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This technique is useful for making different effects editable. Usually
when running a filter such as the Lens Flare, it goes straight onto your
image, without you having a choice in how bright or dark it is, or what
colors and characteristics the tones have. This will show you how to get
past that problem.
1. Create a new canvas in Photoshop, 300 x 150 pixels, with a transparent
background. Select a color as your foreground color (I used a bland purple,
hex value of #6633CC).
2. Select the paint bucket tool 
and left-click on the canvas to fill the layer with your foreground color.
Okay, into some technical stuff :) The "screen" blending mode
acts as a layer mask, in that it will make white pixels visible, while
black pixels won't appear at all. This is a very loose definition, in
that it's not only black and white that is effected, all grayscale tones
in between are also changed when the blending takes place. The grayscale
tones will blend into the image, hence becoming transparent, while black
disappears and white color levels are increased. If you didn't get any
of that, just read on, and you'll figure it out by the end, I promise.
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5. Now hide the layer with the screened lens flare by pressing the eye
 in the
layers palette. Make a new layer above the screened lens flare, and fill
this with a mid-range grey (hex value #666666). Run the lens flare filter
again, and change the blending mode to "Screen". Notice how the
grey, when screened, causes the underlying color (the purple) to become
lighter. This is due to the grey becoming transparent as it blends in with
the underlying layer, instead of disappearing altogether as with the black. |
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, and
fill this layer with pure black. Select the "Filter >Render >Lens
Flare" menu command, select the flare you want and the angle and height
it comes from. Press OK, and your canvas should look like so:
