How to Create Realistic Fire in Photoshop

Summary by Krater

Aaron Nace demonstrates how to composite and blend multiple fire and spark stock images into a photograph in Adobe Photoshop, using screen blend mode, levels, and layer masks to achieve a realistic effect.

From the video

Answers: How do I add realistic fire and sparks to a photo in Photoshop?

• Fire compositing in Photoshop
• Screen blend mode for light effects
• Layer masks for realistic fire edges
• Color dodge and soft light brush glows

What it concludes

• Choosing an image with an existing light source is the best way to make composited fire look realistic.
• Using Screen blend mode removes the dark parts of fire images and leaves only the light parts.
• Fire has a defined shape, so painting black on a layer mask along edges is necessary to avoid a faded look.
• Adjusting Levels on fire layers darkens the background so it disappears into the base image.