Photoshop User - USA (2020-02)

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> PHOTOSHOP USER

>^ FEBRUARY 2020

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WARMING UP THE LIGHT

There are many ways to bring warmth into those rays of light.

For a simple, quick solution, check the Colorize option near

the bottom of the Hue/Saturation Properties panel. When this

is activated, it applies a single hue value over any pixel’s origi-

nal color, constrained within that masked/selected area. If you

move the Hue slider, you can align it to a nice warm yellow

color (here, it’s moved to 48 and the Saturation to 47).

see the dramatic yellow being pushed into those rays

of light.

NESTING MASKS FOR

BETTER BLENDED RESULTS

To make this image look a little less modified by Photoshop,

we’ll add another mask to blend it into the Hue/Saturation

effect; however, let’s do it in a way that doesn’t damage the

integrity of the original mask that was created when select-

ing the rays of light.

Make sure the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer is

selected in the Layers panel. Now, hold down the Shift

key and click the Create a New Group icon at the bottom

of the Layers panel. Note: Because you’re holding down

the Shift key, this creates a layer group and, at the same

time, adds any selected layers into that group. Another

way to do this is to select the layer(s) and press Com-

mand-G (PC: Ctrl-G).

With your layer group selected, click the Add Layer

Mask icon (circle in a square) at the bottom of the Layers

panel to add a layer mask to your layer group. Here’s how

the Layers panel now looks.

Next, back in the Layers panel, change the blend mode

for the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from Normal

to Overlay, which will help colorize pixels while still

allowing brighter values on the source image layer to

pass through, for a better blending of the Colorize

effect. In the image produced (shown here), you can

Now you have a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer that’s

colorizing the rays of light through its mask and that’s also

nested inside the layer group with its own mask. Hierarchy

here dictates that the group’s mask will impact the appear-

ance of the layers first, and then the masks of any layers

within the group will impact the image.

FINISHING TOUCHES

To finish the effect, press D on your keyboard, which resets

your Foreground and Background colors to their default

black and white. Your layer group’s mask should still be

selected and targeted, indicated by the little corner frames

around the mask thumbnail.