ray_of_light

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Ray of Light - # 02

This effect was developed by the incredible Pam R. from dpreview forums trying to imitate master photographer Rarindra Prakarsa. This tutorial is not my idea, I'm only adapting it for GIMP.

01. Open image.

02. Create a new neutral gray layer (RGB values of 128). Go to Filters > Noise > HSV Noise and enter the following values : Holdness = 2, Hue = 0, Saturation = 0, Value = 255. Rename top layer to "ray of light".

03. Go to Filters > Blur > Motion Blur and enter these values : Blur Type = Linear, Length = 256, Angle = 270.

04. Repeat the Motion Blur filter ( Ctrl + f ) until you get clear lines.

05. Use the Perspective Tool to give shape to the clear lines.

06. This is the final shape of the clear lines.

07. Now resize the layer to the size of the image. Go to Layers > Layer to image size.

08. Change top layer's mode to Screen and add a white layer mask.

09. This is perhaps the most important and difficult step to produce a good image. With the Blend Tool and Gradients and a black brush start painting on the layer mask trying to make the rays of light as natural as possible. I know absolutely NOTHING about drawing, painting or perspective so I guess that if you have good drawing skills you'll get incredible results. This is the layer mask :

10. Now blur the rays of light. Go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. For this image the Blur Radius = 80. You'll need to experiment with different values.

11. Duplicate top layer to increase the intensity of the rays of light.

12. For this image I wanted an even stronger effect so a third ray of light layer was added. Top layer's opacity was reduced to 48 %.

13. Final image :