In 2008 I came up with a technique using the Brush Tool in Photoshop to create a digital bokeh effect. Then I mixed it with some gradient colors blended all together. The effect has become quite popular so I decided to upgrade a little bit the effect. So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a digital bokeh effect with hexagons. We will use the brush engine, patterns, blend modes and basic filters to achieve this effect.
Step 1Open Photoshop and create a new document, I'm using
2560x1440 pixels so I can use it as wallpaper. Fill the background layer with a very dark grey (
#181818).
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 2Add another layer and fill it with a gradient using dark yellow, red and blue for the colors. Use
30º for the angle. After that change the
Blend Mode to Overlay.[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 3Add a new layer and go to
Filter>Render>Clouds. Make sure you have black and white for the background and foreground colors. After that go to
Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use
70 to 100 for the Amount, then change the
Blend Mode to Color Dodge.[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 4Now let's create a hexagon shape to use as brush. Select the
Polygon Tool (U) and create an hexagon with black. After that go to
Layer>Layer Styles>Strokes. Use
7 pixels for the Size and
Inside for the Position. After that go to
Blending Options: Custom and change the
Fill Opacity to 50%.To create the brush just select the hexagon by holding
Command(mac)/Control(pc) and clicking on the thumb of the layer, then go to
Edit>Define Brush. Name your brush and get back to the document with the design.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 5Go to
Windown>Brushes. Select Shape Dynamics and use 40% for the Jitter. Keep the other values the same. Then select
Scattering, select Both Axes for the Scatter and use 700% for the value. The last thing here is
Transfer. Use 40% for the Opacity Jitter and keep the other values with 0%.[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 6Add a new layer and group this new layer, it will be inside a folder. Change the
Blend Mode of the folder to
Color Dodge. With the
Brush Tool (B), select the hexagons brush we created in the previous step, then using white paint the layer with some hexagons.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 7Step 8Duplicate the layer and then go to
Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur again, this time however use
5 pixels for the Radius. Change the
Fill Opacity to 60%. Also with the
Eraser Tool(E) delete some areas that might get too bright.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 9Select the folder in the Layer Palette and go to
Layer>Add Layer Mask>Reveal All. Select the layer mask thumb and go to
Filter>Render>Clouds. After that go to
Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use
20 pixels for the Radius. Applying the clouds fliter with the mask will hide some areas based on the clouds colors.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 10Add a new layer on top of the others and the select the
Paint Bucket Tool (G), change the type to Pattern and select a stripped pattern, the one I used you can
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. After that
rotate it 30º. You will have to duplicate the layer and move it the new copy to fill the whole screen. Select both layers and go to
Layer>Merge Layers. Change the
Blend Mode to Overlay and once again add a layer mask and apply the clouds filter with blur in the layer mask as we did in the previous step.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 11Add a new layer and then group this new layer into a folder. Change the
Blend Mode of the folder to
Color Dodge then select the
Brush Tool (B). With a rounded and very soft brush; use white for the color and paint some light flares.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 12Add a new layer still inside this folder. Get the
Gradient Tool (G) and then click on the gradient to open the
Gradient Editor. Change the
Type to Noise, the Roughness to 100% and select both
Options: Restric Colors and Add Transparency. Fill the layer using this gradient but using an
Angle Gradient type. [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 13With the layer with the Angle gradient selected go to
Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use
10 pixels for the Radius. After that with the brush tool, add another light spot exactly in the middle of the angle gradient.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 14Add a layer on top of the others, then fill this layer with black. with the
Eraser Tool(E) and a big soft and rounded brush, delete the center a few times until you have created a vignette effect. The idea here is to darken the edges of the design.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 15Select all layers and duplicate them, after that, with all duplicated layers selected go to
Layer>Merge Layers. The next thing to do is to go to
Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use
15 pixels for the Radius .[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Step 16Duplicate this blurry layer so you will have 2 layers. For the first one change the
Blend Mode to Overlay and the
Opacity to 40%. For the second one, the one that will be on top of the others, use
Screen for the
Blend Mode and
30% for the Opacity.[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] ConclusionDownload the Photoshop File