How to Make a Stylish Glowing Box in Photoshop
In this Adobe Photoshop graphic design tutorial, we are going to create a magical glow effect coming from a box in Photoshop. This is a pretty simple effect that looks great and can easily be adapted for use in other ways.
Final Result
Here is what we’re going to try and achieve. See the large full-scale version by clicking on the image.
Download and set up the stock photo
1 Lets go ahead and get our stock photo. You can download it here. Open it up in Photoshop.
No we want to straighten out the box so click and hold down the Eyedropper Tool in the Tools panel, and then click on the Measure Tool (also known as the Ruler Tool).
2 Now click and drag a line so it follows the bottom edge of the box. Go to Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary. Don’t change the number, click OK. This will straighten out your box.
Now go in and crop the document so there are no white edges showing.
Cleaning up the stock image
3 Since the light source is going to be from the inside, our shadow is going to be different that how it currently is. So, we are going to get rid of the shadow on the cover.
Use the Marquee Tool and select a part of the bright area, then bring that selection into a new layer (Ctrl + J). Bring it over to the left edge and fit it in the corner. (If you use Ctrl + T to transform the layer, then control and move the corners of the box it will skew them to get a better fit.)
4 Add a layer mask by clicking on the Add a layer mask button at the bottom of the Layers panel, and use a soft black brush to mask out the right side of the highlighted area we just duplicated (the middle area of the box).
Play around with it until you get a smooth transition between the two layers and so there aren’t any duplicated areas.
5 Now link the two layers.
Merge them together, Layer > Merge Layers (Ctrl + E).
6 Now we are going to take another selection, this time grab a selection of the entire width of the brighter area we just made. Bring the new selection into a new layer (Ctrl + J). Then blend the new layer like in step 4.
Use the Clone Stamp Tool (S) by first Alt + clicking on an area you want to clone from, then painting the area that needs to be cloned.
Cutting out the box from our stock image
7 Now we are ready to cut out the box.
Go in and use the Pen Tool to cut out the box and bring it into a new document. Use 1680 x 1050 px for its dimensions. Size it down to around 30%.
Creating the background
8 Let’s work on the background. Pick a dark blue color and fill the background (Ctrl + Del).
9 Grab a lighter version of that color, create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and create a radial gradient.
10 Transform the gradient (Ctrl + T), bring it under the box then stretch and squeeze it so it fits like so.
Darken the box
11 We are now going to darken the box. Open up the hue/saturation window, Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation (Ctrl + U). Change your setting like I have them below.
Open up the Curves window, Image > Adjustments > Curves (Ctrl + M) and change your settings to something like what I have.
Putting in the glow
12 Let’s put the glow in the box now. Using the Elliptical Marquee Tools draw a circle so the side edges of the box touch the inside sides of the box.
13 Select the circle layer by using (Ctrl + Right-click) circle layer and create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N). Fill the area with a light blue. Make sure the white circle is the top layer. Click on the white circle layer and transform the circle using Edit > Free Transform (Ctrl + T). Hold down Shift + Alt shrink the circle.
14 Now to give it a glowing look we are going to blur the edges of both the circles. First click on the blue circle layer and then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur. Do the same thing with the white circle.
15 Link the two circles together (click the empty box to the left of the layer, then merge the layers, Layer > Merge Down (Ctrl + E) to merge the two layers.
Now use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to make a box around the bottom part of the circle that isn’t inside the box and delete it.
Creating the outer glow
16 Now we are going to add an outer glow to the circle. Click on the "Add a layer Style" button at the bottom of the Photoshop Layers Panel and select Outer Glow. Adjust the settings like I have them. The color is going to be R: 190 G: 239 B: 255.
17 We are now going to make another radial gradient using white as our color. Put the layer behind the glowing circle and stretch it out so it covers the whole width of the box.
Change the Blending Mode to Overlay. Now duplicate that layer by right-clicking on the layer and selecting Duplicate Layer… in the dialog box (Ctrl + J) to make it brighter.
Adding in the details (floating particles)
18 Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N).
We are going to create some particles floating off the glow. Click on the Brush Tool (B) and get a brush with 0% hardness, around 20 px. Pull up the brush settings (F5).
19 Create a new layer and start painting on a few particles until you get something you like the following. You can adjust the size of the brush and experiment with its settings to get the desired effect.
20 Now go into your layer styles and change your outer and inner glows to what I have below. Drag that layer just below the circle layer.
Giving the box a drop shadow
21 We are going to give the box a little bit of a shadow. Click on the box layer and duplicate the layer (Ctrl + J). Use Ctrl + Right-click on the new layer to select it, and fill it with black #000000.
Drag it below the box layer.
Go to Filter > Blur> Gaussian Blur and change the setting to 12.4. Click OK. Now bump the shadow down a little bit.
22 Click on the Elliptical Marquee Tool, change the feather to 100 px and draw a circle around the box.
Make sure that your foreground is black (#000000) and the background is white (#FFFFFF), then go into Filter > Render > Clouds. Change the Blending Mode of the layer to Soft Light and the opacity to 70%.
Finished!
There you have it, a magical glowing box. I’m going to put my logo in and we are finished!
If you do the tutorial, be sure to link to your version in the comments, we’d love to see your rendition!
About the Author
Tyler Denis is a part-time freelance designer from Ashland, New Hampshire. He is also the creator/writer of the design blog Denis Designs/blog, a website dedicated to bringing quality tutorials and inspiration. You can follow him on Twitter or at his personal site, Denis Designs.
43 Comments
Sam G. Daniel
April 28th, 2009
Thanks for the tutorial. Easy to follow. Will try this later today.
Greg
April 28th, 2009
Awesome tutorial, well explained and great concept!
Matthew Heidenreich
April 28th, 2009
cool result, thanks for the share!
Kostya
April 28th, 2009
I like it, thanx!! ;)
iskandar
April 28th, 2009
Wow! This is totally coooooool! I just can see WOW! Great job man. love it very much.
Fred
April 28th, 2009
wondering what will it look like if we have reflection instead of shadow ;-)
cool, thanks for this tutorial.
cah cepu
April 28th, 2009
cool…
is like magician box…
nice…
thankz for the tutorial…
Jacob Gube
April 29th, 2009
Thanks for all the wonderful compliments everyone! Tyler did a great job writing this tutorial and the effect is stunning. The techniques involved can easily be adapted into other things.
Chris
April 29th, 2009
This is nearly a rip of the following tutorial, albeit with the image changed.
http://abduzeedo.com/amazing-photoshop-light-effect-10-steps
T-Law
April 29th, 2009
Fantastic result, thanks for tutorial.
Mitesh
April 29th, 2009
Thank for taking the time to make this tutorial. It was very helpful…
Cheers!
Joe Vains
April 30th, 2009
Yeah ! Good job ! :) Thanks !
Tyler
April 30th, 2009
Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the comments.
Karen
April 30th, 2009
This is awesome,I can’t wait to try it!
Claire Web
May 1st, 2009
You must have so much spare time! I just want to know how you think of so many different tutorials so often? It’s something very different, but can be applied to so many different things.
manga
May 1st, 2009
this one is a amazing. like true effect.
i like this one.i really appericate the author.
MattyFo
May 1st, 2009
Great tutorial, I just gave it a go (as a photoshop novice!) and this is what I came up with http://www.whatsamattyfo.com/index.php/glowing_box_photoshop_tutorial/
I had trouble with step 17 and step 20 but I feel I learned something.
Also, if anyone wants a psd of my photo, it’s available by following the link.
Jacob Gube
May 2nd, 2009
@MattyFo: That was pretty awesome, thanks for sharing! Well done!
MattyFo
May 2nd, 2009
@JacobGube Thank you for the compliment, most appreciated.
Also, I really appreciate these tutorials as it makes learning so much more accessible and practical. I hope my feedback helps to improve the work done here!
Franky
May 2nd, 2009
Great Tut!
Fuad Ahasan Chowdhury
May 5th, 2009
@Tyler Denis : thanks a lot for this. :) Great tutorials.
Kakasab
May 9th, 2009
ohh great… pretty awesome
fatheadsuk
May 13th, 2009
Really nice result, many thanks for the share
Selvam
May 16th, 2009
nice & easy tutor to follow :)
krike
June 8th, 2009
nice tutorial :D Not to many instructions in each step is really nice, easy to follow.
here my version: http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o134/krike06/images/glowing_box.jpg
Jacob Gube
June 8th, 2009
@krike: That’s very stylish! Awesome job and thanks for sharing it here, it should give people some encouragement to try the tutorial out!
krike
June 8th, 2009
Thanks :D I might make various versions
I have a small question, can I publish it on my deviant account (and facebook)?
Brian
July 9th, 2009
Well the glowing is very unrealistic..
I mean, if a box glowed up like that, you dont think that there would be glow in the front of the box? I think..
It’s good tutorial though..
Lynnette
August 30th, 2009
Great instructions. I made the box and it looks fantastic!
Christara
September 25th, 2009
http://christara.deviantart.com/art/glow-box-butterflys-in-box-138196891
thanks for the great tutorial..
here is my effort,.hope ya like it,..
and thanks again for the lesson,..
byeeeeee 4 now..:)
Jacob Gube
September 26th, 2009
@Christara: That’s pretty cool! If you have Flickr, please help us fill up the Six Revisions User Group by adding your awesome rendition of Tyler’s tutorial. You can go to the group via this URL: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sixrevisions/
Matt Reid
November 13th, 2009
A brilliantly put-together tutorial. Thank you
Alex
December 6th, 2009
Great tutorial!!!!
I used it to do my magic ad!!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30481469&l=1083faa0e4&id=1057713122
hope you like it!
Ciao from Italy
christara
February 11th, 2010
hello jacob gube.
am really sorry but i don,t have a flickr but i am more than happy for any of your friends or yourself on there to upload and enjoy the work.
and i would also like to say a big thanks for the tutorial.
learnt a few new tricks from it.
thankyou very much for the invite and maybe one day when i have more time i,ll get that flickr account set up and join you on there.cheers
have a lovely day.
byee for ..:)
———–quote————
Jacob Gube
September 26th, 2009
@Christara: That’s pretty cool! If you have Flickr, please help us fill up the Six Revisions User Group by adding your awesome rendition of Tyler’s tutorial. You can go to the group via this URL: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sixrevisions/
Sarah
February 14th, 2010
This tutorial was fun. Thank you. Here is what I did with it. http://losingsarah.deviantart.com/art/The-Digital-Designers-Toolbox-154092798 Again, thank you.
Mahmudur Rahman
March 18th, 2010
Awesome tutorial. Very nicely explained. Thanks for sharing this nice post. :)
free71
July 21st, 2010
Great instructions.
I made the box and it looks fantastic!
halley
December 29th, 2010
this tutorial is great..i myself tried it also..tnx
NP
March 18th, 2011
JUST what I was looking for. Excellent tutorial.
wawa
June 10th, 2011
i lost at step 17. can u explain more. tq, new user here ^_^V
Murugesan.J
July 1st, 2011
really super….
Pari
September 5th, 2011
Thank you. I am fairly new at this and I was able to follow what you were doing. I am very happy with the result I have and am now trying it in other ways!
ifliandry
October 30th, 2011
Good tutorial. I like it a lot.
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