PART II: The Space Scene
Step 17: Lens Flare	open online photoshop Back to homepage

Let's add a quick artistic element to our image by inserting a nice light reflection on our sun before we wrap up this long and very educational part of this project.

1. Open your Space16 file in ToolPic
2. Insert a new layer at the top of the layer stack and name it Flare
3. Fill the Flare layer with black
4. Change the blending mode of the Flare layer to Linear Dodge
5. Turn on the visibility of your Sun layer group
6. Click Filter and point at Render and click Lens Flare (the Lens Flare filter simulates the spots in a picture that results from light reflecting off a camera's lens) to open the Lens Flare window...
   
   Note that you should also see a big white light on your scene - I have my star field layer visible in the above image so you can see the lens flare more clearly
7. Click through each of the four Type options (listed as Lens 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the above image) and see what type of flare each selection creates

The four Lens Types represent different kinds of lenses you can put on real cameras.

8. Click the Lens 1 option (just like the image above)
9. Set the Brightness percentage to 125% - this will give us a lens flare that is bright enough so that we can see where it is and how it impacts our overall scene (keep in mind that we will be able to adjust its brightness later)

Your flare is probably sitting in the upper left region of your scene (it it's not, don't worry as we are about to move it), but we need it to stretch away from our sun, which should be sitting in one of the corners of our image.

10. Move the Lens Flare window so that you can see your sun
11. Click and drag the sliders for Position X and Position Y...
    
    Until the bright dot of your lens flare sits on your sun, which for my image is the location shown below...
    
    Note that these numbers work for me - your numbers may be different

Before we click OK and commit to the creation of our lens flare, we need to make sure that all of it is visible on the screen. We need to confirm this because if any part out lens flare is cut off, those missing pieces will be obvious when we try to resize the flare. Take a close look at the corner of your space scene that is opposite your sun, you should something like the image below...

See that circle pointed at with the tiny red arrows? That circle is the part of the lens flare that is farthest away from the bright light. You need to make sure that you can see all of the circle just like the image above. If any part of the circle is cut off like the image below...

You will have problems in the next few directions because we are going to resize our flare and having a circle that is cut off is going to look really odd and not very realistic.

12. Look over your lens flare - if part of it is cut off like the image above, use the Position X and Position Y sliders to move your flare so that no part of any of your circles are cut off
13. When you are happy with your lens flare, click OK

Our next task will be to shorten the flare so that it doesn't stretch across the entire image. I could go into an entire explanation of how cameras work and a shorter lens flare more accurately represents reality, but at this point we are more interested in how the ToolPic tools work, so let's skip the long explanation and just talk about how to shorten the flare.

14. With the Flare layer selected, click Edit then click Free Transform
15. Press and hold the Shift key (this will ensure that both the height and width of your flare changes at the same time) and then  click and drag the resize handle opposite your sun until your flare stretches about two-thirds of the way across your image...
    
16. If you want your flare to sit at a different angle (in other words, not go straight from one corner to the next), rotate the flare until it sits at an angle you like - if you are happy with the current angle of your flare, go to the next direction
17. When you have your flare in a position you like, click the Confirm check at the top of the ToolPic window...
    
18. Decide if you are happy with how bright your flare is in comparison to the rest of your scene (the flare should be an additional element in the image and NOT the image's focal point), if you think it is too bright, simply lower the Opacity of the Flare layer until your flare is a brightness you like
19. Lock the Flare layer...
    

With all of your layer groups and layers turned on you should now have a space scene similar to the one below...

For the image you see above, I increased the size of the flare, rotated it up just a bit so that most of the flare did not cover the planet, and lowered it's Opacity to 50%.

20. Click File and then click Save as PSD
21. Name the file Space17

This marks the end of Part II: The Space Scene. All we have left to do is get a nice spaceship with you as the pilot and get you flying through space, which is Part III: The Animation!