How to Create a Colorful Aurora Effect

Step 1:

Create a new Photoshop document. I’m using 1366×768 pixels.

Step 2:

Paint the layer with Paint Bucket Tool (G) to black.

Step 3:

Create a new layer. Make a big ellipse selection with Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) and paint that ellipse with Paint Bucket Tool (G) to light blue like image below.

Step 4:

Go to “Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur” and apply the following settings.

Step 5:

Create a new layer. Make another ellipse selection with Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) and paint that ellipse with Paint Bucket Tool (G) to magenta like image below.

Step 6:

Repeat the Step 4 for this layer. After that, you should have something like image below.

Step 7:

Create a new layer. Repeat the Step 3 and 4.

Step 8:

Create a new layer and repeat the Step 3 and 4 for the last time.

Step 9:

Create a new layer and name it “aurora”. Choose the Default Foreground and Background Color (D) and go to “Filter -> Render -> Clouds”. After that go to “Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur” and apply the following settings.

Step 10:

Select the aurora layer and go to “Image -> Adjustment -> Brightness/Contrast” and apply the following settings.

Step 11:

Repeat the Step 10.

Step 12:

Select the aurora layer and go to “Edit -> Free Transform (Ctrl + T)”. Turn the layer to right about 30o degree. After that, expand the layer and press Enter to apply the transform.

Step 13:

While pressing Ctrl + Shift choose the 4 layer we have created with Ellipse Marquee Tool (M) and Gaussian Blur. After that, select the aurora layer and press Add layer mask button from bottom of the Layers tab. After that, set aurora layer’s Blending Mode to Hard Light from top of the layer tab.

Step 14:

Create a new layer and name it “dots”. Select the Brush Tool (B), open Brush Presets by pressing the brush icon from left of the Layers tab and apply the following settings. After that, put some dots on the screen.

Step 15:

Select the dots layer. Go to “Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur” and apply the following settings. After that, set dots layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay from top of the layer tab.

Step 16:

Repeat the Step 15 several times with different size of dots.

Conclusion:

Here is the final image.