Adobe Photoshop is an industry standard tool for photo enhancement and graphic design. Photoshop employs a vast tool set to create stunning effects for a variety of applications. Lighting is a category of effects useful to enhance existing photos or bring photo realism to original artwork. How you choose to use this effect depends on the source image you have to work with. While this example will employ a simple text layer, you can apply the results to any source you want.

Preparation

To illustrate how you use the Photoshop lighting filter to create highlights within an image layer, you are going to need your foreground and background layers to have enough contrast to view the effect. Use the Background Color icon to select black from the Color Picker. Open a new file and select the black background for the new file color instead of the default white.

Create a Source Image

Now you need an image layer to work with. For this example, create a text layer by using the type tool. Once selected, text properties appear in the top margin menu bar. Choose a font with a particularly heavy stroke, like Blackoak Std, if available on your system. Make the text large enough to reveal the lighting effect. Choose a font size greater than 40 points, then choose a medium color. Blue works particularly well for providing contrast between the lighting effect and the black background. Create a text box and type whatever text you desire to fill the canvas.

Lighting Effects Filter

Open the Lighting Effects filter. This filter is found in the Render section. Whenever you apply lighting effects to a text layer, you will receive a notification telling you the text layer must first be rasterized before applying the effect. Press "OK" to proceed. When the Lighting Effects dialogue box appears, note the available controls, particularly the type of light you want to recreate. Each light type (Directional, Omni or Spotlight) will have a dramatically different effect. On the left is an ellipsis you can drag to adjust how wide or narrow the beam of light you want to create will be. Experiment with adjusting the controls and note their effect on the text.

Practical Application

You can use the Lighting Effects filter to provide a broad wash of light to create a subtle gradation effect at the boundaries of an object, or a narrow beam of light for bold highlights. Also consider another effect in the Render section, Lens Flare. Lens Flare is a specific kind of lighting effect used to create the impression of light as it refracts off the internal optics of a camera. This can result in interesting specular highlights when applied to your image layer.

Resource:

Adobe.com: Adobe Photoshop CS4