An Illuminating Lighting Effect


In this lesson, we'll look at an effect that is amazing, creative, and fun. In Adobe Photoshop CS2, you can change the direction and type of the lighting in a photograph with the Lighting Effects filter (Filter > Render > Lighting Effects). You can transform a picture with flat lighting into a picture in which the subject looks as though he (or she, or it) was photographed in a spotlight or another type of light with a narrow beam. How cool is that! This effect works well for portraits and still-life photographs. Let's turn on the lights.

I took this photograph of my friend Chandler deep within the Amazon rain forest (Figure 4.23). Only kidding! I snapped this picture at Jungle World, an exhibit at New York's Bronx Zoo that recreates a jungle. I like the picture, but I knew more dramatic lighting possibilities awaited me in Photoshop. Basically, I wanted to create the effect that Chandler was in the rain forest and illuminated by light streaming through an opening in the forest's thick canopy.

Figure 4.23.

Tech info: Canon EOS 1D Mark II, Canon 28-105mm lens @ 105mm. Exposure 1/125 sec. @ f/5.6. ISO 400.


The first step was to go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. When you open the Lighting Effects dialog box, you'll see all the available creative choices, giving you limitless creative control over the effects. (Don't panic!) To make things simple for first-time visitors to Lighting Effects, I've put a few indicators on my screenshot of the dialog box (Figure 4.24). The red arrow indicates that I selected Omni as my Light Type. The larger ovals show where you control the Intensity and Exposuretwo of the most important controls in Lighting Effects. On the left side of the dialog box, the Preview window shows how the Lighting Effects will be applied to your picture. The red circles show anchor points that let you change the size of the circle in Omni light. As the size of the circle changes, so does the intensity of the Lighting Effects.

Figure 4.24.


Here you see the result of the Lighting Effects filter being applied with my personal settings (Figure 4.25). The area surrounding Chandler is darker; that's the effect I wanted. However, the area around Chandler's mouth is now washed out and overexposed. It looks like Chandler has a bad sunburnbut I cured it in a flash.

Figure 4.25.


To darken that area, I chose Edit > Fade Lighting Effects. The default Fade mode is Normal. Had I selected the Normal mode and reduced the filter's effect using the Opacity slider, I would have faded the effect for the entire imagesomething I didn't want to do. To darken only the overexposed area of Chandler's face, I chose the Darken mode, which darkened only the washed-out area of the photograph (Figure 4.26).

Figure 4.26.


When you're fading a filter, play with the different modes, along with the Opacity slider, to see their effects on your picture.

That's it! Chandler's "sunburn" has been eliminated, and the flat lighting has been replaced with lighting that's a bit more artistic (Figure 4.27).

Figure 4.27.


Spotlight is another of my favorite Lighting Effects. As you can see in this screenshot, an oval appears around Chandler in the Preview window, rather than the circle in the Omni effect (Figure 4.28). As before, you can use the anchor points to change the quality and intensity of the light, but here you can also change the direction of the light by swiveling the oval in any direction.

Figure 4.28.


After some experimentation with Lighting Effects, I found just the effect I wanted (Figure 4.29).

Figure 4.29.


Again, don't panic when you open the Lighting Effects dialog box. Take your time, put on some music, and play with this cool and creative effect. I'm sure you'll find it very illuminating.




Idea to Image in Photoshop CS2(c) Rick Sammon's Guide to Enhancing Your Digital Photographs
Idea to Image in Photoshop CS2: Rick Sammons Guide to Enhancing Your Digital Photographs
ISBN: 0321429184
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 72
Authors: Rick Sammon

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