I can give you
some info.
Peace!

First, thank you all for the comments.

abduzeedo Now, about the color dodge question, if you want to have the same outcome on a
02/04/2008 single layer you will have to fill the layer with black first and then change the blend
mode to color dodge. It will work exactly as if the layer was inside a group.

I will try to write a tutorial about Color Dodge, I really like it...

Your great, same with your work! Love it all. I just wish you had more tutorials
beacuse thier some of the best quality on the internet!
Me
02/04/2008
 I like this effect, well done. Just one question, why color dodge has a different
outcome on a group of layers than on a single layer?
Homunculus
01/31/2008

swapnil
01/31/2008

hi i just love ur tut. man

i did this using ur tut.

http://swaprulez.deviantart.com/art/wavy-lights-76076894

nice stuff. well done

aram
01/30/2008

Excellent tutorial, thanks! I will give it a try. You also have a very nice blog and I will
subscribe now so I dont miss anything.
Jane G.
01/29/2008

WoW. This is so power full

AmirFarbod I Love this

Designer
01/28/2008
 sending subliminal messages? well anyways nice tutorial! thanks!

trendsettr
01/27/2008

A fine work you have here...thanks for posting.

The Pickled The Pickled Jester

Jester
01/26/2008

after effects kullanarak bu calismayi nasil hareketlendiririz acaba? cok guzel bir
calisma tebrikler...
taha
01/25/2008

Very Very nice

Paridhi.Mp
01/25/2008

it's not bad,if you want to see more tutorials. then see "www.tutorialoutpost.com"

Shoaib
01/24/2008

what is the site from which you got that coffee cup pic??
ive been looking for a site like that for a while.
Anonymous
01/20/2008
 superb!!
This is a knowledge i've been searching for.
adrianix Thanks dude.
01/19/2008
Keep making masterpieces!!

Awesome job! The addition of the PDF download so you can save the tutorial for
future reference ears you a "Hero of the Graphics Union" medal....or something
Otterkins2 equally valuable I'm sure!!!
01/17/2008

the efficets looks cool ^^ , nice job

Anonymous
01/17/2008

absolutely wonderful tutorial!

Anonymous
01/16/2008

Wow this is brilliant! I always wondered how to get lighting like that, now I know! :D
Thanks a bunch
Anonymous
01/16/2008

thanks for the tutorials :p

Anonymous
01/16/2008 i really enjoy that, and very useful for me to learn PSd more advance,,

by the way i don't understand in this tutorial, why u use texture overlay to?
and,, can we change with grads tool instead using gradien overlay..

resun thanks :)
01/15/2008

simple but useful

How the hell did you add color to the Ellipse tool with??!?!?!

JS
01/15/2008

O excellent, just excellent !

Umer Tahir
01/14/2008

Thank you for this - it was not only helpful but also fun. Thanks again.

Brgtt
01/12/2008

i dont understand a fucking thing about this :@

Anonymous
01/11/2008
 Esta muy bueno, Gracias en espaol!!!!

Manuel
01/11/2008

wow realy awesome. great job ;)

wolfman
01/11/2008

A great classical effect......

Ashfaq Rana
01/11/2008

Wow.. awesome work man.. I wish I had that much skill... haha happy new years
btw!
Soca
01/11/2008

Very very nice tutorial.. Thaks :)(:

St.ONe
01/11/2008

Question for you. How are you adding the clouds? When I use the lasso tool and
select the area then go to filter - render, clouds is greyed out. Fibers and Lens flare
Anonymous is selctable but when I try to use them it says it can't because the selected area is
01/11/2008
 empty. Please help

Anonymous Question for you. How are you adding the clouds? When I use the lasso tool and
01/11/2008 select the area then go to filter

i will ask about the fonts that you used pleased ... could you tell us?

Anonymous
01/11/2008

man you put the PSD man ... you did it ... you really wanna help people and you are
a great teacher please add me on your MSN will be a pleasure for me ... really
add thanks ... and continue helpng us =)
01/11/2008

Man ... U put the PSD ... my god ... of this ... great effect ? ... great itf obviously
seems that you wanna help man really thanks for the PSD i love it really really
Oh my god ... thanks .. and by the way ... you are a great grapchic designer feel free to add my
01/11/2008
MSN ... that will be a gift for me thanks

This was a amazing tutorial, thank you for posting it!

Mr. Buns
01/10/2008
 Very cool. Beautiful style. Thanks for showing the workflow, it's invaluable. Keep up
the great work. Happy New Year!
StudioSamurai
01/10/2008

laba
01/09/2008

Very easy and very nice

Thanks for share ! thank you for you and happy new year ;-)

Zeb
01/09/2008

very nice!!
awesome!
oren thank you for sharing this wonderfull trick!
01/09/2008

Verry nice tutorial and well explained :-)

Benny
01/08/2008

Yes yes yes!!! I'm the one that asked for the tutorial.. Actually i was thinking that
you made the icon but that's not important!!!
giackop
 01/08/2008
Thank You so much!! Yuo are great!!

Arnaud
01/08/2008

Post New Comment

Your name: * Anonymous

E-mail: *
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Homepage:

Comment: *
SAVE PREVIEW
Advertise Here
TUTORIALS
Reader Tutorial: Illustrating a
Camaro 2010 by Julio Leite

Reader Tutorial: Aurora

Borealis Wallpaper in
Photoshop

Video Tutorial: The No BS

Retouching

Photoshop Quick Tips #11:

Creating Glow Lines

Photoshop Quick Tips #10:

Using Pattern Overlay

Creating an amazing Palm

Pre icon on Fireworks

Sparkling Hot Girl in

Pixelmator

Meat Text Effect in

Photoshop
more

Creative Photoshop Wkshop

Author of "Photoshop Darkroom"
Leads weekend workshop 7/18-7/19
www.digitalfieldguide.com/workshop

Learn Adobe Photoshop

Learn Photoshop From DVD Tutorials
Free Online Sample Videos. Buy Now!
www.MasterPhotoDVD.com

WALLPAPERS
FLICKR GROUP

Participate! Join the Abduzeedos' flickr

group.

FOLLOW US
Twitter

Full post

Short Version

Email

Tutorials
HOSTED BY
Home Interviews Tutorials Wallpapers About Us Contact Us Blog Flux Directory Back
and BlogCatalog
to the Top