Lighting is one of the more difficult aspects of an image to balance, but can be the difference between a printed brochure or poster that grabs attention or gets passed over. In this tutorial we will show you how to add light beams to your image in non-destructive method so you can adjust settings later.

 
1. Copy the image above into Photoshop or use your own. Our canvas is 400px by 400px for this tutorial, so you may need to adjust some settings to suit your needs.

2. Create a new layer in your Layers window (Window -> Layers) by clicking the “Create a new layer” button.

 
3. Make sure your colors are set to the default foreground and background colors. Use the reset button to get your colors where they need to be.

 
4. Go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds.

 
5. Now, go to Filter -> Render -> Difference Clouds. This will produce considerably more contrast than just using the Render -> Clouds. 

6. Hit Ctrl + F a few times (it took us about 5-7) until you get a strong contrast like that below:

 
7. Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast. Push your settings all the way up. In CS4, make sure the Use Legacy box is not checked. If your image washes out completely, back of the brightness setting. You are looking for the following effect:

 
8. Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Levels and use the following general settings. Notice the effect on the image and make that your goal rather than matching our settings perfectly:

 
9. Go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur. We used the following angle because the sunflowers are facing that direction, so adjust your settings accordingly.

 
10. In your Layers window, change the layer blending mode to “Soft Light” or “Overlay” depending on how dramatic a lighting effect you want.

 
11. Soften the effect further by going to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur:

 
12. If you want to keep the sun beams off of a portion of the image, just click the “Add layer mask” button and paint black over the portion of the image you want to be isolated from the effect using the Paint Brush Tool. Use white to bring the effect back.

 
You can repeat the steps above to create a second layer of beams to create a little depth. As always, experiment with the settings until you find your own look that will fit your image.