How to Make a Sparkle in Photoshop

There are countless effects that you can apply to a photograph in Adobe Photoshop; adding sparkles to a photo being one of many options. There are a number of image editing programmes other than Photoshop which you can use to make a sparkle but Photoshop is the easiest to work with. You just need to have a digital image and a computer on which Adobe Photoshop is installed. Here is how you can make a sparkle in Photoshop to make a digital image look more beautiful and appealing to the eye.

Instructions

  • 1

    Preparing the photo

    Open a blank document in Photoshop. Click ‘Open’ and browse to the location where the photo to which you want to add a sparkle is saved. Double click the icon of your desired photo to open it in Photoshop. Create a new Photoshop layer and name it ‘Sparkle’.

  • 2

    Use the ‘Paint Bucket’ tool to fill the new layer’s background in black and then open a second blank document in Photoshop.

  • 3

    Add the sparkle

    In Photoshop, there is a tool named ‘Rectangle Marquee’. Select that tool and draw a cross with it. While the ‘Rectangle Marquee’ tool is still selected, click and hold the right mouse key and drag the mouse in any direction to make a line. If required, change the position of the line that you just drew using spacebar.

  • 4

    Point to ‘Filter’ and select ‘Gaussian Blur’. Photoshop will prompt you to select the level of the ‘Gaussian Blur’ tool. Select 3. You may have to apply this step more than once until the desired effect is achieved.

  • 5

    Click ‘Filter’ followed by ‘Radial Blur’ and then select ‘Zoom’. You will be prompted to set the zoom level. Choose ‘Amount 100’. The step can be repeated as many times as you want. Just avoid your star from running off the edge. Furthermore, you may want to make changes to the contrast levels to get the desired effect.

  • 6

    Select a round brush of small size. Use this small sized brush to apply black colour to the star’s centre. This will make the centre of the star darker, making it more prominent.

  • 7

    Click ‘Edit’ followed by ‘Brush Preset’. Decide an appropriate name for the brush. Remember that you always have the option of going back so that you can adjust level if required.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


− 2 = seven