DIY Photoshop Light leak Tutorial
Today I wanted to share a SUPER quick and easy photoshop tutorial for create lomo-esque light leak effects on your images. I used to play around in photoshop ALL the time. When I lived in South Korea (and purchased my first SLR), every spare second of my day was spent messing about in photoshop. Over time I have spent less time "playing around" and more time in a frantic hustle - you know how it goes. After listening to so many creative successes talk at the Soho Create Festival about their greatest 'artworks' coming from simply 'playing around' I've decided to dedicate a bit more time to getting back to just being "creative" for creativity's sake.
I have two different techniques that you can use to create the lomo light leak effects.
THE FIRST TECHNIQUE:
- Open up a photo that you would like to add some light leak to.
- Create a NEW LAYER and paint over it with a very soft black brush
- On another NEW LAYER create a splotch of turquoise (or blue or pink or whatever colour you want to try). Use a soft brush and paint a shpae that is circle-ish.
At this point, you can test what the layers will look like by setting them both to SCREEN in the blending mode. You can adjust the opacity of the layers to the desired effect that you want.
- Create another NEW LAYER and paint some oranges or pinks splotches - again using a soft brush. You can also go over some areas with a slightly darker or lighter tint to give it a bit of depth. White is also a good colour to add a bit of brightness to your picture - if you prefer a more over-exposed look. (I do!)
- Set the blending mode of your layers to SCREEN (on the layers palette) and adjust the opacity.
- Keep adding or taking away colours and splotches and setting the blend mode to SCREEN until you get the desired effect that you want.
The great thing about this technique is that you can adjust each individual 'splotch' (or light leak) so that you get a look that you want. For example, in the frame below, I decided to take the orange splotch and move it away from the top (as you can see above) to vertical on the right side of the picture. (Have set it to a different blend mode in the picture below so that you can see what I'm talking about.
Then once again set the blend mode to Screen. I could've blended out the sharp side if I wanted, but I quite like the hard line - looks a bit like the end of a film roll or a double exposure!
The second Lomo Leak Technique is much more "lomo-esque" in that the results are less controlled and more unpredictable.
- Select a photo you want to add the light leaks to.
- On a NEW LAYER create a paint layer with a layer of black, and add to it, splotches of blue, pink, white, turquoise, green, yellow or anything else your heart desires! (The colours I have mentioned though tend to work the best!)
- Set the blend mode to SCREEN and adjust the opacity as needed.
The main difference of these two techniques is that the one you can control each element of the "light leak" and the other you create a flat painted layer and get unpredictable results - which is sometimes half the fun!
If you attempt any of these tutorials - please pop me a tweet to tell me where I can see them! Or leave a comment on the indieBerries Facebook Page!
Happy Experimenting!
PS. These photos were taken on our honeymoon at Quilalea Private Island off the coast of Mozambique - you can read about our incredible honeymoon here and here!
if you are interested in other photoshop Tutorials I have done - you can take a peek at:
Vintage Style Lomography Photo Tutorial or a Retro Photoshop Collage Tutorial
