Making Metal Reflections

Open a photo that you you want to add some pizzazz to. I am using the photo below I got from http://www.pbase.com.

• Make a selection along the left side of the guitar on the right using the magnetic lasso tool .

• Create a new layer called "left side selection." Use the eyedropper tool to select a dark and a light color from the guitar to use as the foreground and background colors .
• Choose the gradient tool and set it to Foreground to Background, and Linear in the Tool Options Bar.

• Drag a gradient through the selection running from right to left:

• Deselect the selection (Ctrl + D) and change the layer's blend mode to Linear Dodge .

Create another selection, this time on the right side of the left guitar:

Follow the bulleted list above to apply a gradient to this part of the guitar. Continue selecting parts of the guitar you want to highlight. Make sure to deselect your selection after you finish the gradient drag.

Now switch the color palette so that the light color appears as the foreground and the darker color appears as the background. To do this simply click the arrow between the foreground and background color . Choose the gradient tool, setting is option to Foreground to Transparent and linear:

Create a new layer. Choose the brush tool and click on the Brushes drop-down box in the Tool Options Bar. Click the Brushes pop-up menu button and choose Load Brushes from the fly out menu.

Choose Assorted Brushes. This load the Assorted Brushes palette ready for use. Click the Brushes drop-down box again and choose Crosshatch 48.

On the new layer, click with the Crosshatch Brush a couple of times where a natural highlight might occur.

Change the brush size of each for a more natural effect. Here is my finished product: