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In this lesson, I demonstrate how to create and position rainbows onto photographs. To work along, you can download the image I am working with Here. Unzip and open it onto Photoshop’s workspace.
Undo and Navigation Steps
Two ways of undoing steps are from the top menu, Edit then Step Backwards. Alternatively, click a previous snapshot in the History Palette.
Navigate (zoom in and pan) your image using the Navigator Palette,
or the Zoom Tool. 
Activate The Hand Tool by tapping the Spacebar, keeping the Spacebar pressed, pan your image in the usual way. 
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Open your image onto Photoshop’s workspace.
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Then create a New document and set the following attributes. For very large photographs, open a larger (Width and Height) canvas.
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Now, press the Ctrl key of your keyboard, then tap the letter i. This inverts the colours and changes the white canvass to black.
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Activate the Gradient Tool. Lesson
Then click the Reset Gradients tab, and set the attributes as demonstrated by my screen capture here. The gradient is named Transparent Rainbow.
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Now, press the Shift key of the keyboard (and from the bottom of the black canvas), drag a gradient line upwards - as shown below.
As soon as you release your mouse button, the rainbow will be applied horizontally, as shown below.
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From the top menu, choose Filter then choose Distort then choose
Polar Co-ordinates. In the subsequent Polar Co-ordinates dialogue box, click Rectangular to polar, then click OK. Your rainbow is now circular.
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From the toolbar activate the Rectangular Marquee Tool.
And select a portion of the rainbow, as demonstrated below. Depending on your rainbow’s shape, either select half (as I have done) or just a quarter of the rainbow - you may find a quarter rainbow is easier to reposition!
 
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From the top menu, choose Edit then choose Copy. The area within the rectangular marquee will be copied to your Clipboard.
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Activate the photograph and from the top menu, choose Edit then choose Paste.
Tip
To save space, you can safely delete the original rainbow.
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Change the rainbow’s Layer Mode from Normal to Screen, and the rainbow will become transparent.
 
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Now, it is time to reposition the rainbow - for personal results, position it where you like - alternatively, follow my example. Ensure the rainbow layer remains active, then from the top menu, choose Edit then choose Free Transform.
The rainbow will be immediately surrounded by a transformation bounding box.
By grabbing and manipulating the tiny vector boxes that surround the bounding box, you can resize, and reposition the rainbow. You are looking to move the rainbow so it appears to fall between the background mountains and the foreground forest - as shown below.
Tip
For a fatter rainbow, manipulate (stretch) it, to a width you prefer.
 
When you are satisfied with the rainbow’s position, click the following Commit transform tick. Or press your Enter/Return key.
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Now, activate the Eraser Tool.  Tutorial
And with a Hard brush, (100% Opacity), remove the right-side rainbow.
 
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To fade the rainbow, from the top menu, choose Filter then choose Blur then choose Gaussian Blur. I chose a Gaussian Blur Radius of 2.7.
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To fade the rainbow further, reduce the rainbow’s Layer Opacity.
 
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Now, from the Layers palette, duplicate the rainbow by dragging its layer over the following Create a new layer icon. The duplicated layer is applied above the rainbow layer, and is the activate layer.
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Working on the duplicated layer, from the top menu, choose Edit then choose Transform then choose Flip Vertical.
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Activate the Move Tool. 
And drag the flipped rainbow over the water.
Now, reduce its Opacity and apply a Gaussian Blur, as you did in Chapters’ 13 and
14.
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Then with the Move Tool, position the rainbow further away from the shore.
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Drag out your image so it displays the grey canvas, then from the top menu, choose Edit then choose Transform then choose Perspective. Now, grab the bottom-left deformation box, and drag it towards the bottom-left corner to create a perspective warp.
Then click the Commit transform icon - or press Return/Enter.
20/ Second (fainter) rainbow
Activate the sky rainbow layer, and duplicate it. Now, move the duplicated rainbow a little to the left, then apply a Gaussian Blur to it. You are looking to create a much fainter (second) rainbow, therefore, reduce its layer Opacity to around 34%. Duplicate (this second rainbow), and position it over the water, exactly as you did in Chapter 16.
When you are completely happy with your effect, from the top menu, choose Layer then choose Flatten Image.
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Congratulations, you have created your rainbows! You can now save your work as described here!
Wendi E M Scarth. Top of Page - Home.
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