In this Photoshop photo effects
tutorial,
we'll learn how to easily add a rainbow, and even a double
rainbow, to a photo! As we'll see, Photoshop ships with a ready-made rainbow gradient for us to use.
We'll learn where to find it and how to load it in. We'll also learn how to
flip the order of the colors in a gradient, which we'll need to do to create a
more realistic double rainbow effect. Of course, as with most photo effects, it helps if you start with the right type of image. In
this case, a photo taken outdoors is a good place to start. If it happens to be
a landscape photo taken after a rain storm, even better! I'll be using
Photoshop CS5 throughout this tutorial but any recent version will work.
Here's the photo I'll be starting
with:
Here's what the image will look like
after adding a double rainbow:
The final rainbow effect.
Let's get
started!
Step 1: Add A New Blank Layer
With the
image newly opened in Photoshop, if we look in the Layers panel, we see that we
currently have one layer, the Background layer, which contains our image:
The photo
sits on the Background layer in the Layers panel.
The first
thing we need to do is add a new blank layer above the Background layer. To do
that, click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:
Click on the
New Layer icon.
Photoshop
adds a new blank layer named "Layer 1" above the Background layer.
Double-click directly on the name of the layer and change it to
"Rainbow", since we'll be adding our initial rainbow to this layer.
Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the
name change:
Rename the
new layer "Rainbow".
Step 2: Select The Rainbow Gradient
As I
mentioned, Photoshop ships with a ready-made rainbow gradient for us to use.
It's not one of the gradients that Photoshop makes available to us by default,
but all we need to do is load it in manually. To do that, select the Gradient
Tool from the Tools panel:
Select the
Gradient Tool.
Then, with
the Gradient Tool selected, click on the Gradient Picker in the Options
Bar at the top of the screen:
Click on the
Gradient Picker in the Options Bar.
This opens
Photoshop's Gradient Editor which shows us small thumbnails of the
gradients we can choose from. By default, the rainbow gradient isn't one of
them, so let's load it in. Click on the right-pointing arrow in the top
right of the Gradient Editor:
Click on the
small arrow.
A list of additional
gradient sets appears. The one we want is Special Effects. Select it
from the list:
Select the
"Special Effects" gradients.
Photoshop
will ask you if you want to replace the original gradients with the Special
Effects gradients or simply append them to the bottom of the list. Click Append
so you'll still have the original gradients available, and the new Special
Effects ones will be added below them:
Click
"Append" to add the new "Special Effects" gradients in with
the original gradients.
With the new
Special Effects gradients added, the one we want - Russell's Rainbow -
is the last one at the bottom. If you have Photoshop's Tool Tips enabled in the
Preferences (they're enabled by default), you'll see the name "Russell's
Rainbow" appear when you hover your mouse over the gradient's thumbnail.
Click on the thumbnail to select the gradient, then click OK to exit out of the
Gradient Editor:
Click on the
"Russell's Rainbow" thumbnail to select the gradient.
Step 3: Select "Radial Gradient" From The Options
Bar
To make the
rainbow gradient appear as an arc when we draw it, go back up to the Options
Bar at the top of the screen and click on the Radial Gradient option:
Select
"Radial" from the Options Bar.
Step 4: Drag Out A Rainbow With The Gradient Tool
To add the
rainbow colors to the image, all we need to do is drag out a gradient. I want
my rainbow to appear as if it's touching the ground behind the group of trees
on the left of my photo and then arching high above the larger tree on the
right. To do that, I'll position my mouse almost at the edge of the photo near
the bottom right corner, in line horizontally with the bottom of the trees on
the left. I'll click on that spot to set the starting point for my gradient, and
with my mouse button still held down, I'll drag all the way across the image to
a point just beyond the left of the trees. Holding my Shift key down as
I drag will limit the direction I can drag in, making it easy to drag
horizontally:
Dragging out
a radial rainbow gradient from right to left in the image.
When you
release your mouse button, Photoshop draws the rainbow gradient. It doesn't
look terribly realistic just yet, but it's a start:
Photoshop
draws the gradient when you release your mouse button.
Step
5: Change The Blend Mode Of The Rainbow Layer To "Screen"
Go up to the blend mode options in the top left of the Layers panel (it's the
drop-down box set to "Normal" by default) and change the blend mode
of the Rainbow layer to Screen:
Change the blend mode of the rainbow
layer to Screen.
The colors of the rainbow will now
blend in better with the photo behind them:
The rainbow after changing its blend
mode to Screen.
Step
6: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter
Let's blur the colors of the rainbow
together so it looks more realistic. Go up to the Filter menu in the
Menu Bar at the top of the screen, choose Blur, then choose Gaussian
Blur:
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian
Blur.
This opens Photoshop's Gaussian Blur dialog box. Drag the Radius
slider at the bottom of the dialog box towards the right to increase the amount
of blurring being applied to the rainbow, keeping an eye on the image as you
drag the slider so you can see a preview of what's happening. Continue dragging
the slider to the right until the transitions between the colors look more soft
and natural. The actual Radius value you end up choosing will depend a lot on
the size and resolution of your image. For me, a value of around 50 pixels
works well. Click OK when you're done to close out of the dialog box:
Drag the Radius slider to soften the
color transitions in the rainbow.
Here's my image after applying the
Gaussian Blur filter:
The rainbow now looks more realistic
after applying the Gaussian Blur filter.
Step
7: Add A Layer Mask
Click on the Layer Mask icon
at the bottom of the Layers panel:
Click the Layer Mask icon.
Nothing will happen yet in the
document window, but Photoshop adds a layer mask thumbnail to the right of the
main preview thumbnail on the Rainbow layer. If you look closely, you'll see a
white highlight box appearing around the layer mask's thumbnail. This tells us
that the mask, not the layer itself, is selected:
The layer mask thumbnail tells us
that a mask has been added.
Step
8: Choose The Black To White Gradient
With the Gradient Tool still
selected, right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) anywhere inside the document
window to quickly access the gradient presets thumbnails, the same ones we saw a moment ago
in the full Gradient Editor dialog box. Select the Black to White gradient
by clicking on its thumbnail (third from the left, top row). Press Enter
(Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to close out of the gradient list:
Click on the Black to White
gradient's thumbnail to select it.
Step
9: Choose "Linear Gradient" From The Options Bar
Go back up to the Options Bar and
this time, click on the Linear Gradient option:
Click on the "Linear"
gradient icon.
Step
10: Drag A Black To White Gradient On The Layer Mask
A real rainbow would usually appear
to get brighter as it reaches higher into the sky, so we're going to give our
Photoshopped rainbow that same effect by dragging a black to white gradient
from the base of the rainbow (the point where the rainbow and the ground should
meet) to the top of the image. To do that, with my Gradient Tool selected, I'll
click my mouse somewhere along the bottom of the trees on the left. Then, with
my mouse button still held down, I'll hold down my Shift key as well and
drag straight up to the top of the image. Holding down Shift makes it easy to
drag in a vertical direction:
Drag a black to white gradient from
the base of the rainbow to the top of the image.
When I release my mouse button,
Photoshop draws the black-to-white gradient. Since the gradient was drawn on
the layer mask, not on the layer itself, we don't see the actual gradient in
the image. Instead, the rainbow now appears to start near the bottom of the
trees on the left and gets brighter as it reaches higher into the sky:
The rainbow no longer extends all
the way to the bottom of the photo thanks to the layer
Step
11: Duplicate The Rainbow Layer To Increase Its Brightness
To increase the brightness of the
rainbow, simply press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate the layer. If, after
duplicating the layer, you find the rainbow is now too bright, dial it
back a few notches by lowering the opacity of the duplicated layer. You'll find
the Opacity option directly across from the blend mode option at the top
of the Layers panel. I'm going to lower mine down to around 70%:
Press "Ctrl+J" (Win) /
"Command+J" (Mac) to duplicate the rainbow layer, then lower the new
layer's opacity as needed.
Here's my image after duplicating my
rainbow layer and then lowering the opacity:
The rainbow now appears brighter.
Step
12: Group The Two Rainbow Layers
Let's do a little housekeeping in
the Layers panel by grouping the two rainbow layers together. Grouping related
layers makes it easier to keep the Layers panel organized. With the top layer
selected, hold down your Shift key and click on the original Rainbow
layer directly below it to select both layers at once. You'll see them both
highlighted in blue, letting you know they're both selected:
Select both rainbow layers.
Then go up to the Layer menu
at the top of the screen and choose Group Layers:
Go to Layer > Group Layers.
Photoshop will group the two layers together
in the Layers panel. Photoshop names the new group "Group 1". By
default, the layer group will be closed, preventing us from seeing the two
layers inside of it, which is fine for now:
The two rainbow layers are now
inside "Group 1".
Step
13: Add A New Blank Layer
We have our initial rainbow. Now
let's add a second one to create a double rainbow effect! First, we'll need a
new layer, so click once again on the New Layer icon at the bottom of
the Layers panel:
Add another new layer.
The new layer will appear above the
layer group in the Layers panel. Double-click on the new layer's name and change
it to "Second rainbow", then press Enter (Win) / Return
(Mac) to accept the name change:
Rename the new layer "Second
rainbow".
Step
14: Re-Select The Rainbow Gradient
Click once again on the Gradient
Picker in the Options Bar at the top of the screen:
The Gradient Picker is currently
showing the black to white gradient.
When the Gradient Editor opens,
click again on the Russell's Rainbow thumbnail to select the rainbow
gradient, but don't close out of the Gradient Editor yet. We need to make some
changes to it:
Re-select the Russell's Rainbow
gradient.
Step
15: Flip The Order Of The Colors In The Gradient
Whenever we see a double rainbow in
nature, the colors in the second rainbow are always in reverse order, which
means we need to reverse the order of the colors in our gradient. With the
Gradient Editor still open, click on the blue color stop directly below
the gradient preview bar and drag it towards the left. Then do the same thing
with the green and yellow color stops, dragging them towards the
left. It doesn't matter how far you drag them as long as there's some space
between them. This is just to make sure they don't overlap each other as we
reposition them. Leave the red color stop in place:
Drag the blue, green and yellow
color stops towards the left just to spread them out temporarily.
Click on the red color stop
to select it, then enter a value of 82% into the Location option.
This will place the red color stop in the same location that the blue color
stop was in originally:
Click on the red color stop, then
enter 82% for the Location.
Next, click on the yellow color
stop to select it, then set its Location value to 85%. This
moves yellow into the spot originally held by green:
Click on the yellow color stop, then
enter 85% for the Location.
Click on the green color stop
to select it, then set its Location value to 88%, which moves
green into yellow's original location:
Click on the green color stop, then
enter 88% for the Location.
Finally, click on the blue color
stop and change its Location value to 92%, placing it in
red's original spot:
Click on the light gray stop above
the gradient preview bar and change its Opacity value to 0%.
Step
16: Drag Out Another Rainbow Gradient
With the colors in the gradient now
reversed, we're ready to create our second rainbow. First, I'm going to hide my
original rainbow from view temporarily by clicking on the layer group's visibility
icon (the eyeball) in the Layers panel:
Clicking on the visibility icon
turns layers or layer groups on or off in the document.
Then I'll drag out a rainbow
gradient just as I did back in Step 4: First, I need to re-select the Radial
Gradient option in the Options Bar so the gradient will appear as an arc:
Select the Radial Gradient option
again.
Then I'll click and drag out my
second rainbow in the same location as the first one:
Dragging out a second rainbow
gradient in the same spot.
When I release my mouse button, Photoshop draws the gradient, looking very
much like the first one except that this time, the order of the colors is
reversed:
The second rainbow gradient with its
colors reversed.
Step
17: Change The Blend Mode To Screen
Just as we did with the first
rainbow, change the blend mode of the new rainbow from Normal to Screen:
Set the blend mode to Screen.
The colors of the rainbow now blend
in better with the image:
The second rainbow set to the Screen
blend mode.
Step
18: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter
Since the Gaussian Blur
filter was the last filter we applied, we can quickly re-apply it with the same
settings by pressing Ctrl+F (Win) / Command+F (Mac). Just as before, the color
transitions now appear softer and more natural:
The rainbow once again appears more
realistic after blurring the colors.
Step
19: Copy The Layer Mask Onto The Second Rainbow Layer
We need to add a layer mask at this
point and draw a black to white linear gradient on the mask to hide the the
rainbow below the point where it should be touching the ground and have it
appear to increase in brightness as it reaches further into the sky, just as we
did back in Steps 7-10 with the original rainbow. But why go through all that
hassle again when we can just copy one of the layer masks we've already created
onto the second rainbow's layer! To do that, I'll first need to open my layer
group by clicking on the small triangle to the left of the group's name:
Click on the triangle to twirl open
the layer group.
With the layer group open and the
two layers that make up the original rainbow now visible, hold down your Alt
(Win) / Option (Mac) key, click on the layer mask thumbnail for the
"Rainbow copy" layer and drag it up to the second rainbow's layer:
Hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac)
and drag the layer mask thumbnail onto the top layer.
When you see a highlight bar appear
around the second rainbow's layer (shown in the previous thumbnail), release
your mouse button. Photoshop copies the layer mask onto the second rainbow's
layer:
The layer mask has been copied from
one layer to another.
If we look at the image in the
document window, we see that the bottom of the rainbow now fades out just above
the trees, just like the original rainbow:
The image after copying the layer
mask to the second rainbow's layer.
Step
20: Move The Second Rainbow Into Position
All that's left to do now is to move
the second rainbow into position. Select Photoshop's Move Tool from the
Tools panel, or press the letter V on your keyboard to quickly select it
with the shortcut:
Select the Move Tool.
Before I move anything, I'll turn
the original rainbow back on in the document by clicking once again on the
layer group's visibility icon in the Layers panel:
When a layer or group is hidden, the
eyeball in the visibility icon is also hidden.
Then, with the Move Tool selected
and both rainbows now visible in the document, click inside the document window
and, with your mouse button still held down, drag the second rainbow into
place. I'm going to drag mine up and to the left so only a small part of it
appears in the top left corner of the photo:
Use the Move Tool to drag the second
rainbow into place in the image.
Step
21: Lower The Opacity Of The Second Rainbow
Finally, since I don't want my
second rainbow to appear as bright as the original, I'll lower its opacity down
to around 70% at the top of the Layers panel:
Lowering the opacity of the second
rainbow.
And with that, we're done! Here,
after lowering the opacity, is my final Photoshop double rainbow effect:
The final rainbow effect. soo simple ^_^