Making a star field

To start, first create a new document of your

preferred size with a black background. Its
important to make sure it's a BLACK background;
otherwise, you could possible get undesirable
color effects later.
Next, create a new layer, name it "small stars,"
and make it completely black as well. We're doing
this because later we'll be erasing, and we want a
pure black background to show through the holes
we create in this new layer.
Now add noise to the picture. To do this, go to
Filters > Noise > Add Noise and generate a noise
field using the following settings: Amount: 10%,
Gaussian, Monochromatic. This will make a very
subdued but detailed noise field. It may look dim,
hard to see, and unlike stars, but keep it like that
for now. Once the image gets brighter, it's hard to
go back to dimmer stars (trust me on this).

The next step is to "diversify" the star field by

bringing out the brighter stars and getting rid of
the dimmer, almost invisible stars so they don't
clutter up our space scene later.
Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness &
Contrast and run Brightness: -30 Contrast: 75.
You'll notice some appreciable (but still subtle)
results right away.
In these beginning steps, keep things low-key and
subtle. Right now, we're just laying the
groundwork. Brighter stars come later.

We're not done yet not by a long shot. Duplicate

your small stars layer and name the duplicate
"large stars."
Run Brightness & Contrast again, this time with
Brightness: -100, Contrast: 50. This thins out the
stars even more to leave only a few fairly bright
ones.
Then scale the large stars layer by hitting ctrl + T
and dragging while holding the shift and alt keys
to keep the proportions of the layer consistent.
[The concurrent keys on a Mac are CommandShift]
Scale the large stars layer to approximately twice
the size of the original. You'll need to zoom out a
decent amount to do this, and don't worry about
the fact that most of your new layer is outside the
image boundaries what we're about to do will
apply itself to the whole layer regardless.

Invert (ctrl + I) your large stars layer. We're doing

this because it's easier to see the results of the next
step with black specks on white. You should now
have a whole bunch of fuzzy grey specks.
Hit ctrl + L to bring up the Levels dialogue box
and enter the following settings into the top where
it says "Input Levels." In the three boxes from left
to right, enter the values 230, 1.00, and 250.
This increases the contrast of the image with a fine
control, giving us specks that are nicely defined
and ready to become our larger stars.
Hit OK.
Invert the layer again, bringing it back to the
normal white stars on black look.

Hit ctrl + T again and scale that puppy back down

so that it's just a little bit larger than the image
you're working with.
Hit Enter.

At this point you can change the layer mode of the

large stars layer to "screen." You'll notice a sort of
tacky "echo" effect going on. We will fix that right
away by rotating the layer 180 degrees.
Hit ctrl + T one more time and move your cursor
to a corner of the large stars layer so you get the
rotate arrow cursor (looks like the resize cursor,
but bent). Hold shift and then click and drag,
rotating your large stars layer 180 degrees.
Hit Enter.

The Story
Okay, so now we've got a very basic star field.
However, there's one problem. This is the most
boring, depressingly monotonous star field ever
made. What we want is a star field that tells a story
of stellar evolution, with clusters and deep space
and such. This is the intuitive part of the process,
so you may have to save this Photoshop file and
try several times before you're truly happy with
your results.

Take your eraser and start erasing bits and pieces

of each layer separately. Be as random as possible.
There is no wrong eraser brush size, although
you'll want one with a crisp edge and nothing
smaller than about 10px.
Go nuts.
What we're doing here is randomizing the star
field in a human fashion, so it doesn't look so
computer generated. In order to make it better,
however, we've got to thoroughly trash it first.
Additionally, you should see fewer large stars than
small stars, so be especially brutal on the large
stars layer.
This is also an opportunity for you to eliminate
any obvious patterns you see in your stars
(sometimes the computer starts generating patterns
with its noise generation) and we want to nip those
in the bud.

Once you're all done and have a sad, pathetic star

field, flatten your document (Layer > Flatten
Image).
It's time to start cloning your stars and "shaping"
your star field.
Grab the clone tool... Use a variety of brushes
(brushes with a crsip edge are preferable,
however...)
The idea here is to now start telling a story with
your stars. This is where you make your clusters
and dark spaces come alive. Try using the clone
brush both in normal mode, or in "screen" mode
(you can change the modes in the options bar
across the top of your screen), which will add the
stars you clone instead of merely replacing the
underlying canvas. This will also bring out some
of the smaller, dimmer stars that you never really
see, giving you a much broader range of stars
(which is always a good thing!)
There is no set technique for this process -- it's all
based on gut instinct and whim. Avoid cloning
edges, as the stars will form a very noticeable
edge. Also avoid cloning stars and placing them
right next to the selected source area.

The Details
Alrighty, that's much better. Again, you may need
to experiment with this to get a result that you're
really happy with. Finally, we come to the step
that's the most fun by far: adding glow.
Duplicate your layer again and name this new
layer "star glow."
Go up to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Blur with
a radius of about 6 to 8.
Hit OK.
This gives us a diffuse blur where we have the
highest concentration of stars, as if the cluster of
stars was glowing brighter as a whole. Change the
mode of the star glow layer to Linear Dodge (or
screen if you're using an earlier version of
Photoshop).
Hit ctrl +B to bring up the Color Balance
dialogue box. Using color balance (also found
under Image > Adjustments > Color Balance) give
your glow a color. This is entirely at your
discretion. (I've always enjoyed a good blue, so
that's what I'm going with.)

[If you want your stars to have a more

individualistic glow, you can repeat this process:
duplicate the star layer (should be your
background layer if you're following this tutorial
to the letter) and blur with a smaller radius, say 3
or 2. Change layer mode to linear dodge, yadda
yadda yadda.]
That's it! You've got a star field! Actually, you've
got an intermediate star field. If you TRULY want
to go the extra mile, you can start adding
background dust, larger stars (camera flares work
remarkable well when shrunk down) and spatial
anomalies. This is entirely up to you. The main
point is that your creation is a) distinctly yours,
and b) much better than the crap Bryce or any
other program that boasts star field generation puts
out. Why? Because YOURS is human-made, not
based on predictable algorithmic output.

Other Details
As you can see, I've gone a few extra steps in my
star field... Some of the items I've added include
the following:
Lens Flare Stars
Create a new layer and fill it entirely with black.
Set the layer mode to Linear Dodge (this is the
best mode, screen just doesn't cut it sometimes).
Render a lens flare (Filter > Render > Lens Flare).
Duplicate the layer and resize as needed to create
dynamic star clusters in the foreground. (You'll
need a flare layer for every single star you want to
create.)
Space Dust
Grab a big fuzzy brush (size is your call) and add a
texture to it. For details on how to do this, look at
my Make a Planet tutorial, it's explained in detail
(and the same texture from that tutorial can
actually work quite well here). Create a new layer
above your star layer(s) and set the mode to
Linear Dodge or Screen. Start brushing on dust
with a color of your choosing (a transparent brush

of 20% opacity works well here). Sometimes it

works well to put a lot of textured color strokes
down and then erase the excess away until you've
got what you want.

The Secret
The real secret to star fields, however, is not just the human touch: it's all in the simple process of
never stopping. All the steps I've laid out for you can be repeated, taken out of sequence, etc. In
fact, the more layers you have, and the more work you put into your star field, the better it will be,
because you're drawing closer and closer to the crucial aspect of a star field that most people
overlook: it isn't drawn at all, it evolves.

Making cool eclipse effect

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I used for this tutorial the wallpaper size of
1900x1200 pixels. Right after that fill the background layer with black and with the Rectangular
Marquee Tool(M) create a selection like the image below.

Step 2 - Brush

This is exactly what we saw on the other tutorial I wrote, there are just a few differences. But
let's repeat the step here.
1 - Add a new layer and fill it with gray. 2 - Go to Edit>Define Brush Preset... 3 - Rename your
brush to "Rec Brush".

Step 3

Now let's edit our brush, to do that go to the Brush Engine, Window>Brushes (F5). Basically
we will use the Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Color Dynamics and Other Dynamics to create
the efect we want. Just follow the image below for reference.

Step 4

With our custom brush let's create the effect, add a layer and paint some rectangles. After that
let's add some Layer Style. Go to Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow. Use Color Burn for the
Blend Mode, 80% Opacity, 120 Angle, 5px Distance, and 10px Size.
The last thing here is to repeat this step 2 more times. Like create another layer, paint some
brush and add the Layer Style.

Step 5

Now let's resize the layer, just horizontally. You can go to Edit>Transform>Scale, or just press
CMD+T(mac) or CRTL+T(pc). After that go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Use 90 for the
angle and 155 pixels for the distance.

Step 6

Select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a big ellipse, it will be the dark planet. Use the image
below for reference.

Step 7

Now let's make some adjustments. Let use Layer Masks to delete some parts of the image and to
make others darker. So first select the ellipse layer and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All.
Then select the Brush Tool(B) and big brush, the regular one rounded with 200 pixels, hardness
0%, and the color black. Now just delete some parts of the ellipse (1-4). After that select the
rectangles and repeat add a layer mask exactly like we did before. Again select the brush tool, it
will be the same preset as the last usage, this time however, change the opacity to 20% and paint
some areas to maks some retangles. (5-11).

Step 8

Here let's add some color, I will use Abduzeedo's color. So go to Layer>New Fill
Layer>Gradient. Change the angle to 90%, and scale to 80%. After that just change the Blend
Mode to Overlay.

Step 9

Create a new layer and fill it with black, after that go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare, use 100%
for the brightness and the 50-300mm zoom for the Lens Type. Change the blend mode to
Screen. You will notice that the layer is too bright, there is too much gray. So go to
Image>Adjustments>Levels. Then just change the Input Levels to 50, 1, 255.

Step 10

Now let's add a photo from sxc.hu, you can download it here http://www.sxc.hu/photo/986801.
Place it in the center of our image. You will have to rotate, and rescale it. Then just change
the Blend Mode to Screen too.
After that go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal all. Let's repeat the step 7 and delete some parts of
the image, do that until you get the result like the image below.

Step 11

Now select the ellipse layer and go to Layer>Layer Style>Outer Glow. Change the Blend
Mode to Hard Light, the opacity to 90% and select the Gradient Color. Use the default
yellow and change the size to 60px.

Step 12

Create a new layer on top of the others, fill it with black and go to Filter>Texture>Grain.
Change the Intensity to 66 and the Contrast to 60. After that change the layer's Blend Mode to
Soft Light and 60%. You will notice that the image will get a bit darker.

Step 13

This step is not really necessary but the whole idea is add a bit of texture to the rectangles. So
download the texture image from sxc.hu (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1021346) and place it in the
document, right on top of the ellipse layer and beneath the lights. After that reduce its just to
make it a bit smaller. Then go to Image>Adjustments>Invert, change the Blend Mode to
Overlay and the Opacity to 10%.

Conclusion

There are lots of ways to create this effect, and lots of good tutorials showing how to create that
type of eclipse effect, the lines, and the other light effects. But the idea of this tutorial was to mix
everything to get a nice result. I hope you like it and now it's all about playing with the tool. ;)

Click on the
image
- See more at: http://abduzeedo.com/really-cool-eclipse-effectphotoshop#sthash.kl72MqUD.dpuf