Difficult to capture a good bolt of lightning isn't it? No problem..... make your own!
Of course, it's not much good putting lightning into a nice sunny sky..... you need a shot with some dark, ominous clouds - or a dark sky.
Make a new image. Doesn't matter too much with the size, but try to make a filesize that would fit between your main picture's horizon and the top of the picture. Tall and not too wide, like a narrow portrait shape. Something like 500px high and 250px wide should do it. Give it a White background.
Right, with a black foreground and white background, use the gradient tool and stroke horizontally across the new image, but just in the middle portion - not the full width. You should end up with a lot of black, a fairly narrow fade/transition then a lot of white. Lovely. Now go to Filters > Render > Difference CLouds. You will have a fuzzy black column in the middle. Invert it (Ctrl-I). Ah - now it's starting to look like it.
Now go to Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels. Make sure your left edge slider comes in close to the edge of the histogram, then move the middle slider to the right, up close to the right edge slider. You now have a bolt of lightning.
Now drag this image onto your main picture. It will become a layer - adjust Blend Mode to Screen. Ooo!
Now you'll want to resize the layer, probably rotate it a little. You might like to use the Blur tool in places where it "hits" the ground.
Still not realistic? You could duplicate the layer (or make a new one) and join it on top of the other lightning to make a fork.
Use a bit more Blur or Sharpen in parts of the 'bolt' to suit. You could also Dodge a little around the lightning bolts to show how it's lit up the clouds.
There ya go.
http://www.prestophoto.com/photos/image/1218927/24460
Of course, it's not much good putting lightning into a nice sunny sky..... you need a shot with some dark, ominous clouds - or a dark sky.
Make a new image. Doesn't matter too much with the size, but try to make a filesize that would fit between your main picture's horizon and the top of the picture. Tall and not too wide, like a narrow portrait shape. Something like 500px high and 250px wide should do it. Give it a White background.
Right, with a black foreground and white background, use the gradient tool and stroke horizontally across the new image, but just in the middle portion - not the full width. You should end up with a lot of black, a fairly narrow fade/transition then a lot of white. Lovely. Now go to Filters > Render > Difference CLouds. You will have a fuzzy black column in the middle. Invert it (Ctrl-I). Ah - now it's starting to look like it.
Now go to Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels. Make sure your left edge slider comes in close to the edge of the histogram, then move the middle slider to the right, up close to the right edge slider. You now have a bolt of lightning.
Now drag this image onto your main picture. It will become a layer - adjust Blend Mode to Screen. Ooo!
Now you'll want to resize the layer, probably rotate it a little. You might like to use the Blur tool in places where it "hits" the ground.
Still not realistic? You could duplicate the layer (or make a new one) and join it on top of the other lightning to make a fork.
Use a bit more Blur or Sharpen in parts of the 'bolt' to suit. You could also Dodge a little around the lightning bolts to show how it's lit up the clouds.
There ya go.
http://www.prestophoto.com/photos/image/1218927/24460