This is an intermediate tutorial which assumes you have all the software installed on your machine. You also have a basic understanding of Photoshop terminology and you will be able to follow along without exact instructions on some steps.

 

Step 1) Creating the background

We create the background by creating a subtle linear gradient from dark grey to light grey. We want the light to come from the top left section of the canvas so that is where we will place the lighter grey in the gradient

 

Step 2) Adding the font to the canvas

Add whatever text you would like to the canvas in any font you would like. Make sure to set the text color to #c2c8d4

 

 

Step 3) Darkening the text

Next Ctrl – Click the text layer and create a new layer above it. In this new layer, with the selection still held, draw a linear gradient of #485a79 to transparent from bottom right to left.

 

 

Step 4) Adding a shadow

Set your foreground color to black. Now Ctrl – Click the text layer again and create a new layer BENEATH the text layer. Now press the down arrow key once and the right arrow key once. Then press ALT + Backspace to fill it with black. Then press down and right again one more time and fill it with black. Each time you will be moving 1px right and 1px down. You should repeat this process about 30 times.

Note also that to move the selection but now the filles when you press your arrow keys, you have to have one of the marquee tools on. If you switch to the Move tool when you press down and right you will actually move the black fill as well as the selection and will just be filling the same pixels.

 

 

If you're ever in the market for some great Windows web hosting, try Server Intellect. We have been very pleased with their services and most importantly, technical support.

 

Step 5) Adding a blur

Deselect and make sure you are on the shadow layer, then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and use values of -45 degrees and a distance of 30px

 

Step 6) Adjusting the shadow

Set your shadow layer to multiply and about 40% opacity and then hold down shift and press the down arrow and then the right arrow. This will move your object right and down 10px each. Now you may have some blurred parts of the shadow sticking out to the top and left of the object. If this happens just grab a small soft eraser and gently erase away anything which shouldn’t be shaded

 

 

Step 7) Duplicating the shadow layer

Duplicate the shadow layer, hold shift and move it down and right again. Then run the motion blur filter again with a distance of 50px this time and set this layer to multiply and 20% opacity

 

 

Step 8) Adding another new layer

Now create a new layer above all the other layers, hold down Ctrl + click the main text layer to select its pixels and back on your new layer fill the selection with white. Don’t let go of the selection just yet, instead press down and right one time to move 1px away and then hit delete

Set this layer to about 80% opacity

 

 

If you're ever in the market for some great Windows web hosting, try Server Intellect. We have been very pleased with their services and most importantly, technical support.

 

Step 9) Seeing what the white text layer does

The thin white line gives a sort of highlight effect where the light source is hitting the text and gives the impression that the text is more three dimensional

 

 

Step 10) Creating natural streams of light

We want to create some streams of natural light. Create a new layer above all the other layers and draw four or five white rectangles. Make sure they get fatter as you go down

 

 

Step 11) Transforming the light streams

Now press Ctrl + T to transform and rotate and enlarge the rectangles. Normally you would press enter when finished but this time right click and you will get a pop up menu showing you other types of transforms you can do. Choose perspective. The reason its important to do this in one step is so that you don’t lose your bounding box. Take the top left two points and bring them closer so the light appears to be coming from one place and spreading out

 

 

Step 12) Making the light come to life

We should now have 4 strips of light. Set the layer to overlay and the opacity to 20%. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and give it a 6px radius

 

 

Step 13) Adding some highlights

Ctrl + Click the light layer and then click on the highlight layer from earlier, then while the selection is still on, click on the Add Layer Mask Button. This will create a Mask that only shows the highlight layer where the light overlaps

 

 

Create a new layer just above the background and fill it with a pinkish color - #9d506c

 

 

Step 14) Changing the layer styles

Set the layers blending mode to color and the opacity to 20%. This gives our background a nice reddish warmth.

 

 

Congratulations you have completed the tutorial. As always the source files will be available for you to download and reference

Guys, please take a look at Server Intellect for Windows Web Hosting. I'm very pleased. You will be too. Take a look and see for yourself!