Lighting Effects - The Photoshop: Professional Retouching and Compositing Tips, Tricks, and Techniques - page 185

Figure 3.23 The final retouched image, showing the gradient light effect added to
match the lighting in the scene.
Light Beams
On sunny days I love it when beams of light break through the clouds, and this was an
effect I really wanted to create and add into my pictures.
It's actually very simple to replicate with Photoshop, but it can be made to look even more
realistic when it's added to a scene that has a bright area within the clouds, as this will al-
ways be where the beams appear from.
The best way to learn how to create this effect realistically is by getting out, observing, and
taking plenty of reference photographs.
1. With the image file open, choose Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient, rename the
layer Light Beams and click OK ( Figure 3.24 ) .