There are many ways to create lighting effects in Photoshop using layers and blend modes. What if you could do it in a fraction of the time and get better results? Would you be interested?
Oniric Glow is a plugin that allows you to easily create realistic and beautiful lighting effects in your images. It’s perfect for creating heavenly or otherworldly highlights, giving your photos a little extra magic, or even just making them look more polished and professional, and it’s getting close. another update.
Before I bought the plugin over a year ago, I worked on the lighting effects for my composites for quite some time to achieve the look I wanted. I would probably spend 15-20 minutes in Photoshop creating the light that looks real, but it’s time consuming and just too many manual steps involved. The machine glows fast, is sleek and gives you fast and effective results, better than I was able to achieve.
Do not destroy
Oniric is a non-destructive plugin that allows you to edit multiple times even after you have animated. It does this by creating a layer based on your image. After you set the parameters for the effect, it saves it as a new layer, complete with a full exposure mask, allowing you to choose blend modes for the layer or use the mask by painting different layers. the area you want in your image. 
Each lighting effect is fully customizable in the panel, and there’s also the option to create a mask in the panel, allowing you to add effects to the parts of the image you require, instead of an app. overall of the effect you selected. It does this by selecting the hottest areas on your image and marking them in green. The brush that you add to the masking effects comes with your download and its size is controlled by the keys in parentheses just like the Photoshop brush.
The plugin’s interface is really easy to use and simply does what it says on the tin. Experimentation is key here, however, as it’s easy to get caught up in the surprise of a click and, boom, your images take on a different personality. Depending on what you’re looking for, sometimes a subtle approach is all that’s needed.
Glare is a new addition to the effects panel, and every time the plugin is further developed, you get a free upgrade.
There is no limit to the number of Oniric effects you can use to enhance your images, you can build these subtly to get the look you want or use full force quantify and apply all of them and work from there; it totally depends on what you are looking for in your final render. Mix them depending on the type of lighting effect you want to achieve and you can get some really dynamic results. There are two blend modes in the control panel, screen and linear dodge mode, each providing different results for amazing effect.
Use can?
While I mostly use Oniric for composites, I’ve used it in the past in product photography to add subtle highlights to images and warm, magical light for exotic landscape shots. of the sunset sky. Sure, you can do this with the Orton effect, and I think it’s a good idea to compare the two to see which gives the best results in that case.
Most of the possible uses below can be done entirely in Photoshop, but this plugin provides reliable non-destructive results in a fraction of the time.
- Product photography: subtle highlights, like in the watch photo below.
- Food photography: magical lighting for certain items.
- Car photography: so many uses here, from the glow of a lamp to the subtle glow of a car’s paintwork.
- Portrait scene: background lighting in the scene, long exposure lighting effects, lighting enhancement.
- Architecture: enhance exterior/interior lighting, change the glow color of the lights or add ambient color to the room.
This list is not exhaustive and these are just some of the ideas where I can see it being used. You can think more.
What do I like?
This plugin is really simple to use but still has tons of different results depending on how you adjust the sliders. The non-destructive approach to creating fully editable effects via the edit elements tab allows you to make adjustments even after multiple layers have been added. The time you save using the plugin is immeasurable considering the manual method of Photoshop layers.
What can be improved?
Since its inception in early 2020, the plugin has been updated and added new features, which are included in free updates. At $119 for a two-seat single-user lifetime license you really can’t go wrong with your cash, consider how much time you’ll save and the rewards you’ll reap OK, I really don’t see room for improvement.
Inference
While this plugin is aimed at compositors and digital artists, there are plenty of other possible photo scenarios where it can be used to great effect. It’s actually one of those plugins that I’ve used quite a bit just to see how it reads an image and if I can use it to good effect. It’s an innovative plugin and as a digital artist I’m glad I bought it over a year ago, as I’ve found many benefits to using it, with the big ones being Time saving and final effect.
I have been using the beta of version two, which will be released in the coming days and is free to all users who purchased the previous version. Some of the images above include smoke and flare lenses. They were added at the compilation stage and do not come with the plugin. They are simply added knowing what Oniric can do with them in the final render.
Is this a plugin for you? Well, if you are a digital artist, the answer is undeniably yes, and you should check out Synthetic. website. If you’re a product, architecture or commercial photographer looking for an additional boost to your images, I don’t think you’ll go wrong with this.
