Create a Neon Glowing Orb in Photoshop: Step-by-Step Tutorial

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Step-by-Step: Create a Neon Glowing Orb in Photoshop

Want to make a cool sci-fi looking orb? Here’s a quick tutorial that works in any recent version of Photoshop (I’m using Photoshop 2024, but it’s been around for ages).

  1. Create a new document – any size works, say 800x800 pixels.
  2. Reset colors – press D to set foreground to black, background to white.
  3. Fill with black – use the Paint Bucket tool or press Alt+Backspace to fill the layer with black.
  4. Add Lens Flare – go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare. Choose 50-300mm Zoom and set Brightness to 100%. Position the flare in the center of your canvas.
  5. Apply ZigZag filter – go to Filter > Distort > ZigZag. Set Style to Pond Ripples, Amount to 50, and Ridges to 10. This creates the rippled glow effect.
  6. Colorize it – press Ctrl+U (or Cmd+U on Mac) to open Hue/Saturation. Check Colorize and adjust the Hue slider to pick any color you like. I usually go for cyan or magenta.

That’s it! You’ll have a neon orb that looks like it could be from a sci-fi movie. Experiment with different lens flare positions and ZigZag settings for unique results. You can also overlay it on a dark background and add glow effects with layer styles.

Feel free to post your results below!

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Topic Summary: Create a neon glowing orb in Photoshop: fill black, add Lens Flare, apply ZigZag with Pond Ripples, then colorize with Hue/Saturation.

:movie_camera: Video Tutorial:

:books: Official Documentation & Reference Links:

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title: Neon Glowing Orb Creation Steps
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flowchart TD
  A[Create New Document] --> B[Draw Circle with Ellipse Tool]
  B --> C[Apply Radial Gradient]
  C --> D[Add Inner Glow Layer Style]
  D --> E[Add Outer Glow Layer Style]
  E --> F[Adjust Glow Colors and Size]
  F --> G[Add Highlights with Brush]
  G --> H[Final Adjustments and Save]
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Ah, the classic pond ripples trick – I remember doing this back in CS2! Still looks neat, especially for a quick effect. Good tutorial for beginners, though I’d suggest using a Smart Filter so you can tweak the ZigZag without redoing everything. Also, if you want a more organic glow, try adding a Gaussian Blur after step 5 before colorizing. Keep it up!

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Nice one! I remember seeing a similar tut ages ago but never tried the animation version. Has anyone here turned this into an animated GIF using the Timeline panel? You could animate the Hue rotation or the ZigZag amount over a few frames – that would look incredible as a loading spinner or a futuristic UI element. Also, for anyone on newer Photoshop versions, note that the Lens Flare filter is now under Filter > Render > Lens Flare (still there!) and ZigZag is under Filter > Distort > ZigZag. No changes there. Thanks for sharing!