Liven Up Action Shots With Light and Bubble Trails In Photoshop

Photo manipulation is an awesome field of design, and can be a lot of fun. There are almost endless possibilities as to what you can do with an image. There are many techniques to help you liven up and add color to images. Today, I will go over how to use colorful bubble trails and light trails to bring a dark action shot to life.

Step 1

Create a new document that’s exactly 800 by 450 pixels. Set the resolution rather high, around about 500.

Of course, we will need an image. I used a beautiful image by Maurizio Polese on Flickr.

Download the image. Be sure to use the largest size, then, copy the image into your new document.

Step 2

First, we need to create the “bubble” trails. Using the pen tool, create a squiggle going over the front skater’s body, and sweeping down towards the board.

Step 3

Before continuing, we need to set the brush to scatter and jitter. Use one of the soft brushes, about 2o pixels in size. Then open the brush window. Apply all of the settings shown below.

Step 4

Before continuing, set your foreground color to something dark, I used #212332.

Then, with the pen tool, right click the work path. In the menu, select stroke path. In the window, select brush and make sure to check “Simulate Pressure.” This will apply a nice fade to the ends.

Step 5

Then, create a new layer on top. Using the “Transparent Rainbow” preset that Photoshop provides, create a gradient on the new layer. The gradient should be at an angle and extend from the top of the trail to the bottom.

This is what it will look like after you have made your gradient. Notice the angle and position.

Step 6

Then, hit CTRL + Click on the layer below, the one with the trail itself. In the layers window, select your gradient layer. Then go to Select > Select Inverse. Finally, click delete.

Step 7

This will apply color to our trail. Set that layer to Overlay. You can duplicate the gradient layer for more color intensity and play around with the opacity.

Step 8

Next, we need to erase some of the trail so that it wraps around the skater and adds dimension. Using the erase tool, clear all of the trail layers (gradient and base) until you can completely see the skater’s calf. This is shown below.

Step 9

Now it’s time for the next trail. Create another swooping line with the pen tool on the second skater, like shown below.

Before we fill the trail, we need to make some slight adjustments to the brush settings.

Step 10

Then, using the pen tool, right click and select stroke path. Again, select Brush and Simulate Pressure.

This is what it should look like once the path is filled.

Step 11

Then, make a new layer on top. Like before, make a gradient using the rainbow transparency preset. To mix it up a bit, I only covered the path with the colors green to pink. Whether you do this or not is your choice.

Then, follow the same steps as with the last trail. CTRL + Click the thumbnail of the base layer. Select the gradient layer, and change the selection to the inverse. Then click delete.

Set the gradient layer to Overlay. Like with the first trail, play around with the opacity. Duplicate and merge layers to increase the intensity of the color.

Step 12

Now we need to erase again. Erase all the layers of the new trail so that it goes behind the leg on the right and behind the board.

Also, you need to erase around the other skater’s foot so the dimension stays.

Step 13

Our bubble trails are now complete. The next part is adding light trails. Create a line starting above the first skaters knee, and bring it down so that is swirls around the skateboard, as pictured below.

As the foreground color, select an orange, about #dd6e13. Then, turn off all of our previous brush settings; select a 5 pixel brush. Right click the pen path, and click “Stroke Path.” Use the Brush setting and click “Simulate Pressure.” To make it more intense, copy the layer multiple times and merge the layers.

Step 14

Now apply a gradient overlay. Use a gradient that goes from dark orange to light orange, then back to dark. I used a gradient going from #dd6e13 to # ffc392 and back to #dd6e13.

Then apply an outer glow. For all the outer glows you should use a color that is more intense than the inner color of the light trail. I used #ff7300 here. Then apply blend mode to Normal and opacity to 100%.

Finally, erase some of the trail so that it goes behind the skater’s leg.

Step 15

Now we will create a yellow trail. Use the pen tool to make a line like shown below. Select the foreground color #fffd31 and stroke the path. Also, to make it more intense, copy the layer multiple times and merge the layers.

Step 16

Apply another gradient overlay going from #fffd31 to #fffec3 and then #fffd31

Apply an outer glow using the color #fffc00. Use the same settings as the orange light trail.

Then erase the trail so it travels behind the skater’s body and then behind the bubble trail.

Step 17

We will create another light trail around the arm. Set the foreground color to #47b5f4. Make a pen path like shown below, starting at the top of the arm an moving to the hand.

Then, apply a gradient using #47b5f4 to #c6eaff and then #47b5f4. Adjust the middle color, the lighter one, until you get the effect below. Then, erase parts of the trail so it wraps around the arm. Apply an outer glow with the color #00a3ff, once again using the same settings.

Step 18

Then, set the foreground color to #47f47c so you can create a green trail. Use a shape similar to the one shown below.

Apply a gradient using #47f47c to #baffcf and then #47f47c. Make an outer glow with #00ff4e. Then, erase the trail so it goes behind his front leg.

Step 19: Continue Adding Light Trails

After you have created those trails, continue the process using different colors and brush sizes. First, create a path with the pen. Stroke the path, and duplicate the layers to intensify the color. Then, apply a gradient and outer glow. Afterwords, use the eraser to make the trails wrap around the body.

Here, I also made a red light trail. Feel free to play around with this and experiment.

Step 20

To add further detail, you can also add some very small dots throughout the image. I used a light blue, #33d5fe and a 10 pixel soft brush. Then, I set the jitter and scattering like before, and threw some of this in random spots. Then, I used a 1 pixel Guassian Blur.

Finished! Download the PSD!

Awesome! That’s it, here is the final image once again, and the PSD download.

PSD File

Tagged as: Photography, Photoshop