Adding a sparkle effect to your photos can bring certain elements to life and adds a magical touch. In this guide, we’ll teach you how to create your own sparkle effect in Photoshop and save it as a Brush Preset. This allows you to reuse it in future projects.
- First, you need to create a New Document that’s 1200×1200 Pixels. Choose White under “Background Contents”.
Create a New Canvas. - In the Layers tab, click on the New Layer icon.
Create a new layer. - With the new layer selected, select the Elliptical Marquee Tool.
Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool. - Change the “Style” to Fixed Size.
Change the “Style” to Fixed Size. - Adjust the Width to 25px and the Height to 450px.
Set the Width and Height. - Click anywhere in the document. It should automatically create the shape.
Click anywhere on the white area to create the shape. - Click on the color square at the bottom of the “toolbar” on the left. Make the color black.
Click on the color palette and select black. - Go to Edit > Fill.
Go to Edit > Fill. - Under “Contents” select Foreground Color. Then click OK.
Choose Foreground color, and click OK. - Change the Style back to Normal.
Switch the “Style” back to Normal. - Go to Select > Deselect.
Go to Select > Deselect. - Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur.
Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. - Change the Angle to 90 ° and the Distance to 650. Then click OK.
Change the Angle and Distance to 650. Then click OK. - Press Ctrl + J on your keyboard (Cmd + J on Mac).
- Go to Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 ° Clockwise.
Go to Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 ° Clockwise. - Right-click the layer and select Merge Down.
Right-click the layer and select Merge Down. - Press Ctrl + J again (Cmd + J on Mac). Then, press Ctrl + T (Cmd + T on Mac).
- In the toolbar on top, adjust the angle to 45 °.
Adjust the angle. - Click on the small white square, and decrease the size while holding Shift + Alt (Shift + Option on Mac). Then press the checkmark in the toolbar on top.
Decrease the size of the object. - Right-click on the layer and select Merge Down again.
- Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset.
Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset. - Give your brush a name, and click OK.
Name the custom brush and click OK.
Using the Sparkle Brush
Open the picture where you want to apply the sparkle effect, and follow these steps.
- Click on the Brush Tool.
Click on the Brush Tool. - If the Sparkle Effect is not already selected, find it from the brush list on top.
Find the brush you’ve created in the list of brushes. - You can then adjust the size of the brush.
Adjust the size of the sparkle. - Change the color of the brush to white.
Click on the color palette, and change the color to white. - Click where you wish to apply the sparkles, and you are done!
Click where you want to apply the sparkles.
