Thunder Effect in an Image
Tutorial in Basics, Effects, Goodies, In Photos
We will apply some thunders in an image of a dark and stormy night. In order to do so, we will use ((Gradient Tool)), ((Difference Clouds)), ((Levels)), ((Invert)), ((Hue/Saturation)), ((Brush Tool)), ((Erase Tool)), layer styles, and ((Free Transform)).
Open a new document, 500×500px, and transparent background.
Select ((Gradient Tool)), ((Lineal Gradient)) and trace a vertical gradient from black to white.
Now open ((Filter))-((Render))-((Difference Clouds)).
If you don’t like the shape of the black thunder that appears in the center of the document, press Ctrl + Alt + Z press undo and apply the filter ((Difference Clouds)) again.
Now press Ctrl + I to invert the image.
Then Ctrl + L to edit ((Levels)). Move the middle slider completely to the right and the black one almost to the middle.
Now press Ctrl + U to open the ((Hue/Saturation)). Select ((Colorize)) and enter the following values.
As you will see in the image above, there are some imperfections. In order to correct them, select ((Brush Tool)) with a soft brush and paint the black circle that appears below the thunder.
See the correction in the following image.
Open the the image you will add the thunders to. You can download it by clicking HERE.
Copy (Ctrl + C) and paste (Ctrl + V) the ray into the image.
To the thunder layer, change the blending mode to ((Screen)).
There’s a part that appears in front of the building. In order to fix this, select ((Polygonal Lasso Tool)), and trace the the contour of a part of the building.
Standing in the thunder layer, press delete.
In the final image, I duplicated the thunder and applied some more. I used ((Free Transform)) (Ctrl + T) to deform them so that they look different.
Another imperfection is that there is smoke where the thunder begins. To eliminate the smoke, select ((Erase Tool)) with a soft brush and erase it.
This is my final result.
