The following was originally posted by Loki
A very simple photoshop technique, makes neat lightning arcs/bolts/etc.
1. Simply start by creating a field (any size will do, I'll use 600x600 for this example.) with transparent background.
2. Go to filter>render>clouds.
3. Again head to filter>render, but this time select "difference clouds"
4. Now for the area you can select the difference clouds as much as you want till you get the desired effect (each time for the hotkey is of course f3).
5. Now when you got the field set, just alt+I (invert) and the field will reverse to show a rather bright field.
6. Now do ctl+L (lighting) set the field tab on the left (black tab), drag it across till you start to see the lightning bolts show (you can choose how "static" they look by moving this tab.
7. Now to finish it off all you do is hue/color. set it to whatever color you want the bolts to be and presto, you're done!
Signatures - Lightning (Photoshop)
Linear Mode
