How to Create a Neon or Glow Effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial I show you how to create a glowing effect, then use it to create a neon heart background for Valentine’s Day.

For this tutorial, you’ll need a basic understanding of Photoshop Classic, including how to use brushes, layers, and gaussian blur. If you’re adding a subject, you’ll also need to know how to mask out the subject.

Tips and Tricks for Creating a Neon or Glowing Object

  • Use a finer brush for halos and neon, and a thicker brush for things light light sabers
  • Make sure the top/highest layer is the solid, non-blurred layer
  • Play around with the gaussian blur to see which pixel radius works best.
    • For subtle glow I like a layer with 40, another layer with 30, and finally a layer with 20

You can read more about my photoshop mentoring here, my recent accomplishments and achievements here, and see some of my creative work here.