Star Burst/Radiant Sun

Here's a technique for creating a star burst or radiant sun effect. You can use one of Photoshop's custom shapes or create your own.

STEP 1
Start with a new layer in a new document of the appropriate size or add a layer to your working image. In this case, we'll add a radiant sun to a black background. Select Photoshop's Custom Shape tool. In the Options Bar, open the Custom Shape palette and from the palette's menu, choose Shapes. Choose "Append" rather than "Replace."

STEP 2
You can use the 10-Point Star shape for this tutorial. For this particular example, we'll use a custom shape, created with four copies of the 10-Point Star. For instructions on combining shapes, see this tutorial.

STEP 3
In the Options Bar, set the Custom Shape tool to create a filled pixel region, rather than a shape layer or a work path. The foreground color is insignificant, since we'll replace it later. For purposes of clarity, I'll use yellow.

STEP 4
Make sure you're on an empty layer in the Layers Palette and drag the Custom Shape tool in the image. If you want the shape to retain the proportions with which it was created, hold down the Shift key while dragging.

STEP 5 (Optional)
You can modify the object with Filter> Blur> Radial Blur, set to Zoom. In this case, I used Amount: 70 and Quality: Best. (You can follow the Radial Blur with an Unsharp Mask and/or another Radial Blur.)

STEP 6
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) on the Thumbnail of the layer in the Layers Palette to make a selection. Drag a white-to-yellow radial gradient through the selection, from the center to the edge.