Creating an Aurora in Photoshop

This tutorial goes through the steps to creating a beautiful skyline above a grassy field. (This tutorial requires Photoshop CS, 7.0 or 6.0.)

I'd recommend making this image 779 pixels wide, so it fits perfectly on a 800x600 screen.



1. Vivid Clouds

• Fill the area with a tan colour. I've used DDCE92 here.
• Create a new layer.
• Press D to set the colours back to black and white.
• Click Filter > Render > Clouds.
• Change the layer's Mode from Normal to Vivid Light. This makes the clouds, well, "vivid" :)
• Keep pressing Ctrl+F to redo the Clouds until you're happy.
  

2 . Brushing in a green area

• Create a new layer.
• Select a medium green colour (I've used #006000 here)
• Choose a fairly large, blurry brush from the drop-down list and brush in an uneven area at the bottom of your image.

3 – Adding grass and a title

• Create a new layer.
• Change your background colour to a slightly darker green than your foreground colour. (I've used #003200 here.)
• In the list of brushes at the top left of the screen, scroll down about two thirds of the way down, and choose Dune Grass. Look out for a brush at size 112, and you'll find it. Change its Master Diameter to 30, and start brushing in your grass. Try to stay roughly at the edge of the green area, though it's not a problem if the green shows through a bit.
• Add in your own text. I've used the Plaza Swash font here. Resist the urge to give your text a bevel or shadow. You don't want to lessen the aurora effect with a big plastic-bevel header. :)
• Click File > Save for Web, and save the image as a gif. I usually use Jpeg, Quality 60, but in this case, a jpeg mashes the strands of grass together. Continue to Complete.....