3/3 The Glare

Again, create a New Layer{}, and name it “glare”. This will, obviously, be the layer that will hold the glare effect.

Using Photoshop’s “Elliptical Marquee Tool”, with the “Intersect with selection” option turned on, drag an ellipse that looks something like the one shown below.

Select the “Gradient Tool” { }, double click the gradient bar {}, and create a linear gradient from white to transparent.

Modify the “glare” layer’s opacity to about 65%. You may have to apply other values to the opacity settings, depending on the colors you chose.

Press the Ctrl+D [rel]shortcut[/re] or CMD+D  for Macs to deselect everything.

Now select your “base” layer, go to the “Layer” menu, “Layer Style” submenu, and then click “Drop Shadow…”. Click Ok.

We left the Drop Shadow settings at their default values but you can play around with them.

Al final

Now we have to add a symbol or some text to the icon. For this tutorial, we’re using a stylized, network-related icon. To place it, go to the “File” menu, and click “Place”. Make sure that your shape layer is placed under the “glare” layer.

That’s it for this tutorial. Questions?