How many of you like to add atmospheric effects to your work to give them more life? This is completely subjective but I tend to add fog and light streaks to my automotive glamour work to give it a little more “pop.”
Aaron Nace over at Phlearn recently released their latest Photoshop tutorial video showing how to add fog and light streak to your photos. This method is a different approach how I add my effects, but it’s still a great way to add them. This method is based on using custom brushes which has been included for download for use.
Wither or not you created the fog effect in camera, adding it in post is always an option. It’s great to get it right in camera as well as most of the effects, but sometimes you cannot control how it comes out. It can be tricky; maybe you wanted the fog to be thicker in certain areas or wrapped around the subject more. Giving it a little extra touch in post production to fit your vision can dramatically change how your image looks.
In the photo used for the video, most of the fog was done during the shoot with a fog machine, but as we see it didn’t exactly fill up the photo as Aaron would of liked. Grabbing the custom brush based off a cloud, the thinner area of the fog is thickened with a few layers of additional brush strokes.
Once the fog is complete to the desired effect, Aaron then adds some light streaks to complete his image. Using the same brush on an increased flow, he draws in lines that will be blurred with radial blur to create the light streaks. As Aaron shows us, he builds up the light streaks over a few layers, which is the same thing I do in my work. I think it gives a little more control being able to adjust them in groups to achieve the desired effect. Instead of using the eraser tool as he shows, I would suggest masking out the areas which he did for the fog portion of the video. This way you can always paint back if need. For my light streaks, I usually click at one point of the line, and then shift click at the other end to have Photoshop complete that straight line for me.
You can download the Phlearn Fog Brush and sample image from the video here.
Next time you snap a photo and the fog isn't exactly working how you want it, or maybe you want to add some where there wasn't any before you can apply this method to give your work some more atmospheric effect. Give it a try and post your results below, or maybe show of some that you have already added in post.
