How To Add "Virtual" Light To A Lamp In Photoshop

On this quick and simple video tutorial, photographer Anthony Morganti looks at adding a light to a lighting fixture using Adobe Photoshop.

This is a really simple tip but useful one if you want to add light to a lamp which isn’t lit. You start with a new layer and all you need to do is to pick a white brush and make sure it is set to 0% hardness and just a little bit bigger than the light fixture that you are trying to lit.

That is basically all there is to it, however you can improve the result by adding a photo filter with the color that you want – just remember to clip it to only effect the layer below it (see Morganti’s demo in the video – around 3:00). In this way you can have either cool or warm lights, or have them shine in whatever color you want.

If you are unaware of the photo filter – this is a nice tool to use in general for your images – just don’t over do it.

You can find many other Photoshop video tutorials on LensVid’s Photoshop section. We have covered many of Morganti’s other videos which you can find here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.