Tip of the Week - N is for Neon
N is for NOT “M”!
*note that the shortcut keys are in () and bold *
Ok, so I am totally kidding, sort of. We are skipping “M” for the time being, because it is about masking, and I want it to be fully understandable and easy to follow. It is proving to be a daunting task, but it will be well worth all of the research, time, and rewrites! I promise!
After spending the last few months letting life take over, while spending free time researching and writing about MASKS, I have decided that it would be best to get back on track with smaller more regular tip posts, while still getting “M” together. I’m a little neurotic about keeping things in order, so skipping “M” is proving to be a test! So, enough rambling and on to our TIP!
Not joking this time….N is for NEON!
That’s right, NEON! We are going to do something FUN, FUN, FUN! I am going to walk you through making a NEON glow effect. First we will create NEON glow TEXT and then we will use the NEON glow filter on a photo.
First, select the TEXT TOOL (T) and type out the word(s) you want to make NEON. Then make sure your TEXT LAYER is the active layer.
In Elements 5, click on the EFFECTS icon and in the drop down menus choose LAYER STYLES and WOW NEON. Select the NEON version you like best by double clicking (or click once and click apply). You can adjust the effect by double clicking on the FX icon on the layer to open the Layer Styles dialogue box, and adjust the sliders until you are happy with the effect.
In Elements 6 & Elements 7, click the EDIT tab, click the FULL button, & then click the LAYER STYLES icon in the EFFECTS panel and in the drop down menu choose WOW NEON and select the NEON version you like best by double clicking (or click once and click apply). You can adjust the effect by double clicking on the FX icon on the layer to open the Layer Styles dialogue box, and adjust the sliders until you are happy with the effect.
In Photoshop CS2 (and newer) go up to the MENU BAR click on LAYER > LAYER STYLES > OUTER GLOW. This opens a dialogue box where you can adjust your LAYER STYLE settings. In the STRUCTURE section, set the BLEND MODE to SCREEN, OPACITY to 100%, and click on the color square to choose your NEON color. You also have the option to choose a gradient instead of a solid color here too! In the ELEMENTS section, set the TECHNIQUE to SOFTER, set the SPREAD to 6 (this could be higher depending on the type of text you have chosen), and the SIZE to 30px.
** If you want to try to re-create the ELEMENTS default NEON settings you can add **
• DROP SHADOW ~ SIZE 113px DISTANCE of 0 OPACITY 100%
• GLOWS
o INNER ~ SIZE 71px OPACITY 100%
o OUTER ~ SIZE 12px OPACITY 100%
• BEVEL ~ SIZE 12 DIRECTION UP
• STROKE ~ SIZE 25px OPACITY 100%
This section of NEON uses the NEON GLOW FILTER!
The NEON GLOW filter is more of an artsy crafty effect. This would be best suited for scrapbooking your photos. By no means is it the only use, play with it and see what you can come up with!
First you want to have an image open, then go up to your MENU BAR and click on FILTER > ARTISTIC > NEON GLOW.
In both ELEMENTS and CS (and newer), a big preview window opens, and the right panel has ALL of the Effects folders available and the options for the current Effect. You can change the GLOW SIZE (lower numbers focus the glow in the shadows, higher numbers move the glow to the highlights) and the GLOW BRIGHTNESS (lower numbers allow more of the glow color to be present, higher numbers concentrate the glow color to more limited of an area). To change the GLOW COLOR, click the color box to open the color picker, use the sliders to change the hue and then click in the large color box to select the color you want.
Play with all of the sliders & change up the color to see what you can come up with. While still in the big preview window, if you mess it up too bad, you can “reset” to the starting image, hold down the ALT key (the cancel button turns into a RESET button) and click RESET.
