Photoshop Tutorial: Create a Photo-Realistic Candle with Basic Photoshop Tools



In this tutorial, I will teach you how to design a realistic looking candle from scratch, using only Photoshop's basic tools.
We'll be designing a nice candle, and a burning flame.

Let's get started!


End result:
Create a Photo-Realistic Candle with Basic Photoshop Tools Final Image

Author:
avatar nasirkhan

Views: 39471
Score: 9.2 / 10
Author earned: $15


Adobe Photoshop CS5

Step 1

Create new photoshop file of 800 x 1000 pixel filled with white background and name it Candle.


Step 2

Press Ctrl+Shift+N for creating new layer and type layer name "Candle"

1. Press G to select Gradient tool
2. Make sure linear gradient is selected
3. Double click to edit gradient


Step 3

Create four color gradient of color fdbc50 - db7c26 - 8f4f21 - 704c23 as shown in the image


Step 4

Create selection for candle shape with the help of rectangular marquee tool.
Press G to select gradient tool, hold left mouse button and drag from candle top to candle bottom.


Step 5

Press E to select eraser tool (brush size 80 with hardness 50) and erase from top and bottom as shown in the image. You can also use pen tool for perfect round deletion of candle bottom.


Step 6

Double click on background layer to make it normal layer and name it "background". Set foreground color to "212117", press alt+delete to fill this layer with foreground color


Step 7

Create new layer above "candle" layer and name it "flame". Now draw flame with white color using brush of size 15 with hardness 50


Step 8

Choose command outerglow from menu layer > Layer Style > OuterGlow and set parameters as follow. Use b18242 for glow color. Set spread to 7 and size to 46


Step 9

Create new layer "blue flame" above flame layer and set foreground color to 78789e and draw blue flame with soft brush. Set brush opacity to 20.


Step 10

Create new layer above "blue flame", name it "flame glow", create oval shape with elliptical marquee tool and fill with color f4b155


Step 11

Change blending mode of "flame glow" layer to lighter color. Press ctrl+d to deselect all. Appliy blur > Gaussian blur with radius of 9.5


Step 12

Create new layer namely "linen wick" above "flame" layer, set foreground color to code 35364b . Draw linen wick with soft brush (opacity 24) as show in the image.


Step 13

Select "candle" layer, press ctrl+shft+n for creating new layer, name it "shadow", make sure to click on "use Previous layer to created clipping Mask" and set blending mode to multiply . Press OK


Step 14

Select "shadow" layer, set foreground color to 854c21 , paint shadow as outline in the image below with soft Brush of size 80, with opacity 20, to give shadow to candle.


Step 15

Again select "candle" layer, Press ctrl+shift+n to create new layer, name it "highlights", make sure to click on "use Previous layer to created clipping Mask" and set blending mode to overlay . Press OK


Step 16

set foreground to color fde077, paint highlight as outline in the image below with soft Brush of size 80, with opacity 15, to give highlights to candle.


Step 17

create new layer on top of all layers and name it "highlight 02". Make highlight selection with marquee tool and fill it with white color.


Step 18

Press ctrl+d to deselct selection. Apply Blur > gaussian blur with radius 18


Step 19

Finally reduce opacity of "highlight 02" layer to 30.


Step 20

Have Fun!




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57 Comments:

avatar Alan2641
Alan2641 says:

clearly written with a great result -- exactly what a tutorial should be

(1 year and 336 days ago)
avatar CorneliaMladenova

Nice and detailed tutorial. Everything is so weel explained and easy to follow. Thank you very much, Nasir!

(1 year and 333 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

its fine

(1 year and 332 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

very nice

(1 year and 330 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

Thanks for that one

(1 year and 330 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

thanks for the tutorial...

(1 year and 328 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

Its a good try, however its not completely realistic. The candle flame, (any flame in this case) has several levels of heat producing areas... the most inner one is always blue because its the hottest part, followed by red and then orange

The approach and the result is fantastic .... but a great deal of appreciation goes for giving a lot of attention to detail. Thanks for the tutorial

Cheers,
Richie

(1 year and 328 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

Ni one cheers
Mpa

(1 year and 327 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

That's for sharing! Great tutorial!

(1 year and 325 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

Thanks a lot.

(1 year and 324 days ago)
no avatar

nice tutorials...thanks...

(1 year and 323 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

thank q very nice tutorial

(1 year and 323 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

thak's for this tutorial

(1 year and 322 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

Really nice tutorial..!! Thanks for sharing!

(1 year and 322 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

Very good tutorial with fine tips and details. Immediately want to try it out. Keep up the good work..Cheers.
Raji

(1 year and 322 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

thaks wow great

(1 year and 321 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

wow.. awesome.. keep goin..

(1 year and 320 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

I was just starting, I thank you very useful help

(1 year and 320 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

very nice good job

(1 year and 319 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

GREAT TUTOR

(1 year and 319 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

9/10

(1 year and 318 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

very cool!

(1 year and 317 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

great one there

(1 year and 316 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

nice yar

(1 year and 312 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

Great ..n the out come is jst great!

(1 year and 299 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

this tutorial is the best i've ever seen.....

(1 year and 298 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

wow marvelous!

(1 year and 297 days ago)
avatar EmiK
EmiK says:

Super = )

(1 year and 296 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

nice tnx

(1 year and 292 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

waw...........

(1 year and 292 days ago)
avatar lvstealth
lvstealth says:

great tutorial! thanks

(1 year and 276 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

nice tutorial

(1 year and 271 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

not bad!
yes thats how a tutorial should look like!

(1 year and 269 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

awesome

(1 year and 262 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

excellent tutorial....brilliant one.....now its my new home page

(1 year and 255 days ago)
no avatar
Daryll says:

amazing...this is what a tutorial should be! more power...

(1 year and 250 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

thank u ..its clearly written step by step..

(1 year and 244 days ago)
no avatar
Sinish says:

Im novice but u make me feel like...expert

(1 year and 235 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

what a wonder creations thanks

(1 year and 229 days ago)
avatar nishagandhi

wow cool tutorial!! nicely written Nasir!!

(1 year and 229 days ago)
avatar nasirkhan
nasirkhan says:

Thanks Nisha

(1 year and 228 days ago)
no avatar
gaurav says:

nice .... it is true tutorial

(1 year and 223 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

Hey there, I'm having some trouble with step 5/6 I'm afraid.
I was hoping someone could please tell me what I'm doing wrong...

I'm a complete beginner to photoshop by the way..
OK so I have selected the bottom section of the candle which I want to delete using the pen tool as directed... but when I follow the next step and fill the foreground with the color as instructed, I get a white section where I deleted out the bottom of the candle, instead of the dark uniform background color! argh!! I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong here!
Sorry for being useless haha

thanks in advance for the advice : )

(1 year and 217 days ago)
avatar nasirkhan
nasirkhan says:

Guest! when you fill selection with gradient , then deselect selection by pressing ctrl+D. Now select eraser tool and firstly erase from top as shown in the image. Then you need to delete from bottom to create candle shape. So ignore pen tool for a while and erase from bottom using same eraser tool with the help of mouse, (Use of Pen Tool is not simple for beginner, search net for pen tool tutorial and follow them, it will really help you in future.) .

Note that your current working layer should be candle. Hope it will help.

(1 year and 216 days ago)
avatar pingenvy
pingenvy says:

Very nice! Thank you!

(1 year and 216 days ago)
no avatar

nice tutorial, cheers ;D

(1 year and 203 days ago)
no avatar
Aj says:

Awesome tutorial thanks for uploading

(1 year and 199 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

thank you!

(1 year and 181 days ago)
no avatar
jay(india) says:

i have tried but some probl r there

(1 year and 169 days ago)
no avatar
kalu says:

thanks for itttttttttttttt

(1 year and 158 days ago)
no avatar
Shan says:

Nice! Thanks!

(1 year and 155 days ago)
no avatar
Photoshopaholic says:

Just what I was looking for, a nice real candle with a realistic look.
Many thanks

(1 year and 154 days ago)
no avatar
shabnum Amin Khan says:

Realy very nice tutorial

(1 year and 149 days ago)
avatar steed
steed says:

nice tutorial, am going to try this , thanx for sharing !

(1 year and 143 days ago)
no avatar
paoling says:

wow this does look real!

(1 year and 135 days ago)
no avatar
Guest says:

nice tut............. well explained..................

(1 year and 132 days ago)
no avatar
Gayatri says:

awesome... thank u.....

(347 days ago)


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