Video:Adobe Photoshop Lighting Filter

Transcript:Adobe Photoshop Lighting Filter

Hi. I am Don Schechter for About.com Computing.

Today I am going to show you how to use the lighting effects filter with Adobe Photoshop CS 2. This one filter lets you produce tons of interesting lighting effects.

Choose a Picture for Photoshop Lighting Filter

First, open up Adobe Photoshop. Go to file, open and select your picture.

Use Photoshop Lighting Filter

You can get to the lighting effects filter by going to filter, render, and selecting lighting effects. As you can see there is a lot to look at and choose from. Click on the style tab and choose the type of light you want. There is everything from a flash light to a floodlight. In the preview window you can see the effect your chose will have. I'll stick with the floodlight effect. If you click on the dot in the middle of this oval you can move the light around.

Photoshop Lighting Filter Features

Under light type you can choose between directional, omni, and spotlight. In the preview window you can change both the location of the light and the direction. Clicking on the dot to change the direction can be difficult so don't give up.

With these sliders you can change the intensity and the focal width of the light. You can even change the color of the light by clicking on the white box and choosing a color.

Photoshop Lighting Filter Properties

Under Properties, there are sliders to adjust the gloss, material, exposure, and ambience.

The gloss determines how much the surface reflects light.

The material slider determines which is more reflective the light, called plastic, or the object on which the light is cast, called metallic.

The exposure increases or decreases the light, and the ambience diffuses the light as if it were combined with another light. A value of 100 uses only the light source, a value of –100 removes the light source.

You can also play with the texture tab and slider to add some unique textures.

Duplicate Photoshop Lighting Filter Effect

Finally you can duplicate a light. If you're using Windows click the alt key and drag the light in the preview window. If you're using a mac, click the option key and drag the light

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