How to "turn on" stadium lights in photoshop?

[Destin]

Alright guys, so I'm admittedly not much of a photoshop guy. I do 99.99% of my editing in lightroom and very rarely alter images to the point of needing photoshop. That being said, I'm trying something new with this recent senior shoot I'm editing. I want to photoshop it to look like the stadium lights in this photo are on, and everything I try just looks fake and cheesy.

Is there a proper way to do this? Anyone want to enlighten me?

Thanks!

 

[qmr55]

Like this?

 

[zombiesniper]

The problem you're going to have is even if you get the lights to look real, the subject lighting will be giving it away. In order to make this look like the stadium lights were on you would have had to have also lit the subject from a similar angle to the lights.

 

[qmr55]

PS- I also think your horizon is tilted just a tad.

 

[Destin]

The problem you're going to have is even if you get the lights to look real, the subject lighting will be giving it away. In order to make this look like the stadium lights were on you would have had to have also lit the subject from a similar angle to the lights.

I'm not necessarily trying to make it look like the lights are the only thing lighting him. I just want to make the lights look like they were on when I took the photo so that it looks more like a game night photo or something... just to add o the mood.

 

[Destin]

Like this?

View attachment 146226

That's not bad, but still doesn't look real to me. Can I ask how you did it though?

I was playing with the lens flare filters in the attempts where I got my best results.

 

[qmr55]

Truthfully, I just used the brush tool set to white and 0% hardness and sized the brush to be a little under the size of the "socket."

 

[qmr55]

I think, if these are shots you did for the players and their parents, that you wouldn't need them to look 100% legit. Most people wouldn't even give it a thought that it was "faked."

 

[Light Guru]

Because there is NO lighting behind the subject its NOT going to look real you photoshopped the lights on.

Honestly I would say photoshop the lights and the power poll out the severe tilting caused from the lens distortion on them is quite distracting. Having them on would just draw more attention to the distraction.

 

[Destin]

Because there is NO lighting behind the subject its NOT going to look real you photoshopped the lights on.

Honestly I would say photoshop the lights and the power poll out the severe tilting caused from the lens distortion on them is quite distracting. Having them on would just draw more attention to the distraction.

Thank you for your super useful information on how to make the lights being on look realistic.

You're right. The best way to make it look real is to completely remove the secondary subject of the photo that I intentionally used a wide angle lens to include.

I'm not asking how to make the light's interaction with the subject look real. I know that is obviously going to give away to anyone with common sense that this is a composite.

I'm just trying to figure out the best way to make it look like the lights are on without it looking like I just dropped a lens flare filter over top of the light and increased the exposure around it a bit.

Custom brushes? Multiple layers?

Can anyone actually answer the question without giving me their opinion on why doing what I want to do is a bad idea?

 

[Destin]

The problem you're going to have is even if you get the lights to look real, the subject lighting will be giving it away. In order to make this look like the stadium lights were on you would have had to have also lit the subject from a similar angle to the lights.

Which would have lead to the subject being completely backlit and silhouetted. The light comes from a close enough direction that the average person will definitely notice the light looks a little weird, but likely won't know why/how.

 

[Destin]

This is the best I've been able to do so far, and it's better than my early attempts, but I'm really not happy with it.

Ignore the text added, just playing around with ideas.

 

[480sparky]

Six layers. One to 'turn on' the lights using the airbrush tool. The next two to create the two circular lens flares. The next to to create the 2 octagon lens flares. And the base layer was the original.

Adjust the four flare layers to diminish their effects (ie, 'darken' them). Flatten everything and bada-boom, bada-bing.

And I didn't use PS. I used GIMP 2.6.

 

[Destin]

Six layers. One to 'turn on' the lights using the airbrush tool. The next two to create the two circular lens flares. The next to to create the 2 octagon lens flares. And the base layer was the original.

Adjust the four flare layers to diminish their effects (ie, 'darken' them). Flatten everything and bada-boom, bada-bing.

And I didn't use PS. I used GIMP 2.6.

Thank you! You rock! I'll have to play around some more with it

 

[OGsPhotography]

I will suggest you watch some Phlearn and do some courses on Ps if you want to add effects such as turning lights on.

It only takes not knowing one part of the basics to stop you in your tracks in Ps. This forum isnt the best source for Ps tips.

Facebook has some good groups.

Piximperfect uses pretty awesome techniques you can search him on youtube.

A quick Phlearn youtube search will get you started;









After looking at some of these Youtube will suggest enough videos you could spend the rest of your life learning about turning lights on in Ps....

CreativeLive is Free check the " on air" section.
This weekend Photoshop Basics CC with David Cross is playing, layers, blending options, brushes, all important to this task.

There are probably 10+ ways you can do what you want. I can only think of 3 but I dont know much.

1. Brushes, paint it on as suggested.
2. Layers, take a photo of the lights on ( or lights that you like, doesnt have to be the a actual ones) put in layer underneath and blend them in. Use blending options.
3. Effects as you already suggested.


It just comes down to artistry, also know as time and effort, after you learn what tools are available.

Good luck and have fun! I loooove Ps! Csnt wait to see what you come up with.