Make a quick candle lighting manipulation in Photoshop

Mastering Photoshop filters and lighting options takes time and practice. It can be difficult getting started, but once you know where everything is, you can take the time to fully explore your options. In this tutorial, we're going to practice using filters and lighting by making a candle composition in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

The two files I'll be working with are these two free stock photos from MorgueFile:

Candle

Match

Start off by opening Photoshop and the file you want to work with. Once Photoshop opens, click File then Open and navigate to the folder where you've saved your candle photo. If the file is too big or too small, adjust the size by clicking Image and then Image size, or pressing Ctrl + Alt + I. In this case, the photo is too big, so I have reduced the size to 1000 px wide (which is still fairly big).



Next, open the match photo. Click on the magic wand tool on the Tools panel on the left hand side of the workspace. Along the top bar, you'll see options for the tool. Make sure you set the tolerance higher (I've set it to 70). Changing the tolerance to a higher number will pick up adjacent pixels that are less similar to the color you're clicked; in this case, it gives a more accurate selection.



Now click on Refine Edge along the top bar and change the Feather value to a higher number. Feathering means the selection edges will softly fade, so it won't appear so jagged and noticeable. I've set mine to 14.7 px to give it a soft look without taking away from the size of it too much.



Copy the selection and then switch over to the other document tab. Paste the selection into the document. You'll notice that it is bigger than the candle and has some marks along the edge. To change this, we can erase the edges, but we need to use a soft eraser brush to keep with that faded edge. Click on the eraser tool in the Tools panel and then go to the top bar. Next to the brush and the brush point preview, you'll see a black arrow. Click this and change the hardness slider to 0% and the diameter to something bigger, like 85 px.



Once you've moved the eraser over the bottom of the flame and erased the jagged edges, you need to resize it. To do this, click on Edit, then Transform, then Scale. When the bounding box appears around the flame, press Shift while pushing the box in to make it proportionally smaller.



At this point, the size is closer to correct, but it doesn't quite fit the wick. You can use the eraser tool to shorter up the edges, but it still needs to fit to the candle. To do this, we need to drag the bottom edges in, so click Edit, Transform, then Skew. The bounding box will appear around the flame. Pull the bottom edges inward. You may also need to resize it and scale it again and make it wider.



It's looking better, but the lighting is off. If you just want a quick photomanipulation, an easy way of adding a bit of glow is to use a lighting effect. To do this, click on Filter, Render, then Lighting Effects.



When the lighting effects dialogue box pops up, click on the drop down and choose Soft Omni from the list of options. This will give the candle a soft glow that originates from the center of the lighting source, which is what we want to emulate candlelight.



Grab onto the middle of the circle and drag it to be centered on the flame. You can adjust the size of the circle by tugging on the edges; make sure to leave some shadow space around it. You can also change the intensity; I've made mine 43 to keep it from being too bright.



At this point, you may decide you like it as it is. However, we're going to go a step further and experiment with Photoshop filters to see what sort of artistic effects we can create. Click on Filter and then Filter Gallery to get a live preview of the different filters. Explore your options and test different filters and settings. I settled on using the Angled Strokes filter under the Brush Strokes category.



Now we're ready to save. Click on File then Save for Web and Devices. When the dialogue box pops up, choose JPEG from the options (since it is a photograph) and navigate to the folder you want to save it in. Saving it this way will ensure that your file is optimized for web use.

And that's it! A simple, quick, and easy way to create a photomanipulation. Granted, there are ways of doing it to make it look even more realistic, but for a quick job, it works. There are so many different ways you can use lighting effects to enhance your graphic designs, and by playing with them and practicing, you'll find what works best for you.

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