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Read
this first!:
The key to this tutorial is working with shadows. The goal
is to "undo" the shadow under the car and replace it
with a neon glow. You can choose any color you wish.
I chose green for my car.
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We
are going to take this Volvo and ghetto-ize it with some neon
under glow.
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The
first step is to make a selection around the car in which the
neon glow will occupy. Follow the underside of the car
closely. The rest of the selection area doesn't matter
because we will be erasing it later.
Tools used this
step:
Poly Lasso

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Create
a new layer by going:
- Layer
-New
-Layer
Then fill the selected area with your desired
neon color by using the paint bucket.
Tools used this
step:
Paint Bucket

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Your
layer window should look similar to this:
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Now
we are going to use our eraser tool (using the airbrush/fade
brush style, not the hard-edge).
Erase the outer portions of the neon and parts of the neon where
the light wouldn't touch. (ie: in front of the front
wheel should be dark. Think of the sun being underneath
the car and envision where shadows would lie.)
Tools used this
step:
Eraser

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Now
change the layer blending option to "overlay" on the
layer that has the neon on it.
(Or you can
just lower the opacity of the neon layer and call it quits here.
However I feel the overlay method achieves a more realistic
effect in most photos.)
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You'll
notice the neon lost some of its strength when you changed
the layer blending mode to "overlay" To add more
beef to it, simply make a copy of that layer.
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Now
our Volvo is ready for some late-night California cruisin'!
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TIPS:
- For added
realism, create another layer and fill the entire thing with
your neon color. Change that layer blending mode to
"overlay." Then erase the top half of that layer
and what falls over the car and the very outer edges of the
canvas. Then lower the opacity a pretty good amount.
This will create a bigger spread of the light around the car,
but barely noticeable. However, it will prove to be a
little bit more realistic
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