to add Layer Styles to our planet—double click its layer, and
add Inner and Outer glows from the “Styles” window to give the
impression of a diffuse atmosphere. Don’t make them white—we
want them to transition from the darkness of space, so choose a
mid-gray, and keep them soft and noise-free [Image C].4
GIVE LIGHT UPON THE EARTH
Or the red planet, anyway. The local star in this system is
off to the top-right, so to create a planetary crescent, we
can create a new layer, put it on top of the stack, and bring back
the circular selection (“Select > Reselect”). On the new layer,
fill the circle with black, then deselect, and use the Move tool to
drag the circle to one side, revealing the planet. Use Gaussian
Blur (“Filter > Blur”) on the layer to soften its edge (convert for
Smart Filters if you want) and you get a nice crescent [Image D].5
HE MADE THE STARS ALSO
To make a starry background, select the plain black layer
at the bottom of the Layers palette, and use “Filter >
Noise > Add Noise.” Use Levels on the layer to clip the black
and white ends of the histogram—this reduces the number of
dots, for a more realistic look [Image E]. It’ll still look wrong
when the planet is in the center, so select the layers that make
up the planet and shadow, and pull them to the bottom-left with
the Move tool. Group these layers, and duplicate the group, and
you have another planet to position and resize. Use Filter Gallery
(editable as a Smart Filter) and Hue/Saturation to change its
look, and Free Transform (“Edit” menu) to move and scale it.6
LET THERE BE MORE LIGHT
Finally, we’ll add a light source. Place a new layer at
the top of the stack, and draw a rough star shape withEGDthe Polygonal Lasso, filled with white. Deselect, and
apply “Filter > Blur > Radial Blur” in Zoom mode and
at 100% and Best quality. Then apply a Gaussian Blur.
Duplicate the layer a few times (we did three), and use
Free Tr ansfor m on each to rotate it around until you have
a bright-centered, diffuse light object rising above the
large planet’s edge [Image F].7
LET THERE BE LENS FLARE
If your space movie is directed by J.J. Abrams, it
needs a little lens flare. Happily, Photoshop has a
filter that can do that, in “Filter > Render.” If you try to
use it on the layer containing your sun, however, you’re
going to be disappointed. For a far better effect, use it on
the black background layer with the noise on it. Run the
filter, and see what different effects you can create in the
tiny preview window. Our example is of the 50–300mm
zoom type at around 85% brightness [Image G], but use
whatever looks good. Now all the scene is waiting for is
for you to place a 3D rendered spaceship in it.FIf you’re going to use your own textures, it’s worth loading
them into Photoshop as Smart Objects rather than as
straightforward raster layers, and making them in the
highest resolution possible. A Smart Object provides a link
to the source file, going back to it as a reference every time
you manipulate it, so you can shrink it and enlarge it again
without the loss of quality you’d usually associate with
such a maneuver. Along with Smart Filters, this is one of
Photoshop’s biggest steps toward non-destructive editing.
A layer converted to use Smart Filters becomes a Smart
Object in its own right, giving you the best of both worlds.SMART OBJECTS
AND FILTERS
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