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[USER=142829]@Tom E[/USER] ,

I use Photoshop CS5, so your CS6 version will have whatever I have. I found and watched the tutorial you referenced. The only tool you don't have readily available—very late in the video—is when they use the Camera Raw filter. That last Camera Raw step is a very subtle refinement, almost unnoticeable, and unneeded, in my opinion. Also, the video went too quickly right there and it's not even clear what or why those Camera Raw adjustments are. With a few caveats, you should be able to fairly easily replicate the glowing effect on your heart image.


First, the caveats:

  • Your heart image is a poor candidate for a glow effect.
  • Any glowing effect works best against a dark image. In your tutorial, the man is in deep shadows against a dark background. Your heart image is relatively light and mostly monotone, so there is not much opportunity for the glow to be pronounced.
  • Part of the tutorial consists of manually painting a soft magenta glow across the folds of his sweater, his arms, fingers, etc. This "sells" the idea that the glow is reflecting and illuminating the different volumes of the man and his clothing. However, your heart image is simply a flat slab of wood, so there is no opportunity to apply a similar glow across the different folds and shades and volumetric shapes.
  • One of the reasons that the video uses a layer blend mode of "Linear Dodge (Add)" is because that blend mode will create different glowing colors depending on the color of the background image. However, your heart image doesn't have any background color changes to speak of—it's all mostly one monotone.


That said, here's a simple way to achieve the effect:

  • The white outline should ideally be created using the Pen tool (by applying a white stroke to the vector path that was created with the Pen tool). This is what the video does and it's the best choice for a smooth, curved shape like that. However, the Pen tool is often daunting for beginners. You should try to learn it, but if not, you'll have to create the white outline some other way, perhaps drawing it by hand with the Brush tool.
  • Once you've got the white outline (on its own layer), find the fx icon at the bottom of the layers palette and click on it to open the Layer Styles. Choose "Outer Glow" and use these settings (but you can experiment with different settings).
  • As an optional step, add another layer style of Bevel & Emboss. This will give your white outline a hint of volume, as if it's a neon tube.


[ATTACH=full]140188[/ATTACH]




  • On a new layer above that, activate the brush tool and set your foreground color to the magenta glow.
  • Use a fairly large, soft brush and set the Brush Flow to around 15%. Change the layer blend mode to Color.
  • Now paint some additional glowing, both inside and outside the heart.


On the left is what I get following these steps. On the right is what it would be if your starting image were much darker.


[ATTACH=full]140190[/ATTACH]


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