Lightning Tutorial for Adobe® Photoshop©

The purpose of this tutorial is to teach you how to make lightning using Adobe Photoshop. This tutorial will work for Photoshop 5 or later (maybe earlier version as well, though there might be some differences). This tutorial is divided up into steps and accompanied by pictures.

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Step 1: Create a new document and select the Gradient tool.

Step 2: Make the background color white, and the foreground color black. Then start on one side and drag the tool all the way across the image.

Step 3: Go to Filters->Render->Difference Clouds.

Step 4: Go to Image->Adjust->Levels. Slide the middle slider in the top set over to the left until your lightning bolt looks as you want it (in black and white of course).


Step 5: Go to Image->Adjust and select "Invert".

Step 6: Go to Image->Adjust->Levels. Slide the middle slider in the top set over to the right until you have removed enough the "cloud" surrounding your lightning bolt.


Step 7: Go to Image->Adjust->Hue/Saturation. Make sure the "Preview" box in the bottom right hand corner is checked, and, more importantly, the "Colorize" box. Then adjust the sliders while watching your lightning bolt until you achieve the look you want.



That's it! Your end product should be a nicely colored lightning bolt, ready for whatever use you want.



Most Recent Update: 11/27/03
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