There are lots of tutorials online that show how to set your words on fire by adding photoshopped flames to text. But, there are far fewer that offer instructions for incorporating fire into other types of photos. So, this tutorial will show just that: how to hold fire in the palm of your hand… or at least photoshop it so it look like you can.
The First thing you have to do is choose a photo as the base for your design. I chose this image of a woman with cupped hands — the perfect container for our flame. Feel free to save the picture and follow along.
When You open Your photo in Photoshop your first step is to go to the Image pull down menu, then Adjustments, and then Desaturate, exactly as followed in this order: Image -> Adjustments -> Desaturate (Shift + Ctrl + U). That will be your base image.
Now add an Adjustment Layer called . Click the Layer pull-down menu, choose New Layer and Adjustment Layer, select Levels. Make Sure that you Use a Previous Layer to Create a Clipping Mask. Then just slide the dark arrow a little to the right.
As You can see - the image is a little darker now. Now you will draw some fire. Select a soft brush the right size for your image, and using the dark orange color (for example #993300) make a “dot”. Next use a smaller size brush with a lighter color (like #ff9933) and make another dot in the center of the previous dot. Again, choose an even smaller size, a lighter color (for example #ffcc66), and one last time, a smaller size, and a lighter color (#ffff66), and the final dot in the center of all the others.
Ok if you’ve followed all the previous steps now its time to fan the flames with a little “magic”. Use the Smudge Tool (R). Pick a small, soft size, and make “fire tongues”. Just click somewhere inside your dot, click, hold and drag it up. Keep smudging until you’re satisfied with the way your fire looks. Remember that you may change the Strength parameter for softer or stronger flames. You will likely use Alt + Ctrl + Z (undo) many times as you experiment!
Now lets take the time to make this fire a little more realistic by adding some light on the hands. Go to Quick Mask Mode (Q), select big, soft brush, and “draw” where You think that the light should appear.
Leave Quick Mask Mode (Q), and you will see a sellection. You have to inverse it by choosing Select -> Inverse (. Select your Hands Layer, and holding the Alt key add another Adjustment Layer called Color Balance (Use Previous Layer… should be sellected)
Now select your Color Balance Adjustment Layer Mask, and using the black soft brush “erase” some lights, and using white - add some lights until you feel that it looks good.
The next thing you have to do is to create small sparks. You will have to prepare your brush for this operation.
Now with those settings selected draw some sparks over your fire (on A New Layer). Lower the Opacity of this layer (in my case its 64%). Use the orange color picked from your fireball (try to just improvise a bit).
Now change your selection to a regular soft brush (use #ffffcc color or a similar light yellow), select your fireball layer, and make a bright dot inside of it (for a much better effect).
The Final Result:
Your final result should look something along the lines like the picture above. Enjoy!
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