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Glow Effects Digital Scrapbooking: Artistry with FotoGlows

Glow effects digital scrapbooking made simple: add light, color and sun flares to your photos in six steps.
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Glow Effects for Digital Scrapbooking: Create Artistry with FotoGlows

Glow effects for digital scrapbooking: add light, color, and a hint of sunshine to any photo: six steps, one template, and a handful of blending modes.

A good photo can still look a little flat on the page, but a FotoGlow can fix that. It overlays a soft splash of light and color across your photo, guiding the eye to all the good memories.

In this tutorial, you will enhance a photo with a FotoGlow, change the color of that glow, and use blending modes to intensify the effect. Different colors, shapes, sizes, and combinations give you a different result every time, so use this layout idea as a starting point.

The short version: Clip a paper and photo to a template, add a FotoGlow, tint it with a Color Fill layer, then change the blending mode and opacity until the light feels right.

Quick Jump: Table of Contents

What Are FotoGlows?

 

FotoGlows are light-and-color elements. Think soft bursts of color, warm halos, and subtle sun flares. Place one over a photo, and you add atmosphere without affecting the actual photo itself.

Of course, a glow does more than look fabulous. It leads the eye through the scrapbook page design and adds visual interest to your digital scrapbooking layouts and photo artistry designs.

Where to find them: Look in the ValuePacks and MultiMedia categories of the aA store.

What You’ll Need Before You Start

 

Before you open the file, gather these:

Find the complete list of digital supplies used in this layout here.

Step 01

Select a Template

 

A template gives you a quick, easy starting point. Page 8 of Scenic Template Album No. 2 builds the foundation for this layout.

Think of the template as a blueprint. Change it however you like:

  • → Turn the visibility of layers on or off.
  • → Resize, rotate, or reposition the elements on any template layer.
  • → Add, remove, or duplicate frames.

For example, a longer photo frame from page 5 of the album replaced the smaller frame here.

Scenic template album page 8 with a longer photo frame from page 5 swapped in as the layout foundation

Step 02

Establish the Layout Foundation

 

Next, clip a paper and your photo to the focal clipping mask in the template. Artsy Paper #5 from ArtPlay Palette Reflections for example.

1
Open the digital paper and drag it onto the layout with the Move Tool from the Tools Panel.
2
Clip the paper to the large FotoBlendz mask in the template with the Clipping Mask function.
3
Move your photo above the paper in the Layers Panel, then clip it the same way.
4
Duplicate the photo layer by dragging it to the New Layer icon in the Layers Panel.
5
Set the blending mode of both photo layers to Soft Light. Some of the paper texture shows through the muted photo.
6
Add the same Artsy Paper just above the Background layer with the Move Tool.

Where to find Clipping Mask:

Photoshop: Layer > Create Clipping Mask, or CMD/CTRL + OPT/ALT + G

Photoshop Elements: Layer > Create Clipping Mask, or CMD/CTRL + G

Tip: Try different blending modes at different opacity settings. Each combination changes the look of the photo.

Later in the design, the photo was duplicated once more. That copy uses Hard Light at a reduced opacity for extra intensity and definition.

Layers Panel with a clipped paper and two photo layers set to Soft Light blending mode

Step 03

Enhance Your Photo

 

Now add light and color. Both lead the eye and add visual interest.

1
Place FotoGlow #7 from FotoGlow Mix No. 1 at the top of the Layers Stack with the Move Tool.
2
To boost the color, create a New Layer and flood it with a golden yellow hue. This gives a ‘filter’ effect.
3
Clip the Color Fill layer to the FotoGlow layer with the Clipping Mask function.
4
Choose Hard Light from the blending mode menu in the Layers Panel, then reduce the opacity to taste.

Where to find Fill:

Photoshop: Edit > Fill

Photoshop Elements: Edit > Fill Layer

 

Step 04

Embellish a Title

 

Clip photos and FotoGlows to type, and a plain title turns into a focal point.

1
Type your title in a font with bold characters.
2
Convert the type to a non-vector layer by rasterizing (Photoshop) or simplifying (Elements) it.
3
Duplicate one of the photo layers twice and move both copies above the rasterized type layer.
4
Clip both photo layers to the title layer, then resize them and adjust the opacity as preferred.
5
Open two Warm FotoGlow No. 1 files and place them over the title. They echo the sunlight on the mountains.
6
Clip both glows to the photo layers. They then become part of the title’s clipping set.

Where to find Rasterize:

Photoshop: Layer > Rasterize > Type

Photoshop Elements: Layer > Simplify Layer

Bold title with a mountain photo and two Warm FotoGlow layers clipped inside the lettering

Step 05

Colorize a Transfer

 

A FotoGlow can also color part of an ArtsyTransfer. Here, a transfer sits behind the title to ‘matte’ the focal point.

1
Add a Transfer behind the title.
2
Duplicate the Transfer layer to intensify it. Apply the Color Burn blending mode to the top copy.
3
Place a file from Warm FotoGlow No. 1 between the two Transfers, then resize it so the glow colors the circle area.
4
Change the FotoGlow’s blending mode until it best supports your layout.
Two stacked ArtsyTransfers with a Warm FotoGlow between them coloring the circle behind the title

Step 06

Embellish the Design

 

Finish with extra digital assets. Choose from:

Position each one with design principles and element properties in mind. Keep the glow as the star, and let everything else support it.

Finished mountain scenic layout showing glow effects digital scrapbooking with FotoGlows, a clipped title and ArtsyTransfers

Take It Further

 

There are lots of ways to use FotoGlows in your photo artistry. Add color and light to an element. Change the blending mode to change the intensity. Shift the opacity for a subtle touch. A glow can even suggest a sun flare, which adds instant visual interest.

New to layouts? Start with how to make a digital scrapbook page, then come back and add a glow. Also see these related posts and classes:

Add light to your photos

FotoGlows

Soft light, warm color, and sun flares, ready to clip onto photos, titles, and transfers in Photoshop and Elements.

See What’s Inside →

 

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6 Responses

  1. Miki, this is a wonderful and fun tutorial! Thank you for sharing it, and the larger size screen shots of your work space is really helpful! Thanks Miki, and Anna.

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