View new posts | View your posts Trap Effects In Photoshop Help?

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Anyone have any tips on how to create good effects for the trap in photoshop?

What does your back-ground plate look like, is it a close-up of the trap or a wide-shot?

i have the same question....

not to hijack.

Photoshop is just one of those things that definitely needs a picture of some kind before anyone can help with a technique.

dark background light source behind the camera

Well it will proly a wide shot in a video. Trying to get the lighting effects right. For example, if you are looking at the side of the trap or front in a wide shot. I am not sure right now. Might be easier to put bright lights in the trap and then add in the effects after that.

If it's for a video, you probably don't want photoshop, you probably need AfterEffects or the like.

And yes, putting a bright light in the trap will help a little bit. Just drawing a cone of light coming out of a trap won't look right unless that light is also illuminating objects in the room. Having a real-world light source will illuminate the room naturally and there will be less you have to add in later.

Here's a quick rendering of the effect I did in Photoshop. If you want specific steps I can outline the basic process for you.

Cole,

Try to avoid using the Photoshop lense flares, as they carry more of a negative connotation these days. One of the things I've been meaning to do ever since I made my Proton Stream tutorial (due for a rewrite at some point) is to do a similar breakdown for the Trap effects. It won't be all that applicable for video, but it will be useful for still photography.

Well if lens flares ain't yo thang, then you can simply use a circular gradient and make your own.

Cole,

First layer:
Draw a tan trapezoid coming out of the trap.
Apply 4-16 pixel gaussian blur.
Set transparency to 10%-33%.

Second layer:
Fill with black.
Set to screen blend mode.
Draw a white dot where the center of the trap is.
Add a lens flare at that location. (People may hate lens flares but the original trap effect used one.)
Adjust brightness and contrast as desired.

Third layer:
Set to screen blend mode.
Draw blue lightning bolts going from screws on trap to ground, and wrapping around handle and trap hose.

Fourth layer:
Copy third layer.
Set transparecyt to 10%.
Apply 4-16 pixel gaussian blur to make lighting bolts glow.

Fifth layer:
Set to soft light.
Fill white.
Draw black shadow around trap and hose as if from light above.
Gaussian blur 4 pixels.
Adjust levels of layer until desired effect is achieved.

Sixth layer:
Set to screen.
Draw purple squiggly lines each around half the length of the trap coming out of trap.
Blur 4 pixels.
Set transparency as desired.

Seventh layer:
Repeat step 6, but with orange.

Eighth layer:
Set to screen,
Draw clusters of tan dots, like sparks flowing into trap.
Blur 4 pixels.
Adjust transparency as desired.

That should about cover it. Instead of screen blend you could also use soft light, hard light, overlay, color dodge, or many other blending modes to get a different effect, though screen will probably be closest to the film.