Advanced' Photo Effects Tutorials

1) Getting Started

Start a new Photoshop file with equal dimensions (400x400, 500x500, etc) with a black background at whatever resolution you prefer. For the purposes of this tutorial I've left mine at 72 to save on render time and file size. Make sure that the document is equal in width and height.



Grab your type tool, set your foreground color to white, and select a heavier weight font for a better overall effect. I've used Impact. Type out your word, in my case "blast". As stated in the introduction this effect will work with just about any text, logo, or symbol so if your're not typing it out grab a clean version of your logo (preferably from a vector source for sharp edges) and make it white. Center your text in the document.

2)
Starting the blast

Double click your background layer and rename it "background",this will make a workable layer. Duplicate your text layer, place the original under the background (to save it for later), and rasterize the duplicate (still above the background). Duplicate your background layer. You should now have layers in this order from the bottom up: your original & unrasterized text, your background,the duplicate of the background, & the duplicated rasterized text. With the duped text layer activated hit CTRL+E to merge the duped text and duped background. Now, gaussian blur this new layer by 3 px. Go to filter > stylize > solarize and then hit CTRL+Shift+L to run auto-levels. Duplicate this layer and hide it. Activate your first merged
layer and choose filter > distort > polar coordinates: polar to rectangular. Rotate the layer 90 degrees CW. Hit CTRL+I to invert the layer. Now run filter > stylize > wind: wind from the right. Hit CTRL+F to repeat the filter, CTRL+I again, and then CTRL+F 3 more times. Now use the auto levels again via CTRL+shift+L, rotate the layer 90 degrees CCW and use filter > distort > polar coordinates: rectangular to polar. Use autolevels again (CTRL+shift+L) and then open up the levels window and brighten up the blast.

3) Adding Color and enhancing the rays

Now that is taken care of hit CTRL+U to open up the Hue/Saturation dialog and with the colorize option checked choose a golden color. I used H=51, S=46, L=0. Now, on to the second of the blurred text layers. Activate it and choose filter > distort > polar coordinates: polar to rectangular. Rotate it 90 CW, CTRL+I, and choose filter > stylize > wind: wind from the right. CTRL+I again and CTRL+F to repeat the wind. Now use CTRL+Shift+L, rotate it 90 CCW, and then filter > distort> polar coordinates: rectangular to polar. You should now have a blast somewhat smaller than the last one. If you think it needs it, use the levels dialog to brighten it up and then hit CTRL+U to open the Hue/Sat dialog again. This time (make sure the colorize option is checked) give it a reddish color, I used H=0, S=50, L=0. Set the layer's blend mode to color dodge (this is found in the drop down menu at the top of the layer palette). This will really bring out a fiery color to your blast and give it more depth. Finally, to smooth out the blast select the larger golden blast and go to filter > blur > radial blur: distance=50, zoom, best quality. As always, mess with the levels on the layers if you feel you need to.