Rangefinder Magazine
May 2005

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Photoshop CS Classic Photoshop Effects: by Dave Cross
The Oldies But Goodies That Never Seem to Go Out of Style

This is another of a series of Adobe® Photoshop® tutorials sponsored by Adobe Systems and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) to be reprinted in Rangefinder taken from the Photoshop User magazine, the official publication of NAPP (www.photoshopuser.com).

Lens Flare Revisited:
A couple of years ago in a “Classic Effects” column in Photoshop User magazine, Felix Nelson featured the Lens Flare filter. But now, we’re going to take another look at a couple of different ways of using the Lens Flare filter: with precision position and on a separate layer.

When you run the Lens Flare filter (Filter > Render > Lens Flare), you can use the Preview window to position the effect. Mind you, it’s a pretty small Preview. So what if you want to be very precise about the location of the Lens Flare? To position the Lens Flare in a specific location, follow these steps.

STEP ONE: In the Info palette (Window > Info), click just to the left of the X, Y coordinates, and in the pop-up menu that appears, change the measurement to Pixels. Move your cursor to the exact location in your image where you want the Lens Flare and jot down the X, Y coordinates from the Info palette.

STEP TWO: From the Filter menu, choose Render > Lens Flare. Now, hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, and click on the Preview window in the Lens Flare dialog. Enter the X and Y coordinates you wrote down. Click OK to close the Precise Flare Center dialog and then click OK to close the Lens Flare dialog.

The Lens Flare will be positioned on the specific location that you entered. Here are a couple of examples.

Moveable Lens Flare:
On the other hand, you may not yet know the precise location where you want the Lens Flare filter. In cases like this, the best plan is to create a moveable Lens Flare by applying it to a separate layer.

Here’s how:

STEP ONE: Open an image, add a new layer (click on the Create a new layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette), and fill it with black (Opt-Delete; PC: Alt-Backspace).

Now, apply the Lens Flare filter to the black layer. In the Layers palette, change the Blend mode from Normal to Screen.

STEP TWO: Now, use the Move tool (V) to reposition the lens flare.

Another Moveable Method:
As you move the Lens Flare layer, you may see the edge of the layer because the black isn’t entirely “removed” by the Screen mode. To avoid this, before adding the Lens Flare filter, make the black layer much larger than you’ll need. Here’s another way to create a larger black layer and apply the Lens Flare filter.

STEP ONE: Open an image and click on the Create a new layer icon. Now, from the Image menu, choose Canvas Size. With Relative checked, enter three inches to both Width and Height, and click OK. Fill the new layer with black.

STEP TWO: Hide the black layer (by clicking on the Eye icon to the left of the layer) and use the Crop tool to crop to the original size of the image. Don’t press Enter yet. In the Options Bar for the Crop tool, choose Hide instead of Delete. Now press Enter (Return).

STEP THREE: Show the Black layer by clicking on the empty box to the left of the layer. Now we’ll follow the same steps as before. Apply the Lens Flare filter to the black layer and in the Layers palette, change the Blend mode from Normal to Screen.

Finally, use the Move tool to reposition the Lens Flare.

Adding Canvas and then cropping using the Hide feature makes the black layer larger than the original image. This gives us more room to move the Lens Flare layer around with less chance of seeing the edge of the layer.

So, next time you feel like adding a Lens Flare, you have both ends of the spectrum covered: the specific position Lens Flare and the moveable Lens Flare.

Dave Cross is Senior Developer, Education and Curriculum for NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) and co-author of three books: Photoshop 7 & Illustrator 10: Create Great Advanced Graphics, Photoshop 7 Trade Secrets, and Adobe Illustrator Killer Tips. Dave is also one of the lead instructors for NAPP’s Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour.