Here is a nice little tutorial to show you how to electrify your images with lightning in Photoshop.
On a new layer, create a black to white gradient, diagonally from the top left, to the bottom right.
Filters>Render>Differance Clouds
Now invert the image. Cmd/Ctrl+I
You can start to see the lightning
Adjust levels to bring out the lightning, Cmd/Ctrl+L.
In the levels box: slide the black arrow to the right and the middle one to the right too, until it looks nice and clean
Now to add a bit of color:
Go to Hue/Saturation Cmd/Ctrl+U Click the colorize box and slide the Hue till you like the color.
Now to add it to your image:
Just place the lightning on a layer above your image and change the layer blending mode to "screen". Here I duplicated the lightning layer 2x and rotated it a little.
About the Author:
Colin Smith is a best-selling author, trainer, and award-winning new-media designer
who has caused a stir in the design community with his stunning
photorealistic illustrations composed entirely in Photoshop. He is
founder of the world's most popular Photoshop resource site, PhotoshopCAFE.com, which boasts more than two million visitors.
With over 10 years of experience in the design industry, Colin was formerly Senior Editor and Art Director for VOICE magazine. He is a regular columnist for Photoshop User magazine, PlanetPhotoshop.com, and the official site of the National Association for Photoshop Professionals. He also contributes to a number of other graphic art publications and Web sites, such as Mac Design magazine, Web Designer magazine and Computer Arts Magazine.
Colin's graphic design work has been recognized with numerous awards,
including the Guru awards at Photoshop World 2001 and 2002, for his
work in both Illustration and Web Design. He's authored or co-authored
more than ten books on Photoshop, including the best-selling How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2003) and award-winning Photoshop Most Wanted: Effects and Design Tips (A Press/Friends Of Ed, 2002). Colin is also creator of the Photoshop Secrets Video training series (PhotoshopCD.com).
He is in high demand across the United States as a lecturer, presenting
his Photoshop techniques to Web designers and other graphics
professionals across the nation.
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