Star Field

Ever wondered how to make a out in space scene ? Well then this tutorial will show you exactly how to do so. It is very easy to do and takes very little time while giving you professional looking star field

Step: 1

First start off with a new canvas size 500 X 500 and Fill it with black

Step: 2

Then make a new layer call it "Small stars"

Step: 3

Now got to Filters > Noise > Add noise and use these settings

Step: 4

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and use these settings

Brightness : -30

Contrast : 75

Step: 5

Now you should have something like this

Click to enlarge

Step: 6

Now duplicate the layer you called "Small stars" and name it "Large stars"

Step: 7

Next the large stars layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and use these settings

Brightness : -100

Contrast : 50

Step: 8

Now just change the blending mode of the large stars to linear dodge and Hit Ctrl + T and stretch the layer

Step: 9

Now press Ctrl + I to invert then hit Ctrl + L to bring up the levels dialog and use these settings

Step: 10

Now hit Ctrl + I to invert back and press Ctrl + T to resize it back but don't press enter
yet rotate the layer 180°

Step: 11

Now you should have something like this

Click to enlarge

Step: 12

Now erase parts of the 2 layers be as random as possible and then merge down

Step: 13

Now grab the clone tool and start filling in the empty spots but not to much. There is no wrong eraser brush size, although you'll want one with a crisp edge and nothing smaller than about 10px

Step: 14

This is where you make your clusters and dark spaces come alive. Try using the clone brush both in normal mode, or in "screen" mode (you can change the modes in the options bar across the top of your screen), which will add the stars you clone instead of merely replacing the underlying canvas. This will also bring out some of the smaller, dimmer stars that you never really see, giving you a much broader range of stars (which is always a good thing!)

Step: 15

Next duplicate your layer again an call it "Star glow"

Step: 16

Go up to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Blur with a radius of about 6 to 8

Step: 17

Change the mode of the star glow layer to Linear Dodge then Hit ctrl +B to bring up the Color Balance dialogue box (also found under Image > Adjustments > Color Balance)

Step: 18

Finally you should have something like this. Pretty cool eh ?

Click to enlarge

Author's Notes

You can always play around with different settings to get different effects in your star field. Some of the items I've added include the following

Lens Flare Stars

Create a new layer and fill it entirely with black. Set the layer mode to Linear Dodge (this is the best mode, screen just doesn't cut it sometimes). Render a lens flare (Filter > Render > Lens Flare). Duplicate the layer and resize as needed to create dynamic star clusters in the foreground. (You'll need a flare layer for every single star you want to create.)

Space Dust

Grab a big fuzzy brush (size is your call) and add a texture to it.. Create a new layer above your star layer(s) and set the mode to Linear Dodge or Screen. Start brushing on dust with a color of your choosing (a transparent brush of 10% opacity works well here, I used white as color). Sometimes it works well to put a lot of textured color strokes down and then erase the excess away until you've got what you want.

Space color

Create a new layer under everything, fill it with a gradient ( black-dark blue) then set the blending option of all the other layers to linear dodge

Here is what I made

Click to enlarge