Light in a Lighthouse?

[ufauxreal]

Does anyone know of a way to put a light in a lighthouse using PSE3?

Thanks!

Joan

[JulieM]

Hi Joan: Some time ago I added light to an image of a totally dark lighthouse using PSE4. I used Filter>Render>Lighting Effects and (if memory serves correctly) a soft omni light. If PSE3 has the same filter you can probably play with it until you get the effect you like.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1J6x9bvI9aZPF8GHaR7LRGz86w7Eo1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1J6x9bvI9aZPF8GHaR7LRGz86w7Eo1)

Someone else may have an answer which is more specific to your version and/or a better technique...

[hukari]

You might also try the "Ray of Light" video in the subscriber area.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

Try this:

Create a new layer above your image ... fill it with 50% grey and change its mode to overlay.

The Do Filter>Render>Lighting Effects Omni ...

That way you will get your lighting effect on its own layer and you can move it around, make it larger, smaller etc :)

Wendy

[Rusty]

Barry Beckham outlined that exact thing in a book I own.

Create a new, blank layer on top. Use polygon lasso to outline the window you want to illuminate; flood that selection with yellow. Deselect and apply gaussian blur - about "5" will make the light look convincing. Add another blank layer and draw an oval selection, fill with white; that gives you the bulb hot spot. Add gaussian blur to suit.

You, of course, can adjust opacity of those layers if necessary to make it look better.

credit: Digital Photographers Guide to Photoshop Elements (revised and updated for Photoshop Elements 3.0)

This will work for any subsequent versions of PSE

Rusty

[ufauxreal]

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions... I will try them all. This is a picture of Nubble Light in Maine. It was taken on a gorgeous, clear late afternoon... I created the fog :)

I started with Rusty's and this is what I came up with... what do you think?

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1xdYJxcmJ91eelyrenywnCpiI8Zg_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1xdYJxcmJ91eelyrenywnCpiI8Zg)

Joan

[Daviskw]

Hi there

Below is another example or type of a day to night lighthouse light...not a good one but you get the idea.

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1IG5AKpjOxMDTEwN5YpDeht5Y1WTgu1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1IG5AKpjOxMDTEwN5YpDeht5Y1WTgu1)

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1DvAykJDYqkXsthumiyWLr9nx9QDwW1_thumb.gif (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1DvAykJDYqkXsthumiyWLr9nx9QDwW1)

[Rusty]

Looks just fine, Joan,

In fact, it looks just like the example in the book :)
(he then took it a step further, changed day to night and added a beam as did Butch)

Rusty

[JulieM]

day to night lighthouse light...



http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1IG5AKpjOxMDTEwN5YpDeht5Y1WTgu1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1IG5AKpjOxMDTEwN5YpDeht5Y1WTgu1)

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1DvAykJDYqkXsthumiyWLr9nx9QDwW1_thumb.gif (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1DvAykJDYqkXsthumiyWLr9nx9QDwW1)

Butch: How'd you do that?????

[Daviskw]

Hi Julie

I make day to night a different way then many.

First I make a few duplicates of the background for use later..see TRICK below:).

I then use a hue/saturation adjustment layer on a duplicate and click colorize… then move the hue slider to around 235 to get a blue color and reduce brightness until it looks right.
If it is too blue I reduce the saturation and or add a blank layer filled with black and adjust opacity.

The only parts of the picture I added were the moon its reflection and the light beam.

The moon reflection is hard in elements but easier in the full version… the idea is to allow some of the existing water to show thru as it would be reflected by wave action. In Photoshop the blendif command does miracles doing this... in Elements you will need to make these breaks by hand and adjust opacity and layer modes or use the TRICK below:).

I used two selections for the light beam… the first on a separate layer was a highly feathered selection filled with a slightly yellow color…. Or another way to color is the TRICK below...:).

The second inner beam is another selection in a slightly brighter yellow color… then with a mask faded at the end.

Here is the TRICK:) I use for all the highlighting on the rocks and lighthouse… and could be used for the moon reflection as well.

Move one of the extra background layers to the top of the pallet… either add a mask or hijack an adjustment layer mask
Fill the mask with black to hide
Then with a soft low opacity white brush… say 3 or 4 percent paint the original light back in the picture for highlights. You can always group a hue/saturation adjustment layer to change the hue or saturation of the original light… but it works great.

Say you wanted a moon reflection… move a new background copy to the top of the pallet and attach and fill a mask with black. Now make a feathered selection where you want the moon reflection… either use a brush and paint white in the selection or fill it all with white then reduce opacity of the layer and maybe use black to hide the reflection where you don’t want it… remember you can then group a hue/saturation layer and colorize the original light and also adjust its brightness… better than doing it by hand.

That’s it not hard at all.

Butch

[JulieM]

Butch: Thanks so much for your explanation! I am swamped the next couple weeks but have printed it out to play with when I get some time available. Have you seen Chris Raecker's Night from Day images? Your moonlit lighthouse reminded me of his work. A link here (http://www.chrisraecker.com/) if you want to have a look...

[Cmcburnett]

Butch, thanks for the tutorial. I just got back home from a drenching few days in St. Augustine FL. What a wash out. The weather did clear for about an hour and I got a few shots of the lighthouse. I will give your tutorial a try since I'm back home now with 2 more days off. The rain followed me home, 70% chance today.:( First week long vacation I had in a long time, wouldn't you know it.