Glowing Edges From Background

Question

Hi Everybody.I have a background where there's a fire and foreground elements in layers on top. I want the light from the fire to...for lack of better wording "matte choke" the edges of these elements so they look more naturally part of the scene with a "feathered" light.  Does that make sense? Can anybody tell me what effect application I should lean towards to do something like this?  Thanks for reading. &#128578;

ShiveringCactus · Accepted Answer

I have an old preset called Explosion Glow, who I can't figure out initally shared it, but it does this really nicely.

Create an adjustment layer above your foreground layer.
Add the preset, which consists of luma key, invert (set to alpha), solid composition and glow
Set the adjustment layer to Screen
Set the layer's track matte to the foreground layer.

This creates a spill around the subject which corresponds to the brightest parts of the background.

ProductionCrate have also released a free plugin that does a lot more, but to be honest, I've found their's overly complicated.

Rick Gerard · Answer

Light Wrap is the term you are looking for. There are a lot of ways to create that. Most involve a copy of the layer emitting the light (your fire), blur, a track matte defining the edge of the foreground element, and blend modes. The most efficient workflow depends entirely on your shot and the structure of your composition. Some matte choking is often required.

Something as simple as this may do it:

You could also use something like this approach:

A screenshot of your composition would help. I have had light wrap shots that used keylight, one extra layer, and one effect, and I have had shots that required a couple of dozen layers.

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