The original image. The final rainbow effect.

Transcription

1 ADD A realistic rainbow to a photo In this Photoshop photo effects tutorial, we re going to learn how to easily add a rainbow, even a double rainbow, to a photo. Of course, as with most photo effects, it helps if you start with the right type of image. In this case, a photo taken outdoors is a good place to start. If it happens to be a landscape photo taken after a rain storm, even better. Here s the photo I ll be starting with: The original image. And here s the same image with a double rainbow added, which is the effect we re after: The final rainbow effect. Let s get started! Step 1: Add A New Layer Above The Background Layer With the image open in Photoshop, if we look over in the Layers palette, we can see that we currently have one layer, the Background layer, which contains our image: The Layers palette showing the Background layer. The first thing we need to do is add a new blank layer above the Background layer. To do that, click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette: Click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. 1

2 Photoshop will add a new blank layer above the Background layer and will name it Layer 1. Double-click directly on the name of the layer and rename it to Rainbow, since we ll be using this layer to add our rainbow: Double-click on the new layer s name and rename it Rainbow. Step 2: Select The Rainbow Gradient You may not know it, but Photoshop comes with a ready-made rainbow for us to use, but it s not available by default. We need to load it manually. To do that, first grab your Gradient tool from the Tools palette, or press G on your keyboard to quickly select it: Select the Gradient tool from the Tools palette or press G for the keyboard shortcut. Then, with the Gradient tool selected, click on the Gradient Picker in the Options Bar at the top of the screen: Click on the Gradient Picker in the Options Bar. This brings up Photoshop s Gradient Editor. We re going to select the rainbow gradient, or at least, we will once we ve loaded it. By default, the rainbow gradient isn t in the list, but no worries. Loading it is easy. Simply click on the right-pointing arrow in the top right of the Gradient Editor: Click the right-pointing arrow in the top right of the Gradient Editor. Then click on the Special Effects gradients near the bottom of the list that appears to load them: Select the Special Effects gradients from the list. Photoshop will ask you if you want to replace the original gradients with the Special Effects gradients or simply append them to the bottom of the list. Click Append so you ll still have the original gradients available, and the new Special Effects ones will be added below them: Click Append to add the new Special Effects gradients in with the original gradients. With the new Special Effects gradients added, the one we want - Russell s Rainbow - is the last one at the bottom. If you have your Tool Tips enabled in Photoshop s Preferences, you ll see the name Russell s Rainbow appear if you hover your mouse over the gradient for a second or two. Click on it to select it (next page): 2

3 In case you re wondering, Russell is Russell Brown, the Senior Creative Director at Adobe and all around crazy guy. Click on Russell s Rainbow to select it. Step 3: Select Radial Gradient From The Options Bar Obviously, we want our rainbow to appear as an arc, not as a straight line, so with the Gradient tool still selected, go back up to the Options Bar at the top of the screen and click on the Radial Gradient option: Click the Radial Gradient option in the Options Bar. Step 4: Drag Out A Rainbow With The Gradient Tool With the Gradient tool in hand, the Rainbow layer selected in the Layers palette, and the Russell s Rainbow gradient loaded and ready, I m going to create my initial rainbow by simply dragging out a gradient. I want my rainbow to appear as if it s touching the ground behind the smaller group of trees on the left of my photo and then arching high above the larger tree on the right. To do that, I m going to position my mouse almost to the right edge of the image down near the bottom, in line horizontally with the bottom of the trees on the left, and then I m going to click and drag all the way across the image to a point just beyond the left of the trees: Dragging out a radial rainbow gradient from right to left in the image. Hold your Shift key down as you drag to constrain your gradient horizontally. When I release my mouse button, Photoshop draws my rainbow gradient for me: Doesn t look very realistic yet, but we re not done yet. Release your mouse button and Photoshop adds the rainbow gradient to the image. 3

4 Step 5: Change The Blend Mode Of The Rainbow Layer To Screen With the Rainbow layer still selected, go up to the Layer Blend Mode options in the top left of the Layers palette, click on the down-pointing arrow beside the word Normal, and change the blend mode to Screen by selecting it from the list that appears: Change the blend mode of the Rainbow layer to Screen. Your rainbow should now look something like this: The rainbow after changing its blend mode to Screen. Step 6: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter To The Rainbow We re going to make the rainbow look more realistic now by blurring it quite a bit using Photoshop s Gaussian Blur filter. To do that, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Blur, and then select Gaussian Blur. This brings up the Gaussian Blur dialog box: Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to bring up the Gaussian Blur dialog box. Drag the slider bar at the bottom of the Gaussian Blur dialog box to the right to increase the amount of blur being applied to the rainbow, and keep an eye on your image as you drag so you can see a preview of what s happening. Continue dragging to the right until your rainbow looks more realistic. Depending on the size of your image (the pixel dimensions), you may want to set the blur Radius as high as pixels. I m using a low resolution image for this tutorial, so for me, a radius value of around 25 pixels works well. Click OK when you re done to exit out of the Gaussian Blur dialog box. Here s my image after applying the Gaussian Blur filter to my rainbow: The rainbow now looks more realistic after applying the Gaussian Blur filter. 4

5 Step 7: Add A Layer Mask To The Rainbow Layer With the Rainbow layer still selected, click on the Add A Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette: Click the Add A Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. This adds a layer mask thumbnail, filled with white, to the right of the Rainbow layer contents thumbnail in the Layers palette: The layer mask itself is now currently selected, which you can tell by the white highlight box around its thumbnail. The layer mask thumbnail appears in the Layers palette. Step 8: Choose The Black-To-White Gradient Press D on your keyboard, which will set your Foreground color to white and your Background color to black, then press X to swap them. Grab the Gradient tool once again from the Tools palette if it s not still selected and then click again on the Gradient Picker in the Options Bar: With the Gradient tool selected, click once again on the Gradient Picker in the Options Bar. This will bring the Gradient Editor back up. Click on the gradient swatch in the top left corner, the Foreground to Background gradient, to select it: Select the Foreground to Background gradient in the Gradient Editor, top left corner. Step 9: Choose Linear Gradient From The Options Bar Go back up to the Options Bar and this time, click on the Linear Gradient option: Select the Linear Gradient option in the Options Bar. Step 10: Drag A Black-To-White Gradient From The Base Of The Rainbow To The Top Of The Image A real rainbow would normally appear to get brighter as it reaches higher into the sky, so we re going to give our Photoshopped rainbow that same effect by dragging a black-to-white gradient from the base of the rainbow (the point where it appears to touch the ground) to the top of the image. By doing this, we ll also be cutting off the rainbow at the baseline so none of it that s below the base remains in the image. To do that, with my Gradient tool selected, I m going to click my mouse somewhere along the bottom of the trees on the left, which is where I want my rainbow to touch the 5

6 ground, and then I ll hold down my Shift key and drag straight up to the top of the image. Holding down Shift forces me to drag straight up, preventing me from accidentally dragging a little to the left or right: Drag a black-to-white gradient from the base of the rainbow to the top of the image. When I release my mouse button, Photoshop draws my black-to-white gradient on the layer mask, and my rainbow now appears to start near the bottom of the trees on the left and gets brighter as it reaches higher into the sky: The rainbow now appears to start near the bottom of the trees on the left and get brighter as it gets higher in the sky. Step 11: Duplicate The Rainbow Layer To Increase Intensity If you want to increase the intensity of your rainbow, which I do in this case, simply press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate the layer. You ll probably find the rainbow is too intense at this point, so reduce its intensity by going up to the Opacity option in the top right of the Layers palette and lowering the opacity of the duplicate layer. I m going to lower mine to about 70%: Press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate the rainbow layer, then lower the duplicate layer s opacity as needed. Here s my image after duplicating my rainbow layer and then lowering the opacity of the duplicate layer: The rainbow now appears brighter. 6

7 Step 12: Duplicate The Rainbow Layer Once Again And Move It To The Left The rainbow is looking good at this point, but I want to add a double rainbow effect. To do that, I m going to press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) once again to create another duplicate of the rainbow, so I now have three rainbow layers in the Layers palette: Press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to create another duplicate of the rainbow layer. Step 13: Move The New Copy Of The Rainbow Layer To The Left Grab your Move tool from the Tools palette, or press M to quickly select it: Select the Move tool from the Tools palette or press M for the keyboard shortcut. Then simply click anywhere inside the Document Window and drag the new copy of the rainbow layer to the left or right to create a double rainbow. Hold down Shift as you drag to make sure you re dragging horizontally. I m going to drag mine over to the left: Create a double rainbow by dragging the new copy of the rainbow layer to either side of the original rainbow. Step 14: Re-apply The Gaussian Blur Filter To The Second Rainbow We don t want this second rainbow to be as intense as the original, so press Ctrl+F (Win) / Command+F to quickly reapply the Gaussian Blur filter using the same Radius value we used previously. You may want to press Ctrl+F (Win) / Command+F (Mac) a second time to lower its intensity even further. I only need to apply the filter once with my image. Here s my image after lowering the intensity of the second rainbow. It s less intense but still noticeable in the corner of the photo: The second rainbow is now less intense but still noticeable in the corner. You can also change the opacity value of the second rainbow in the top right of the Layers palette to make further adjustments to its intensity. 7

8 Step 15: Group The Two Original Rainbow Layers The image looks good at this point, except for one thing. I want the main rainbow to appear to be behind the trees, and right now, even though it s hard to tell with this image, the rainbow is really appearing in front of the trees. It could be more noticeable with the image you re working on, so for the sake of completion, let s see how to fix this problem. First, select one of the two original rainbow layers in the Layers palette, then Shift-click on the second one to select both of them at once: Select both of the original rainbow layers at once in the Layers palette. Then press Ctrl+G (Win) / Command+G (Mac) to place the two layers into a group. You ll see a folder appear in the Layers palette where the two layers were: If you twirl open the group by clicking on the right-pointing triangle to the left of the folder icon, you ll see both layers inside the group. Click the triangle again to close the group. Press Ctrl+G (Win) / Command+G (Mac) to place both layers into a layer group. Step 16: Add A Layer Mask To The Group You can add a layer mask to a group the same way you add one to a layer. With the group selected, simply click on the Add A Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and a layer mask thumbnail will appear to the right of the group s folder icon: Click on the Add A Layer Mask icon to add a mask to the layer group in the same way you d add one to a normal layer. Step 17: Paint With Black Over Any Part Of The Rainbow You Want Hidden Grab your Brush tool from the Tools palette, or press B to quickly select it: Select the Brush tool from the Tools palette or press B for the keyboard shortcut. Then with a small, soft-edged brush and black still as your foreground color, paint over anything you want the rainbow to be hidden behind. In my case, I m going to paint over the trees just to make sure that no part of the rainbow is visible in front of them. As I said, it s not that much of an issue with this particular image since the rainbow is barely visible in front of the trees, but it may be more of a problem with other images. Because I m painting with black on the layer group s mask, both of the original rainbow layers inside the group will be hidden from view in any areas I paint over (next page): 8

9 Paint with black over any areas where the rainbow should not be visible. Once you ve finished painting on the mask, you re done! Here s my original image once again without the rainbow for comparison: The original image once again. And here, after masking away any visible rainbow in front of the trees, is my final result: The final result. And there we have it! For more Adobe Photoshop tutorials, visit Photoshop 9