making light reflections

United States
January 8, 2009 4:41pm CST
Hi, I'm not very good at photoshop, but I wanted to spice up a picture by adding "light" reflecting off an object. Is there a way to do this in Photoshop? I mean, like if the sun was glinting off a metallic object, so you can see the rays of light. Also, is there a way to change a silver object and make it look gold? Thanks for any help.
1 response
• Australia
9 Jan 09
First the color change: Select the part you want to change, using the lassoo, magic wand, etc. Now with the selection still active, choose EnhanceAdjust ColorReplace Color. Use the eyedropper to select the colors to change. Now slide the Hue Slider to the desired color. Finally, adjust the saturation and lightness until you have the effect you want. To add the effect of light reflecting off a metalic object, try this: 1. Use the burn tool to darken the edges of the object a little to achieve the hard, dark shadow you see in metals 2. Shift to the Dodge tool nd draw the specular highlights along the edges facing the light 3. Choose Image Adjust Curves and add handles about 1/4 and 1/2 way along the gradient from the left. Move the first handle up about 20% and the second about 10% from the base line, and play with these until the image looks about right. 4. Make your final adjustments with the burn tool, darkening the shadow areas opposite the highlights.
1 person likes this
• United States
10 Jan 09
I guess it takes some experimenting to get the exact colors I need. Thank you for the suggestions. I'll have to work on it. It seems there is more than one way to get the same effects in Photoshop. I'll try both ways for light reflecting and see which way works better for me.