How do I add glow behind a head?

[MrKerner]

Hello,

(only meant to post one image - four have uploaded for some reason)

This is my first question on this forum. : )

I wanted to create a white glow behind the head instead of the blue glow. I wondered if any of you guys on here would be able to help me know how to best achieve this : )

J

There you are, I deleted the extra images!

 

[ibclare]

Yep. If the head is on a separate layer, go to fx at the bottom of layer panel. Did you make the glow blue or did it come like that. If you added the effect, just click on the color block in the outer glow window, pick the white and that's it. Be sure to play with the sliders to get it the shape, distance and size you want. The way to do that is to play with all the options and move the sliders into different places, playing the distance and size against each other. Experiment, play. That's what PS is all about and that's how you learn what it can do.

 

[MrKerner]

Yep. If the head is on a separate layer, go to fx at the bottom of layer panel. Did you make the glow blue or did it come like that. If you added the effect, just click on the color block in the outer glow window, pick the white and that's it. Be sure to play with the sliders to get it the shape, distance and size you want. The way to do that is to play with all the options and move the sliders into different places, playing the distance and size against each other. Experiment, play. That's what PS is all about and that's how you learn what it can do.

Hi Clare! Thanks for your reply.

The whole image was one layer :/ What I have done is separate the head+hair part of the image and then drag that to a new layer and add glow behind it that way and then place back on the original layer. Is that the best way to do it?

The issue with that is it was not possible to include all the mini hairs sticking out. Is this something to sacrifice or is there a way to select each hair sticking out?

J

 

[ibclare]

Yes, just make the selection and create a new layer by copy rather than cut. Make your glow and the bottom layer which includes his hair should still show its outer hairs. It should be OK to merge, but I would suggest a copy merge. There are a couple ways to do this. I prefer to make a new layer and keep the old ones. I use the keyboard short cut: shift + ctl/cmd + alt/opt then hit your e key.

 

[MrKerner]

Hello,

This is the added glow effect I did. I couldn't get all the hairs and I wondered if this is the best that can be achieved?

 

[ibclare]

Please post your psd or post each layer and let us see what is going on. We will be better able to see what you are doing and give suggestions as to what you might try next.

 

[ALB68]

Here is an alternate method that you can experiment with.
Instead of selecting the subjects head as you have been doing, grab the Magic Wand tool, with contiguous unchecked. Touch the existing blue glow. It will now indicate that it is selected. Set your foreground color to white. With the blue selected, enter Alt/Backspace. That will fill your selection with white. Now, enter Ctrl J. That will make a new layer from the filled selection. Now, apply the glow effect to this layer. Change your blend mode to Color Dodge. I used the Spot healing tool, set to Screen Mode and Content aware to touch up the glow area. This gives a result that is a little better than your method I think.

 

[chrisdesign]

I think a Glow should be very soft.

1. I made a quick selection of the head, softened the selection and put the head on a new layer.
2. On a new layer I drew a large circle, filled it with a light blue color and put it under the head layer, added some Gaussian blur.

 

[MrKerner]

@chrisdesign Hi! The version you have made look excellent and simplistic approach too. What did you make the quick selection with? It lookalike you have included a lot of the extra hairs or do they just show behind the glow?

@ALB68 Hello, Interesting different approach to the glow effect. It's quite a strong glow with that version compared to the soft glow. It perhaps look a bit too strong and could be softer though.

@ibclare How do I attach a PSD file to here? The image is all one layer.

Thank you to all three of you for helping me with this.

 

[ALB68]

@chrisdesign Hi! The version you have made look excellent and simplistic approach too. What did you make the quick selection with? It lookalike you have included a lot of the extra hairs or do they just show behind the glow?

@ALB68 Hello, Interesting different approach to the glow effect. It's quite a strong glow with that version compared to the soft glow. It perhaps look a bit too strong and could be softer though.

@ibclare How do I attach a PSD file to here? The image is all one layer.

Thank you to all three of you for helping me with this.

Mr Kerner,
Yes, Chris's version is excellent. You have the benefit of a professional there. I tried his method with a little bit of a different approach and got a pleasing result also.
There is a tool that is called the Quickmask. First of all you need to have your foreground and background colors set to default (black and white). Then, simply enter Q. That activates it. Then with the Brush tool you can paint the mask on. (be sure your brush is set to 100% opacity). Start painting with black, as you paint, the mask your applying will be red. (you can take areas away by painting with white over the red). When finished enter Q again and the familiar marching ants will show the defined mask. Chris may have used another method but I thought this would be something you could use.

I just intended that as an experiment. Just so you can see other options.

PSD files do not display in this forum. You can attach them as normal but they won't show the content.

 

[ALB68]

Here is the one I came up with using a bit of a variation in Chris's method. I used the elliptical marquee to make the circle in Layer 3. I used Ctrl T to resize that layer so that is was completely behind the image's borders. I filled the selection with white. Then I applied the outer glow effect to that layer, adjusting the size and spread so that it extended beyond the edge of the head. Note that Chris has layer masks on both layers and has the opacity set at 65% on the lower layer.

 

[MrKerner]

ALB68 Ahh, the Quickmask tool is amazing. That helps a lot, thank you for mentioning this as I was not aware this could pick up on the details. Your version looks pretty cool.
Is there a way to set the foreground and background colors set to default (black and white) with any buttons or do I ahem to change them manually?

Here is my version so far. I used the Gaussian blur. I have noticed that both you and chrisdesign have layer masks on both layers, however I don't seem to. Why do yours have the layer masks and mine not?

 

[MikeMc]

when you make your selection, output it to a mask

 

[ALB68]

Because you didn't add them. But what you did looks good.
Just enter D to go back to the default colors. When working with the colors, if you need to go from foreground or background colors quickly, just enter X.

 

[chrisdesign]

Hi MrKerner
I painted on the layer masks to soften the contours around the head, to let some hair shine through. It is not much, and you can hardly see it on my screenshot, though it really made a difference.
BTW you achieved a very good result yourself.

 

[ALB68]

Here is some more info on layer masks. They are fantastic,,learn to use them.
http://www.wikihow.com/Add-a-Layer-Mask-in-Photoshop

 

[ibclare]

I may make a quick selection but using the quick mask or a layer mask still depends on the accuracy of your "painting" and in my case that assumes my hands are not shaking!

When I have a complicated selection to make and I want it to be as near to perfect as it can be, I use the pen tool. It has the best precision and ease of moving points around. I zoom in when I am done and move the points around as necessary.

It takes practice, but is well worth the work.

If I want to make a quick selection of a solid color, or the quality doesn't need to be perfect, my preference is the quick selection tool. I may use the magic wand, but usually I like the quick selection. Then if I want more control, I'll refine the selection or the layer mask and make adjustments then.