Photoshop Sunstar & Lightrays Creation Tutorial

Add side light, enhance the glow around the sun, strengthen or create light rays, and paint subtle highlights along foreground objects and mountains. Max demonstrates how to create more convincing light and atmosphere using both Camera Raw and Photoshop.

Colors strongly influence the mood of a landscape—from lush summer greens and warm autumn reds to the clean whites of a snowy scene. They can also create depth by separating subjects and layers. Max’s techniques help you achieve a beautiful color balance and stronger color separation.

Several elements influence depth, but the separation between layers is one of the most important. Distant layers often appear brighter and softer as light passes through mist, moisture, and particles in the air. Max demonstrates different techniques to create stronger separation, depth, and dimension.

The Linear Gradient works much like a physical graduated ND filter, but gives you far more control over exposure, color, saturation, softness, and other adjustments. The Radial Gradient follows a similar principle but uses a circular or elliptical shape. It is perfect for creatingsoft, cool darkness around the edgeswhile keeping the center warmer and brighter—naturally drawing attention toward the most important part of the image.

Photoshop offers several methods for merging images. The Cylindrical technique often works best for panoramas created from multiple ultra-wide-angle photos, while Reposition is usually better for images taken at longer focal lengths. You will also learn how to merge photos manually when necessary and correct distortion after the panorama has been created.

Recreate this light-bleed effect by using the Clone Stamp Tool to add one—or ideally two—different colors around the illuminated edge. Adding subtle noise prevents color banding and keeps the glow looking natural. The technique itself is simple, but following Max’s complete workflow will help you achieve the best result.