Photoshop Tutorials > Effects & Objects

Painting Lightning

Here is an example of what we will be making.


Click here to get the photo I used.

1. Make a new doccument or open your image.
 a. Make a new layer and title it Lightning.
 b. Select the brush tool . Set it to 1 pixel soft. (You may need a larger brush size depending on the size of your image). Set the opacity to 20%.
 c. Zoom in. Starting from the top, paint a jumpy line downward. Try not to over due it, you want the lines to be some what straight, but still jagged.
 Screen Shot
This will be the trunk, or main branch of the lightning. Be sure to have plenty of curves and places to branch out from.

2. Branching out and brightening.
 a. Starting from the curves, continue painting downward and outward.
 Screen Shot
 b. Change your brush size to 3 pixels, or slightly larger than the original. Paint over all of the branches.
 Screen Shot
 c. Select your 1 pixel brush again. Paint over all of the branches once more, but this time branch off from all of the branches and continue to paint passed the ends of the original branches. You can reconnect the new smaller branches back to the main branches if you want.
 Screen Shot
 d. Repeat step 2c.

3. Blending mode and atmospheric glow.
 a. Open the blending options for the Lightning layer. Set it to Overlay.
 Screen Shot
 b. Duplicate the Lightning layer, title it Lightning 2.
 c. Make a new layer and title it Glow. Set the blending mode to Overlay.
 Screen Shot
 d. Select the brush tool again. Set it to 100 pixel soft. (Again, size may change depending on your image size). Keep the opacity at 20%.
 e. Paint over the lightning, and above them in the clouds.
 Screen Shot

4. Reflection.
 a. In the image I used, there was a lake. Obviously there would be a reflection of the lightning in the lake. Make a new layer and title it Reflection.
 b. Select the brush tool once more. Keep the opacity at 20%.
 c. Paint a small area under the lightning, just one stroke. It shouldn't over power the rest.
 Screen Shot

5. File > Save...

Finished! Yeah, thats all. I promise.

Click the link below to download the Photoshop file for this tutorial.
Painting Lightning PSD