Preview:

Step 1:

Let's start out by creating a new file. I used a 800x533 pixels canvas set at 72dpi, and I filled my background with a black color. Now insert a stock photo of a highway scene, you can download the image used in this tutorial here.

Step 2:

Now add a stock photo of a flame scene with electricity flares on your canvas, you can download the image used in this tutorial here. Then grab the eraser tool with a large soft brush and Erase the bottom part of the flame scene stock photo layer.

Step 3:

On your layers palette set the flame scene layer's blending mode to Soft Light.

Step 4:

Duplicate the flame scene layer and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Then apply a 3.0 pixels radius blur to the second flame scene layer.

Step 5:

Apply a marquee selection around your canvas and go to Edit > Copy Merged. Then go back to Edit > Paste, a copy of your current design should appear on your canvas with its own layer. Now go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur, apply the settings below.

Step 6:

On your layers palette set the layer's blending mode from step six to Soft Light.

Step 7:

Duplicate the Soft Light layer from the last step.

Results:

Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

With our image newly opened inside Photoshop, we can see in the Layers palette that we currently have one layer, the Background layer, which contains our image:

The original image on the Background layer in the Layers palette.

We need to duplicate the Background layer, and we can do that using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) /Command+J (Mac). Now when I look in my Layers palette now, I can see that I now have two layers – my original Background layer on the bottom and a new layer, “Layer 1″, above it which is my duplicate:

Press “Ctrl+J” (Win) / “Command+J” (Mac) to duplicate the Background layer.

Step 2: Add More Canvas Space To The Bottom Of The Document

We’re going to add our water reflection below the image, so let’s add some canvas space to the bottom of our document to make room for our reflection. To do that, go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen and choose Canvas Size. This will bring up Photoshop’s “Canvas Size” dialog box. The easiest thing to do here is to add twice as much canvas space as what we currently have, but we only want it to appear at the bottom of the document, not above it or on either side, so we need to tell Photoshop exactly where we want this extra canvas space to go.

First, enter 100 for the Height and set the measurement to percent, as circled in red below. Leave the Width option set to 0. Then make sure the Relative option is checked, which tells Photoshop to give us 100% more canvas space than what we already have. Below the "Relative" option is a 3×3 grid of squares. This is where we tell Photoshop where we want to place our additional canvas space. Click inside the square in the middle of the top row (again as circled below). This tells Photoshop not to place any of the extra canvas space above the document and instead to place all of it at the bottom:

Add more canvas space using the “Canvas Size” dialog box.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box, and Photoshop will add the extra canvas space to the bottom of the image:

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The height of the document has now been doubled with the extra canvas space added to the bottom.

Step 3: Flip The Top Layer Vertically

In order to create our reflection, we need to flip our image upside down, so let’s do that. With the top layer selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen, choose Transform, and then choose Flip Vertical. Photoshop will flip the image upside down in the document:

Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to flip the image on the top layer upside down.

Step 4: Drag The Flipped Image To The Bottom Of The Document

We need the flipped image to be at the bottom of the document, so grab your Move Tool from the Tools palette, or press V on your keyboard for the shortcut:

Select the Move Tool.

Then, with the Move Tool selected, click inside the document and drag the flipped image down to the bottom until the top of it is lined up with the bottom of the original image above it. Hold down Shift as you drag to make sure you drag down in a straight line:

Drag the flipped image down below the original.

Step 5: Add A New Blank Layer

Now that we have our flipped image in place, we can begin to create our water ripple effect. First, we need to add a new blank layer at the top of the Layers palette, so with “Layer 1″ still selected, click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Add a new blank layer to the document.

Step 6: Fill The New Layer With White

We’re going to fill our new blank layer with white. If white is not currently your Background color, press D on your keyboard, which will reset Photoshop’s Foreground and Background colors, making black your Foreground color and white your Background color. Then use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Backspace (Win) / Command+Delete(Mac) to fill the new layer with the Background color (white). Your document will be filled with solid white.

The entire image is now filled with white.

Step 7: Apply The “Halftone Pattern” Filter To Create Black And White Horizontal Lines

Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Sketch, and then choose Halftone Pattern. This brings up Photoshop’s Filter Gallery (in Photoshop CS and higher) set to the “Halftone Pattern” filter options on the right, with a large preview of the effect on the left. We’re going to use this filter to add a series of black and white horizontal lines to the image. These lines are going to become our water ripples . The more lines we have, the more ripples we’ll have.

First, we want to make sure we’re creating lines and not dots or circles, so set the Pattern Type option to Lines. We control the number of lines by adjusting the Size option. Lower values give us more lines, since we’re lowering the size of each line, and higher values give us fewer but thicker lines. I’m going to set my Size value to 7, which I think works best for my image. You may want to experiment with this value on your own. The Contrast option below it determines how sharp the edges of the lines are. Lower values give you softer lines, white higher values give you hard edge lines. Set this value all the way to 50 to give your lines sharp edges. We’re going to soften them ourselves with the Gaussian Blur filter in a moment:

Adjust the Halftone Pattern filter options to create a series of black and white lines through the image.

Click OK when you’re done to exit out of the dialog box, and Photoshop will fill the image from top to bottom with your black and white lines:

The image is now filled with black and white horizontal lines.

Step 8: Apply The “Gaussian Blur” Filter To The Lines

Before we can use our black and white lines as water ripples , we need to smooth them out and create nice, smooth transitions between them. To do that, go up to the Filter menu once again, choose Blur, and then chooseGaussian Blur, which brings up the “Gaussian Blur” dialog box. Keep an eye on your image and drag the slider at the bottom of the dialog box to increase the Radius value until the lines have a very soft edge to them. I’m using a small image for this tutorial, so for me, a Radius value of about 4 pixels works well. If you’re using a larger, high resolution image, you’ll need to set yours to a higher value:

Use the Gaussian Blur filter to smooth out the edges of the lines.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box and apply the blur to the lines.

Step 9: Duplicate The Lines Layer As A New Document

We’re going to create a brand new document out of our lines layer, which we’ll then use as our displacement map for our water ripples . With the lines layer selected, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and selectDuplicate Layer, which brings up the “Duplicate Layer” dialog box. In the “Destination” options, click on the down-pointing arrow to the right of the Document option and set it to New, which will create a new Photoshop document out of our layer:

Set the “Document” option in the “Duplicate Layer” dialog box to “New”.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box, and your layer will open up in a new document on the screen.

Step 10: Save The New Document And Close Out Of It

This new document that we’ve created is going to become our displacement map, but before we can use it, we need to save it. We’re also going to close out of it after we’ve saved it, since we won’t need it open anymore, and the easiest way to accomplish both of those tasks is to simply close out of the document. When you try to close out of it, Photoshop will as you if you want to save the document before closing it. Click Yes:

Choose “Yes” when Photoshop asks if you want to save the document before closing it.

Photoshop will bring up the Save As dialog box. You can name your new document anything you like. I’m going to name mine “water-ripples”. Make sure you save it as a Photoshop .PSD file, since those are the only files that Photoshop can use as a displacement map. You’ll probably want to save the document to your Desktop, since we’ll need to find it again in a moment.

Step 11: Delete The Lines Layer

Now that we’ve used our black and white lines to create the file we’ll be using as our displacement map, we can get rid of it. To do that, simply click on it and drag it down onto the Trash Bin icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Click and drag the lines layer (“Layer 2″) onto the Trash Bin at the bottom of the Layers palette to delete it.

Step 12: Merge The Two Layers Onto A New Layer

Before we can add use our displacement map, we need to merge our two image layers onto a new layer above them. To do that, with “Layer 1″ selected, use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Win) /Shift+Command+Option+E (Mac). Nothing will appear to have happened in the document, but if we look in the Layers palette, we can see that both layers have been merged onto a new layer at the top:

Both layers are now merged onto a new layer, “Layer 2″.

Step 13: Use The “Displace” Filter To Create The Water Ripples

We’re ready to create our water ripples using the displacement map we just created. With the new merged layer selected in the Layers palette, go back up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Distort and then choose Displace .

This brings up Photoshop’s “Displace” filter dialog box. This is where we determine the strength of our ripple effect, and we do that with the Horizontal Scale option at the top. I’m going to set mine to a value of 4, which will give me a realistic ripple effect. You may want to experiment with this value with your own image. Setting it too high though will create too much of a horizontal distortion and you’ll lose the realism.

We don’t need any vertical distortion to create our effect, so set the Vertical Scale option to 0. Also, make sure that Stretch To Fit and Repeat Edge Pixels are selected:

Go to Filter > Distort > Displace to bring up the Displace dialog box.

Click OK in the top right corner of the dialog box, and Photoshop will ask you which file you want to use as your displacement map. Choose the file that you just saved a moment ago, which I saved to my Desktop as "water-ripples.PSD", and then click Open. Photoshop will then apply the displacement map to the entire image, creating our water ripples :

The image after applying our displacement map with the “Displace” filter.

Step 14: Hide The Ripples On Top With A Layer Mask

Of course, we have a slight problem at the moment. We’ve added our water ripple effect to the entire image, and we only wanted it in the bottom half. We can fix that easily though using a layer mask. First, Ctrl-click (Win) /Command-click (Mac) directly on the thumbnail for “Layer 1″ in the Layers palette to place a selection around the flipped image at the bottom of the document:

“Right-click” (Win) / “Control-click” (Mac) directly on Layer 1′s thumbnail in the Layers palette to place a selection around the flipped image.

You’ll see a selection appear around the bottom half of the image in your document. Now, with the merged layer still selected, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Click on the “Layer Mask” icon to add a layer mask to the merged layer at the top of the Layers palette.

Photoshop will add a layer mask to the merged layer, and because we had a selection around the bottom half of our document when we added the layer mask, only the bottom half of the merged layer remains visible. The top half becomes hidden from view, removing the unwanted water ripples from that part of the image:

The ripple effect is now hidden from the top half of the image after applying the layer mask.

Step 15: Apply The “Gaussian Blur” Filter To The Layer Mask

Before we add our finishing touch by colorizing the water , let’s soften the edge of the layer mask a little so there isn’t such a harsh dividing line between the image on top and the water below. We’ll use the Gaussian Blur filter for that, and since we want to apply it to the layer mask, we’ll need to first select the mask. We can do that by clicking on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette:

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials: Click on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette to select the layer mask.

You can tell that the layer mask is now selected by the white highlight box around its thumbnail. We’re going to apply the Gaussian Blur filter to the mask, so go back up to the Filter menu, select Blur once again, and then select Gaussian Blur. When the dialog box appears, simply click OK to apply the same Radius value we used previously.

Step 16: Colorize The Water With A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer

Let’s finish things off now by adding just a hint of blue to our water, and we’ll use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer for that. We want the adjustment layer to only affect the bottom half of the image where the water ripples are, so hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key, click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, then select Hue/Saturation from the list of adjustment layers:

Hold down “Alt” (Win) / “Option” (Mac), click on the “New Adjustment Layer” icon, then drag your mouse to “Hue/Saturation” to select it.

By holding down “Alt/Option”, this tells Photoshop to bring up the New Layer dialog box before adding the adjustment layer. Select the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option by clicking inside the checkbox to the left of it:

Select the “Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask” option in the “New Layer” dialog box.

This option tells Photoshop that we want the adjustment layer to affect only the layer directly below it in the Layers palette, and since the layer below it is the layer containing our water ripples , only the water ripples will be colorized, which is what we want. Click OK to exit out of the dialog box.

This will bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box. We want to colorize our water, so the first thing we want to do here is select the Colorize option in the bottom right corner. Then select the color you want your water to be by dragging the Hue slider at the top. I’m going to drag my slider to the right to a value of about 218, which I think is a good color for my water :

Use the Hue/Saturation dialog box to colorize the water .

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box , and you’ll see that your water on the bottom has now been colorized, but the color is much too strong at the moment.

Step 17: Lower The Opacity Of The Hue/Saturation Layer

To reduce the intensity of the color we just added to the water , all we need to do is go up to the Opacity option in the top right corner of the Layers palette and lower the opacity value. I’m going to lower mine all the way down to about 25%, which adds a much more realistic amount of color to the water :

Lower the opacity of the adjustment layer until the water has only a hint of color to it.

Once you’ve lowered the opacity of the adjustment layer to reduce the color intensity of the water , you’re done!

Here once again is my original image for comparison:

The original image once again.

And here is my final “water reflection” result:

The final effect.

just 4 u!!!!

Here’s what the final lightning effect will look like (the original image without the lightning is available from theFotolia image library):

The final lightning effect.

Let’s get started!  hoooooo!!

Step 1: Add A New Blank Layer

With the photo newly opened in Photoshop, if we look in the Layers panel, we see that we currently have one layer – the Background layer – which is the layer the photo is sitting on. We’re going to add our lightning above this layer so we don’t damage the original image. Click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Click on the New Layer icon.

This adds a new blank layer named “Layer 1″ above the Background layer:

Photoshop automatically names the new layer “Layer 1″.

Step 2: Select The Lasso Tool

Select the Lasso Tool from the Tools panel:

Select the Lasso Tool.

Step 3: Draw A Selection Around The Area Where The Lightning Will Appear

With the Lasso Tool selected, decide where you want the lightning bolt to appear in the image and draw a selection outline around that general area. Here, I’ve drawn my selection outline in the lower right of the photo:

Draw a selection around the general area where the lightning bolt will appear.

Step 4: Fill The Selection With White

Go up to the Edit menu in the Menu Bar along the top of the screen and choose Fill:

Go to Edit > Fill.

This opens the Fill dialog box. Set the Use option at the top of the dialog box to White:

Set the Use option to White.

Click OK to close out of the Fill dialog box. Photoshop fills the selected area with white in the document:

The selected area is now filled with solid white.

Step 5: Select The Brush Tool

Select the Brush Tool from the Tools panel:

Select the Brush Tool.

Step 6: Set The Foreground Color To Black

We need to paint with black, and Photoshop uses the current Foreground color as the paint color, which means we need to make sure our Foreground color is set to black before we start painting. Press the letter D on your keyboard, which resets the Foreground and Background colors to their defaults, making black the Foreground color (white becomes the Background color). You can see what the colors are set to by looking at the Foreground and Background color swatches near the bottom of the Tools panel:

Make sure the Foreground color (top left swatch) is set to black.

Step 7: Choose A Round, Hard Edge Brush

With the Brush Tool selected, right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) anywhere inside the document, which opens the Brush Picker, and choose a round, hard edge brush by clicking on its thumbnail. I’m using Photoshop CS5 here, but don’t worry if you’re using CS4 or earlier and your selection of brushes looks different from mine. Any round, hard edge brush will do. Once you’ve selected a brush, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to close out of the Brush Picker:

Click on any round, hard edge brush to select it.

Step 8: Paint A Jagged Black Stroke Through The White-Filled Selection

Paint a jagged black stroke through the white-filled selection where you want the lightning bolt to appear. The lightning will eventually appear along the right edge of the paint stroke, where the black and white meet. For best results, use a fairly small brush. You can change the size of the brush from the keyboard. Press the left bracket key ( [ ) to make the brush smaller. Pressing the right bracket key ( ] ) makes the brush larger. When you’re done, your black stroke should look something like this:

Use a small brush to paint a jagged stroke through the selection.

Step 9: Paint The Area To The Left Of The Stroke Black

Once you have your initial black stroke, continue painting over the area to the left of the stroke until it’s completely covered in black as well. Only the area to the right of the stroke should remain white. You may want to increase the size of your brush so you can paint over this area more quickly by pressing the right bracket key ( ] ) a few times:

Paint over the area to the left of the stroke to fill it with black.

Step 10: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter

Next, we need to soften the edge where the black and white areas meet, and we can do that by blurring it. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, then choose Gaussian Blur:

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

This opens the Gaussian Blur filter’s dialog box. Keep an eye on the document as you drag the Radius slider at the bottom of the dialog box towards the right. The further you drag the slider, the more blurring you’ll apply and the softer the edge will become. The transition area between black and white created by the soft edge is what will eventually become the lightning bolt, so the softer the edge, the wider the lightning bolt will be. For my image, I’m going to set my Radius value to around 9 pixels. The Radius value you end up using may be different depending on the size of the image you’re working with:

Increase the Radius value to soften the edges of the black stroke.

Click OK to close out of the dialog box. The edge should now look similar to this:

The soft edge of the stroke will soon become the lightning bolt.

Step 11: Apply The Difference Clouds Filter

Go up to the Filter menu, choose Render, then choose Difference Clouds:

Go to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

There’s no dialog box for the Difference Clouds filter, so Photoshop simply goes ahead and runs it. We can see in the document that the soft edge we created a moment ago now begins to look like a lightning bolt, although it’s the wrong color at the moment:

The lightning bolt begins to appear.

Step 12: Invert The Image

Go up to the Image menu, choose Adjustments, then choose Invert:

Go to Image > Adjustments > Invert.

This inverts the brightness values in the selected area, making light areas dark and dark areas light, which turns our lightning bolt from black to white:

Inverting the image changes the lightning bolt from black to white.

Step 13: Apply The Levels Command

Go back up to the Image menu, choose Adjustments once again, and this time, choose Levels:

Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels.

This opens the Levels dialog box. We’re going to use Levels to darken the “clouds” around the lightning bolt so the area surrounding it is black. First, click on the black slider below the bottom left side of the histogram in the center of the dialog box and begin dragging it towards the right. As you drag, you’ll see the areas around the lightning bolt begin to fade into black. Continue dragging the black slider towards the right until most of the “clouds” have disappeared:

Drag the black slider towards the right to darken most of the area around the lightning bolt.

Most of the area should now be darkened to black. A few gray areas will remain:

Only a few gray areas remain around the lightning bolt.

Click on the gray slider in between the black and white sliders and begin dragging it towards the right as well, which will fade the remaining gray areas to black. It’s important, though, that you don’t darken things so much that the lightning bolt becomes harsh looking with hard, jagged edges. You want to keep a soft, subtle fuzziness to the lightning, so darken things as much as you can with the black and gray sliders, but don’t worry if there’s still a few remaining areas of gray. We’ll clean things up next:

Drag the middle gray slider towards the right to darken the remaining gray areas.

Click OK when you’re done to close out of the Levels dialog box. The image should now look similar to this:

Most of the gray areas around the lightning bolt have now been darkened to black.

Step 14: Deselect The Area

Go up to the Select menu at the top of the screen and choose Deselect to remove the selection outline from around the area. Or, for a faster way to deselect a selection, press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) on your keyboard. Either way will do:

Go to Select > Deselect to deselect the area.

Step 15: Paint With Black To Clean Up Any Remaining Gray Areas

With your Brush Tool still selected, right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) anywhere inside the document to once again open the Brush Picker. Keep the same round brush selected, but lower the Hardness of the brush to 50%. This will soften the brush edge. Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you’re done to close out of the Brush Picker:

Lower the brush hardness to 50% to soften the edge.

Then, with black still as your Foreground color, paint over any remaining gray areas around the lightning bolt to clean them up. The reason we softened the brush edge is in case there are any remaining gray areas close to the lightning bolt itself. This way, we can paint close to the lightning without flatting its soft edge:

Clean up any remaining gray areas by painting over them with black.

Also, if you look around the outer edges of the black area, you’ll see that they appear somewhat transparent, which is a result of us running the Gaussian Blur filter earlier. These transparent edges will cause problems, so paint around the outer edges with your brush to cover them with solid black. When you’re done, everything other than the lightning bolt should be black. Don’t worry that the whole thing looks like an ugly mess for now. It will look much better in a moment:

Paint over the transparent outer edges.

Step 16: Change The Blend Mode To Screen

With everything now black except the lightning bolt itself, go up to the Blend Mode option at the top of the Layers panel and change the blend mode from Normal to Screen:

Change the layer’s blend mode from Normal to Screen.

The Screen blend mode hides all the black areas on the layer, keeping only the lightning bolt itself visible:

Only the lightning bolt remains visible on the layer.

Step 17: Move And Resize The Lightning With Free Transform

Go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choose Free Transform, or press Ctrl+T (Win) /Command+T (Mac) to access the Free Transform command with the keyboard shortcut:

Go to Edit > Free Transform.

This places Photoshop’s Free Transform box and handles around the lightning bolt. Move the lightning into position by clicking anywhere inside the bounding box and dragging it with your mouse. To resize the lightning, simply drag any of the handles. If you hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key, this will temporarily switch you to Distort mode which will give you more freedom when dragging the handles. Release the key to switch back to standard Free Transform mode. Once you’ve moved and resized the lightning, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept the change and exit out of Free Transform:

Use Free Transform to resize the lightning and move it into place.

Step 18: Duplicate The Layer

Let’s add a glow to the lightning. Go up to the Layer menu, choose New, then choose Layer via Copy, or pressCtrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to access the same command with the keyboard shortcut:

Go to Layer > New > Layer via Copy, or press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac).

Either way tells Photoshop to make a copy of Layer 1 and place it above the original in the Layers panel. Notice that the copy is automatically set to the Screen blend mode for us:

Photoshop names the new layer “Layer 1 copy”.

Step 19: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter

To create a glow around the lightning, we just need to blur the copy we created. Go up to the Filter menu, chooseBlur, then choose Gaussian Blur as we did before. I’m going to again set my Radius value to around 9 pixels, which adds a nice glow effect. The value you use may be different depending on the size of your image:

Drag the Radius slider to blur the copy of the lightning and create a blur effect.

Click OK when you’re done to close out of the Gaussian Blur dialog box. You should now see a subtle glow around the lightning:

The lightning after adding a soft glow.

Step 20: Duplicate The Layer

The initial glow effect is a bit too subtle so let’s increase its intensity. Press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to quickly duplicate the blurred layer. The glow will appear stronger. If you find that it’s now too strong, lower the layer’s opacity to fine-tune the results. You’ll find the Opacity option at the top of the Layers panel directly across from the Blend Mode option. I’m going to leave my opacity set to 100%:

Duplicate the blurred layer to strengthen the glow effect, then lower the Opacity if needed to fine-tune the results.

Here’s my result with the glow now more intense:

The effect after duplicating the blurred layer.

Step 21: Merge The Lightning Layers

Go up to the Layer menu and choose Merge Down, or press Ctrl+E (Win) / Command+E (Mac) to access the Merge Down command with the keyboard shortcut. Then do the same thing a second time. This will merge the two glow effect layers down onto Layer 1 with the initial lightning bolt:

Go to Layer > Merge Down, or press Ctrl+E (Win) / Command+E (Mac), then do the same thing again.

You should now be back to a single layer, Layer 1, above the Background layer in the Layers panel:

The glow effect layers have been merged down with the lightning onto Layer 1.

Step 22: Colorize The Lightning With Hue/Saturation

If you want to colorize the lightning, go up to the Image menu, choose Adjustments, then choose Hue/Saturation:

Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.

This opens the Hue/Saturation dialog box. Select the Colorize option, then drag the Hue slider to select a color for the lightning. I’m going to select a blue/purple color by setting my Hue value to 232. Of course, you can choose any color you like. To make the color appear more intense, increase the Saturation value. I’ll set mine to 50%. Click OK when you’re done to close out of the dialog box:

Select the Colorize option, then choose a Hue and Saturation level.

Here’s what my lightning looks like after colorizing it:

The lightning after giving it a bluish purple color.

Step 23: Merge The Layers Onto A New Layer

Hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key and with the key held down, go up to the Layer menu and chooseMerge Visible:

Hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and go to Layer > Merge Visible.

This merges the existing layers onto a new layer above them in the Layers panel:

The two existing layers are merged onto a third layer.

Step 24: Select The Dodge Tool

Select the Dodge Tool from the Tools panel:

Select the Dodge Tool.

Step 25: Set The Range Option To Highlights And Deselect Protect Tones

With the Dodge Tool selected, set the Range option in the Options Bar along the top of the screen to Highlights. Leave Exposure set to 50%, and uncheck the Protect Tones option:

Set the options for the Dodge Tool in the Options Bar.

Step 26: Lower The Brush Hardness To 0%

The Dodge Tool is considered a brush in Photoshop and we can adjust the softness of its edges the same way we can with the standard Brush Tool. Right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) anywhere inside the document to bring up the Brush Picker, then lower the Hardness for the Dodge Tool all the way down to 0% to give us the softest edges possible. Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you’re done to close out of the Brush Picker:

Lower the edge hardness of the Dodge Tool to 0%.

Step 27: Paint With The Dodge Tool To Brighten Areas

Finally, paint over certain areas with the Dodge Tool to brighten them and add some lighting highlights. Each time you paint over the same spot with the Dodge Tool, you’ll brighten that area a little more. The clouds around where the lightning bolt is shooting out from would be brightened by the lightning, so I’ll use a medium size brush to paint over that area a few times:

Painting with the Dodge Tool to brighten the clouds where the lightning begins.

I’ll use a smaller brush and simply click a couple of times on the spot where the lightning strikes the ground (or in this case water) to add a highlight there as well:

Clicking on a spot with the Dodge Tool sometimes works better than painting over it.

And finally, I’ll paint over a couple of spots along the lightning bolt itself to add some highlights to it:

Adding a couple of highlights along the lightning bolt itself.

Step 28: Lower The Opacity Of The Top Layer If Needed

If, after adding your highlights with the Dodge Tool, you find they look a bit too intense, simply lower the opacity of the top layer. I’m going to lower mine down to 70%:

Lower the top layer’s opacity if needed to reduce the highlights.

Here, after lowering the opacity, is my final lightning effect:

The final Photoshop lightning effect.