Use Adobe Photoshop to create a neon effect.

Follow graphic artist Erica Larson as she demonstrates how to easily light up an image by adding a neon effect in Adobe Photoshop.

Explore Lightroom

Watch our one-minute video overview of this technique and see the steps below.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Connect the dots and design your glow

Step 1: Draw a shape

Step 2: Create the glow

Step 3: Convert and mask

Step 4: Hide and reveal

Shine bright

#F5F5F5

How to give images that neon vibe.

Work along side graphic artist Erica Larson as she guides you through the four easy steps using Photoshop tools to add a cool neon effect. Experiment with neon’s unique colors with Inner glow, Outer glow, and Blend Mode tools, plus learn how to draw shapes on images, add masks, hide orreveal areas to highlight favorite details, and more.

style

xl spacing, two up

layout

1 | 2

Connect the dots and design your glow.

Erica Larson dreams up inspired designs every day as an Associate Creative Director on the Adobe Studio team. She makes stuff that makes others want to make stuff.

style

two up, xs gap, grid-width-6, center, xl spacing

Before you begin.

Use these or practice with your own.

Step 1: Draw a shape

Using the Pen tool, Larson clicked three points to draw a triangle around the hand. You can draw any shape on your image and, with the new Shape layer selected, click on the Add Layer Style icon from the Layers panel and choose Outer Glow.

Use the Pen tool in Photoshop to add a vector shape, then add an outer glow layer style in Adobe Photoshop

Step 2: Create the glow

Experiment with different colors and settings for the Outer Glow. Larson settled on a vivid magenta. Then she set an Inner Glow, changed the Blend Mode to Multiply, and applied the same magenta color.

Set an inner glow on the shape layer, set blending mode to multiple

Step 3: Convert and mask

Larson right-clicked on the Shape layer and chose Convert To Smart Object. Then she added a mask to the Shape layer.

Convert shape layer to Smart Object and add Photoshop mask

Step 4: Hide and reveal

Larson wanted to hide the triangle just behind the wrist. To hide parts of your neon shape, set the Brush tool to black, select the mask (the white icon on the layer), and brush to remove those sections. To reverse the effect, simply change the brush color to white and paint on the mask to reveal detail again.