STEP BY STEPhttp://www.digitalcameraworld.com MARCH 2021 DIGITAL CAMERA^95
1
Create a new file
Go to File > New and create a document of 2,500 x 2,500px with
a white background. Click Create, then open the Rulers (Ctrl/
Cmd+R) and drag out two guides to form a cross in the centre.
Add a new layer and press D to reset the colours. With the Pencil
Tool set to 5 px, draw a black line from about 25% to 75% along
the horizontal guide. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and, with
Angle at 0 and Distance at 150px, click OK. Now go to Filter > Blur
> Gaussian Blur and use a Radius of 1.0px to soften the edges.
Click OK, and press Ctrl/Cmd+J to copy the layer. Press Ctrl/
Cmd+T for Free Transform mode. Holding Shift, drag to rotate
the new line to a vertical orientation. Press Return to confirm,
then press Ctrl/Cmd+E to merge the two lines into one layer.3
Add some flare to your starburst
Create a new layer and fill it with black. To do this quickly, press D
then Alt+Backspace. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare and, with
the 50-300mm Zoom selected, position the flare so it’s central.
You’ll know it’s right when all the flare circles line up. Set a
Brightness of 100%, and click OK to render the flare. Press Ctrl/
Cmd+I to invert the flare and make the black background white.
In the Layers Panel, click where it says Normal and select the
Multiply Blending Mode. Your flare needs to be smaller than the
‘spokes’ of the star, so press Ctrl/Cmd+T then, while holding Alt,
drag a corner handle to reduce its size. Press Return and run
1-2px of Gaussian Blur on the flare layer to soften the effect.2
Save your first brushes
You now have a four-point starburst. To save it as a brush, press
Ctrl/Cmd+A to select the whole image and go to Edit > Define
Brush Preset. Type in a name, such as ‘Star 4’, and click OK.
To create an eight-point star, press Ctrl/Cmd+D to lose the
selection lines, and press Ctrl/Cmd+J to duplicate the layer.
In Free Transform mode, rotate the new layer by 45 degrees
(again, hold Shift while rotating) and you’ll create an 8-point
star. Press Return to confirm the rotation change, then press
Ctrl/Cmd+E to merge the layers once more. Save the eight-
point brush preset, just as you did with the four-pointer earlier.4
Create your own brush set
Save this as a brush, as you did in step 2; remember to press
Ctrl/Cmd+A before going to Edit > Define Brush Preset. You
can also save out some different options by changing the
size of the flare layer with Free Transform.
Once you’ve made a selection of your own custom star brushes,
you’ll find them all at the bottom of the list in the Brushes Panel.
To save them as a set, click on the Group icon at the bottom of
the panel, and name it before clicking OK. Then just drag the
brushes you’ve made into the new Group, and they’ll
be ready to use whenever you open Photoshop.