Creating a flare effect in Photoshop involves working with the Brush options – we show you how in our Adobe Photoshop training courses.
Firstly create a new document specifying the size and resolution of the image – this will vary according to the end result. Next select the Brush tool and in the top Control panel click on the drop-down list and choose the More Options button. Then choose the Assorted Brushes Preset and Append. Any of these textures will do, for example Texture #27.
Next we open the Brush panel and select the Brush Tip Shape. Make the size 35px and the roundness 70%. Then choose the default black and white colours. Go to the Edit drop-down menu and choose Fill and Black > X. Next Switch colours and create a new layer. Press Shift to create a horizontal line about half width of the document. Next go to the Filter menu and select Blur and Motion blur with an Angle of 0 and Distance of 450 px.
Then we duplicate the layer and go to Edit, Free Transform. Press Alt to centre itand stretch it out further. To enhance the glare go to the Layers fx button and choose Bevel & Emboss. Select Structure and Style: Emboss with a Depth of 480 and Size 53. Make the Shading Angle 175 and the Altitude 20 with a Highlight of Hard Light and Colour: white. Keep the Opacity at 100 and the Shadow mode: hard light with a Colour of Light Grey and Opacity 70. Hit OK to complete the settings.
Now create a point of origin: new layer > Rectangular marquee tool > press Alt & Shift then click & drag in the middle >Edit > Fill (Shift + Backspace) > Use: 55% Grey> OK
D (default) > Filter > Render > Fibres > Variation 15 > Strength 12 > OK.
We may wish to save this effect as a brush preset: Edit > Define Brush Preset > name it Flare_brush.
Many more tips and techniques can be found at the Adobe website. And see many examples of our clients’ work on our Facebook page.
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