How to Add Sunbeams in Photoshop

1. How to add sun rays in Photoshop

To add a sunray effect, follow these specific steps:

- Step 1: Create a Sunlight Photoshop Brush. Then create a new design set with the size of 3000 x 4000 px and then fill this design with black.

Select the Elliptical Marquee tool, then set the Feather to 200px, then create a circular selection in the center of the canvas.

Create a new Layer, then go to Render => Clouds to duplicate the cloud layer twice and merge all 3 clouds together. This is to make the cloud brighter.

- Step 2: Go to Filter => Blur => Radial Blur and change the settings according to the parameters below:

If the rays are too grainy you should apply another layer of Radial Blur or experiment with Motion Blur.

- Step 3: Duplicate this layer twice and merge all 3 layers together again.

Go to Image => Adjustments => Levels, set the parameters as shown in the image below. The purpose of this step is to determine the light rays.

Once you have merged all the layers together, invert the merged layers using Control/Command-I.
Then go to Edit => Define Brush Preset to preset the brush. Name the brush "Sun Rays".

You can duplicate these layers as many times as you like until they achieve the desired light effect.

- Step 4: Extract the objects and create a new layer right below them. As in the example below we used Select Subject and Layer Mask. 

Set the new layer to Screen, then stamp the sun rays behind the subject.
In this tutorial we used the color #ffe5b7 for the shadow. Reduce the Opacity of the layer to 60%. 

- Step 5: Create a Curves adjustment layer to highlight the neutral colors as you see in the image below. Fill the layer mask with black.

Use the default Round Brush tool to paint white circles on the black mask.
Use the Transform tool to flatten the circles and make them match the perspective of the lawn. Make the circles of different sizes.

View with mask mode to get a better look at the layer mask. 

You can try drawing the dots by hand, remember that the circles don't have to be perfect, you can use a leaf pattern brush to help make the effect more realistic.

- Step 6: With the layer mask selected, go to Filter => Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 25 px.

Go to Filter => Distort => Wave then set the parameters as shown in the image below: 

- Step 7: Duplicate the Curves layer, then invert the layer mask with the Control/Command-I tool.

Changing the Curve anchor is intended to reduce the midrange. 

- Step 8: Finish by adding both the shadow and some of the clipped sunlight to the subject layer and you're done adding sunlight in Photoshop!

2. Weather effects in Photoshop

2.1. 20 sunlight effects

With these 20  sun rays effects you can add sun rays faster and easier.
The high resolution effect with many different sun rays styles helps you add light to your designs easily and extremely useful.

2.2. Solar cover

This sunburst overlay meets a wide range of creative needs, providing incredibly realistic sunburst and light effects.
It comes with 20 high-quality overlays in JPG and transparent PNG formats.

2.3. Hyperrealistic light ray overlay

This effect creates an impressive sunburst effect for your design.
This effect is very easy to use and has high resolution, so photographers and graphic designers should absolutely not ignore it.

These effects not only add depth and dimension to an image, but also help give it a unique, sophisticated look.

2.4. Light overlay for magical book

Applying this effect you can turn ordinary images into extraordinary masterpieces. You can absolutely create fairy-tale sparkles for sunbeams with this amazing effect.

Thus, SaDesign has fully guided readers on how to add sunlight in Photoshop.
We hope you will successfully apply the instructions we provide above to create impressive designs for yourself!

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