Weather Effects: Lightning (part 2)

Continuing on from where we left off, in this second part of the lighting weather tutorial, we'll create a bolt of electricity and add it to our sky!

• Create a lightning bolt from scratch using the Flood Fill Tool, effects and adjustments.

• Export an image as a JPG.

• Add lightning by importing, deforming, and masking an image.

• Create a reflection.

• Use layer masks and layer blend modes.

• To complete this tutorial, you must have completed Weather Effects: Lightning (part 1). You will also need the project file that you saved at the end of the tutorial.

Let's begin...

The best thing about a storm is the lightning! Let's create that now, starting with a new document.

To create a new document:

1. On the File menu, click New...

2. In the New Image dialog:

• Set the Category to Web.

• Set the Size to 800 x 600.

• Click OK.
  
  A new blank document opens.

Adding a lightning shape

Next we need to create the shape of the lightning bolt.

To draw a black & white gradient:

1. On the Tools toolbar, on the Fill flyout, click the  Gradient Fill Tool.

2. On the Context toolbar, set the gradient blend mode to Normal, the opacity to 100%, type to Linear and make sure that the color sample shows black to white.
   
   

3. Draw a short, diagonal line on the canvas to create a narrow gradient.
   
   

4. The width of your gradient is quite important. A wider gradient will produce a more random lightning bolt than a narrow one. Remember, no two lightning bolts are the same!

To add a plasma effect:

1. On the Layers tab, click  New Layer and in the dialog, accept the default name, 'Layer 2', and click OK.

2. On the Tools toolbar, on the Fill flyout, click the  Flood Fill Tool.

3. On the Color tab, set the foreground color to 50% gray (RGB 128,128,128) and then, click on the canvas to fill the layer solid gray.

4. On Layers tab, right-click on 'Layer 2' and click Convert to Filter Layer.

5. In the Effects menu, click Other > Plasma...

6. Set the Seed to 483 and the Grain to 32. Click OK to apply and exit.
   
   Your image should resemble our illustration. The next step should see the lightning begin to take shape...
   
   

7. On the Layers tab, make sure that 'Layer 2' is selected and then change the blend mode to Difference.
   
   
   
   A dark line is created along the line of the gradient.

Defining the lightning bolt shape

Now we have a basic outline shape, we can sharpen this to create our lightning bolt.

To sharpen the lightning bolt:

1. On the Adjustments tab, click Levels...
   
   A new adjustment layer is added to the Layers tab.

2. On the Adjustments tab, drag the gray, gamma point marker to the left until the lightning pattern looks relatively sharp, but not so much that the detail is lost.
   
   
   
   We used a Gamma value of 2.5.

3. If you are happy with your lightning bolt so far, right click on any layer and click Merge All. The Layers tab should now contain a single 'Background' layer.

To invert the image colors and adjust levels:

1. On the Image menu, click Adjust > Negative Image.
   
   The lightning bolt immediately looks much more realistic.
   
   

2. On the Adjustments tab, click Levels...
   
   A new adjustment layer is added to the Layers tab.

3. On the Adjustments tab, drag the black point marker to the right to remove the ‘cloud’. Stop before the lightning loses detail. We can tidy the rest up in a minute.
   
   
   
   We used a black point (first input) value of 110.

4. If you are happy, right click on any layer and click Merge All.

To remove the unwanted cloud:

1. On the Tools toolbar, click the  Paintbrush Tool and on the Brush Tip tab, select a large, soft-edged, round bush.

2. On the Color tab, set the foreground color to black.

3. Paint over the unwanted areas of cloud.
   
   

Adding glow and color

The lightning is almost ready! Let's add a glow and some color to enhance the atmosphere.

To make the lightning glow electric blue:

1. On the Layers tab, right-click the 'Background' layer and click Duplicate... Click OK to accept the default settings.

2. Right-click on the 'Background Copy' layer and click Convert to Filter Layer.

3. On the Effects menu, click Render > Diffuse Glow...

4. In the dialog:

• Increase the Blur to 30.

• Increase the Intensity to 45.
  
  

• Click OK to apply the filter and exit.

5. On the Layers tab, ensure that the 'Background Copy' layer is still selected. On the Adjustments tab, click Lens Filter...
   
   A new adjustment layer is added to the Layers tab.

6. On the Adjustments tab, select the Cool Filter 2 preset and ensure that the Preserve Lightness option is selected.
   
   Your lightning bolt is complete!
   
   

To export the lightning:

1. On the File menu, click Export Optimizer...

2. In the Export Optimizer dialog:

• Set the Format to JPEG and the Quality to 100%.

• Click Export.

3. In the Export dialog, save your file as Lightning.jpg.

We’re nearly there. All we have left to do is to add the newly created lightning bolt to our main project. On the Documents tab, you should see thumbnails for both of your open projects—if not, you'll need to open your saved project. Click the main, lightning project to display it.

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Bringing the storm to life

We have everything we need to bring our storm to life with these final steps.

To add the lightning:

1. On the Layers tab, make sure that the Lighting effects layer is selected.

2. In Windows, open an Explorer window and locate the lightning.jpg file.

3. Click and drag the lightning.jpg file into PhotoPlus and onto the image.
   
   The image opens as a new layer.
   
   

4. On the Layers tab, ensure that only the 'lightning' layer is selected then, on the Tools toolbar, click  Deform Tool.

5. Drag the handles inwards to resize the lightning bolt and rotate the layer by dragging next to a handle.
   
   

6. On the Layers tab, set the blend mode of the Lightning bolt layer to Screen.
   
   We can easily place the lightning behind the trees by using a layer mask.
   
   

7. Select the 'pagoda_template' layer. On the Select menu click Color Range...

8. In the dialog:

• Click the  Color Picker and ensure Sampled Colors is selected.

• Set the Tolerance slider to 95.

• In the Preview drop-down menu, select Overlay.
  
  

• In the main window, click the white, sky area of the image. It turns deep red to show that it is selected.
  
  

• Click OK to close the dialog.

9. On the Layers tab, click to hide the pagoda-template layer again, and then select the 'lightning' layer. Click  Add Layer Mask.
   
   Press Ctrl+D to deselect the sky area. The lightning now strikes behind the trees.
   
   
   
   Our image contains water and water reflects light. Let’s finish off the effect by adding a reflection in the water.

To create the lightning reflection:

1. On the Layers tab, right-click the 'lightning' layer and click Duplicate... In the dialog, name the layer Reflection and click OK.
   
   The new layer is created above the 'lightning' layer.

2. Click on the 'Reflection' layer mask thumbnail and then click  Delete. The mask is deleted.

3. On the Image menu, click Flip Vertically > Layer.

4. On the Tools toolbar, click the  Move Tool.

5. Drag the Reflection layer into position over the water and on the Layers tab, reduce the opacity of the layer to 27%.

6. On the Layers tab, click  Add Layer Mask.
   
   A white, reveal all, mask thumbnail is added to the 'Reflection' layer. The white bounding box shows that it is selected.

7. On the Color tab, set the foreground color to black. Using the Paintbrush Tool and a soft, round brush, paint over the unwanted areas of lightning.
   
   
   
   The reflection is complete!

That’s it! Although, to add a finishing touch we added even more lightning bolts that we created using the same method as before...

We think you’ll agree that this technique is fun and very effective. Why not try adding storms to other images? Be creative and have fun!

"Lightning Strikes Thrice"

"Church of the Damned"