Fantasy Lighting Tutorial

Fantasy lighting creates magical, otherworldly scenes – glowing colour, dramatic shadow and a sense of the unreal. The keys are coloured light, controlled shadow, and a strong creative concept. Here’s how to create fantasy lighting in your photography.

If you want to get a little more creative with your fantasy photography then stick with us. We’ve developed a simple 4 step tutorial to create amazing fantasy photography lighting with your portraits.

Check out the video tutorial at the bottom or read the 4 steps for a fantasy lighting tutorial further down.

1. Duplicate Your Layer

Start off by duplicating your image as a new layer. You can do that by choosing LAYER>DUPLICATE LAYER from the top toolbar. From there head to FILTER and look for RENDER>LENS FLARE. You can choose any of the presets you like but just position it correctly, so it chimes with any lighting in your original photo.

2. Choose a LUT

The second step is to choose a suitable LUT. Start by adding an adjustment layer at the bottom of the Layers panel and pick COLOUR LOOKUP. Here you can use any of the 3DLUT options in the dropdown. Have a look through all the available options to see what you like the most.

3. Add a Colour Gradient

Next, we need to add some colour to our fantasy lighting. This colour can be as bold as you want as it’s meant to be conceptual and not based on nature. Be as creative as you want.

Using a GRADIENT adjustment layer pick from the presets (or create your own) and place it over the top of the current layers. Then you need to blend the gradient with the rest of the design using a layer blend mode. LIGHTEN or SCREEN tends to work well with lighter colours but choose what you prefer.

4. Add Brush Effects

Finally, our last step is optional, but we think adds a great effect to the fantasy lighting. You can add effect brushes over the gradient to sprinkle the photo with snow, butterflies, leaves, light orbs – whatever you want! You can download brushes for Photoshop online. Brusheezy is one of our favourite places to try.

Pick out colours that appear in the design already to colour your brush and dab it around the design on a new layer. You can choose to blur the effect and erase it in places so it gives the fantasy portrait a little more shape and dynamics.

Fantasy Photography Lighting: Final Words

This tutorial is so straightforward it only requires a little imagination (and Photoshop) as to what you can add to your fantasy portrait. Get inspiration by using places such as Pinterest and the iPhotography gallery if you’re a member.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this guide to fantasy lighting. If you’ve given it a try then please share your efforts with us on social media using the hashtag #iphotography.

For more, read our guide to dramatic lighting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the fantasy lighting effect?

A post-processing look that adds glow, coloured light and atmosphere to a photograph you have already taken, turning an ordinary scene into something otherworldly. This tutorial builds it in Photoshop rather than in camera.

What kind of photograph works best for it?

Something with a strong shape and a clear direction of light already in it – a figure against woodland, a doorway, a path through trees. A flat, evenly lit frame gives the effect nothing to work with.

Which Photoshop tools does the effect use?

Four things: a duplicated layer, a lens flare positioned where the light should come from, a LUT to set the overall colour, and a gradient plus a soft effect brush to paint the glow where you want it.

Why does my fantasy edit look fake?

Almost always because the added light comes from a different direction than the light already in the photograph. Put your flare and your glow on the same side as the real light source and the whole thing settles.

Can I get the same look in camera?

Partly. Coloured gels on your lights, a little haze in the air and fairy lights in the background will get you most of the way, and they give you something far more convincing to edit afterwards.