Replicate Justin Timberlake’s Lovestoned Music Video

Posted: August 7th, 2008 in Designing

This tutorial will teach you how to create some stunning lighting effects, inspired by Justin Timberlake’s LoveStoned music video. You will learn how to use various layer blending modes and brushes to achieve a professional finish.

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Intro

I may not be a Justin Timberlake fan (although the I Think That She Knows interlude is pretty awesome), but I can appreciate the stunning graphics in his music video for LoveStoned. This tutorial will be teaching you how to replicate some of the amazing lighting effects using in the video using nothing but good old Photoshop.

You can view the original music video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIYXHLlxD8U

Final Image

This is the final image that we will be creating:

Step 1

Create a new document (1024 X 768 px) and fill it with black.

Step 2

Paste in an image of a volume equalizer. I found this image from here (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1016857). I selected the black background of the image using the magic wand tool and deleted it (despite it matching our main background). Then I click in the area surrounding the equalizer image and invert my selection so that only the rectangular shapes making up the equalizer image are selected. Then I fill this selection with light blue (80D2FC). To save my using the paint bucket tool and filling each rectangle shape, I create a linear gradient ranging from 80D2FC to 80D2FC at 100% and then just drag from the top to the bottom of my selected equalizer to fill all the rectangles. Finally I duplicate this layer, and go to edit>transform>flip vertical, then move the flipped image so that it mirrors the original.

Step 3

I merge my original/flipped equalizer images and then rotate the new layer by 90 degrees. Then I copy and paste this image multiple times, fitting each together until I have a very long equalizer image. I merge all layers, and resize the final image so that I have something like the image below:

Step 4

Now I duplicate my equalizer image, and go to edit>transform>scale. I use the transform options bar to move my duplicate image 200px to the right of my original - this way I can be very precise instead of needing to use the grid of judging it by eye.

Step 5

Now I use the same technique to move my duplicate image 200px to the right. I then go back to my original equalizer image and move this 200px to the left, and then repeat this step again to move another duplicate a further 200px left. Then I merge all of my equalizer layers.

Step 6

Then I go to edit>transform>perspective and drag one of the top corners of my image towards the center until I’m happy with the result. Then go squash my image vertically, as the bars were looking a little too fat and I wanted them thinner. Finally I moved my image up so that the bottom of the bars weren’t touching the bottom of my document.

Step 7

I go to layer>add layer mask>reveal all, and then drag a black to transparent linear gradient upwards, to fade out the bottom of my equalizers.

Step 8

Now I grab a large, soft, white brush and make some markings on a new layer above my equalizer layer. Then I set the layer’s blend mode to overlay. The result is a nice subtle lighting effect over my equalizers.

Step 9

Now select your equalizer layer and apply the outer glow settings shown below. Then reduce your equalizer layer’s opacity to around 50%.

Step 10

Now duplicate your equalizer layer, and move the duplicate below the original. Apply a 50px gaussian blur, and then set the layer blend mode to ‘hard light’ and reduce it’s opacity to around 30%.

Step 11

Now select your layer mask on the original equalizer layer and fade out the top of your equalizer.

Step 12

Now create a new top layer called ‘clouds’. Select all and fill it with black. Then go to filter>render>clouds. Set the layer blend mode to ‘color dodge’.

Step 13

Duplicate your clouds layer and you should get a much more intense effect. Then select your equalizer layer and select around your equalizer shapes using the magic wand tool. Then invert your selection so that the equalizers are selected. Return to your second cloud layer and hit delete, then reduce the opacity of this duplicate cloud layer to 10%. You should have an eerie looking mist around the ends of your equalizers. It’s looking pretty good so far, but the clouds have created an effect similar to the outer glow. The problem with this is that where the equalizers fade out near the bottom of the images the clouds are too obvious, and create a strange outline. We want this outline near the tops of our equalizers, so simply select a large, soft eraser brush and brush away around the bottom of the equalizers on both of your cloud layers.

Step 14

Create a new layer. Now grab your paintbrush, and set it to a large size, 0% hardness and 100% opacity and paint in some large spots of light (color: 77D1FF). Then reduce this layer’s opacity to 30%.

Step 15

Now duplicate your original cloud layer and move it above your large paintbrush layer. The layer blending mode should still be color dodge. Then reduce your paintbrush layer’s opacity to 20% and your cloud layer’s opacity to 45%. To get rid of the circular outlines from your low opacity brush markings, go to filter>blur>motion blur and apply a motion blur of around 200.

Step 16

Now paste an image of a man standing up into the center of your image. I found my image here: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/912668. Cut out the man using the magic wand tool or lasso tool. Then change the layer’s blending mode to ’soft light’ and use a large, soft eraser brush to erase away his feet, letting him subtly merge into the equalizers.

Step 17

Now duplicate your man photo layer and change the layer blending mode back to normal. Then select around the light parts of the photo, in this case his face and shirt. Then with this area selected invert your selection and hit delete, deleting the rest of the image surrounding his face/shirt. Then finally select his tie and delete this. The parts that you have deleted will allow the dark ’soft light’ layer to show through.

Step 18

Now with your light areas of the man photo layer selected go to image>adjustments>desaturate. Then apply the color balance settings shown below:

Step 19

Now go back to your original equalizer layer and select the middle bar using the lasso tool. Copy it onto a new top layer above your man photo layer and resize it so that it is about 30% of the height of your man. Then duplicate this layer multiple times, going to edit>transform>flip vertical, and positioning the images until they completely cover your man.

Step 20

Now merge all of your duplicated small equalizer layers together, and go to image>adjustments>brigthness/contrast and make your brightness -100 and contrast +100 to make your equalizer images black. We want a rough selection that follows some of the shape of these small equalizer images, but currently the image is too blurry to select around it well. To fix this I go to filter>sharpen more and then use the magic wand tool with 50 tolerance to select roughly around some of the shapes. Then I invert my selection and hide my small equalizer layer. The trick now is to delete this selected area from your man photo layer and light face/shirt layer. However, too much of each layer would be deleted if you simply hit delete - for instance you want to retain most of the face. Therefore use the eraser brush, set to around 20% opacity to erase some areas of this selection more than others. I erased the face very little, but erased the man’s shirt quite a lot. Then I selected the original man photo layer and erased some of the edges of his suit, leaving other parts untouched.

Step 21

Now create a new top layer and use your path tool to draw a winding path across your man. Making sure that your current brush is 1px in size, 100% hardness and B6FEFE color with your path tool selected right click on your path and click ’stroke path’. Then I go to edit>transform>scale and reduce the height of my path a little to squash it down. Finally I duplicate this layer and move the new layer a few pixels beneath the original. I reduce the width of the duplicate path line layer so that the lines are slightly different and distinct.

Step 22

I merge my two line layers together and then apply the outer glow settings shown below. Then I grab a large, soft eraser brush and fade out the right edge of both lines. I reduce the layer’s opacity to 80%.

Step 23

I use the edit>transform>scale tool to squash my lines vertically a little more, and the move my line layer beneath my man photo layer. Then I delete the parts of the lines that are showing through my man’s legs, making it appear that they are now traveling behind him. Now I create a new layer above my pen lines layer and using my paintbrush paint some white brush strokes over certain parts of my lines. I reduce the opacity of my brush to fade out the edges of these white brush marks subtly. Then I set this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’, giving the lines a nice lighting effect.

And We’re Done

Click the finished image below to see the full-sized version.

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52 Comments so Far:

  1. User Gravatar

    Comment by John Campbell on August 7, 2008 at 2:22 am

    Absolutely great tutorial! You continue to put out some real quality stuff, keep up the great work!

    - John

    http://www.designbump.com

  2. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 7, 2008 at 10:23 am

    Thanks John! I gotta say I love what you’re doing with Design Bump, I’ll continue to submit all of my work there.

  3. User Gravatar

    Comment by Lennart on August 7, 2008 at 11:57 am

    lol absolutly awesome… not a bad idea to use an image of a volume equalizer. Nice!

  4. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 7, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    Thanks Lennart :) I guess I could have made the equalizer image from scratch but figured it was easier to use a stock image. I’m glad you liked the outcome anyway.

  5. User Gravatar

    Comment by nextbase on August 7, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    this is cool…

    and actually, you’re better than psdtuts…

    :)

  6. User Gravatar

    Comment by David Leggett on August 7, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    Nice work with the lighting on the floor. That’s some good use of the Render Cloud Filter right there ;)

  7. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 7, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    Nextbase: Thanks! And whoa, that’s quite a compliment.

    David: Cheers mate :) It was pretty fun to design, and I’ve not actually used the cloud filter much before.

  8. User Gravatar

    Comment by twopo on August 7, 2008 at 7:26 pm

    Great work there

  9. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tutorials Room on August 7, 2008 at 7:45 pm

    You are really good, no wonder you are always in http://www.tutorialsroom.com homepage ;)

  10. User Gravatar

    Comment by Fubiz on August 7, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Beautiful tuto!

  11. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 7, 2008 at 11:18 pm

    Thanks guys! I’m glad that you all enjoyed this tut :)

  12. User Gravatar

    Comment by Carty on August 7, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    Can you use any of this on moving video or do you have to do this to each frame or your video?

    I have an idea how I could use the wave form in something else I’m doing but I was wondering if you know how I could create this type of effect on multiple frames (viaMotion or After Effects?)

  13. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 8, 2008 at 12:09 am

    Hi Carty, thanks for commenting. For music videos different software would be used, but I believe that Photoshop CS3 (Extended) has motion picture capabilities, where you may be able to achieve similar effects. I personally wouldn’t take the time to do each individual frame as I’m sure some motion picture software could do the job easier for you.

  14. User Gravatar

    Comment by bintek on August 8, 2008 at 1:11 am

    a very nice tutorial. thanks for sharing. (^_^)

  15. User Gravatar

    Comment by beets on August 8, 2008 at 3:32 am

    yeah, I’d take it into After Effects as a still image and then use animated masks on it… especially since by doing it that way, you can sync the movement with sound. A great plugin for doing that is Trapcode’s Sound Keys plugin:

    http://www.trapcode.com/products_soundkeys.html

  16. User Gravatar

    Comment by beets on August 8, 2008 at 3:34 am

    I had never seen that music video before, but I’m really impressed with your recreation of it Tom. Supurb! :)

  17. User Gravatar

    Comment by Yuki on August 8, 2008 at 4:44 am

    owesome! beautiful bulue light. I love it!
    thanks nice tut….

  18. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 8, 2008 at 9:23 am

    Bintek: Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it :)

    Beets: Thanks for the kind words. It is a really cool music video. I would love to see someone work with the layered image using After Effects. Thanks for recommending that plugin btw, I’ll go check it out.

    Yuki: Glad you liked the lighting effects, I hope that you’ll subscribe and check out my upcoming tutorials.

  19. User Gravatar

    Comment by James on August 8, 2008 at 10:33 am

    wow very good!

  20. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 8, 2008 at 11:04 am

    Cheers James, I’m glad you liked it :)

  21. User Gravatar

    Comment by C on August 9, 2008 at 7:39 am

    Excellent tutorial.
    :)
    Here’s how mine ended up:
    http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/174/wheecopyqm2.jpg

    ..So I don’t like sticking to exact instructions. Nothing wrong with that.

  22. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 9, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    That looks absolutely amazing C! Really impressive outcome.

  23. User Gravatar

    Comment by Niels on August 11, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    Nice result, but imo it’s not well explained..
    though you get the result, so, thanks in any way for sharing the tutorial !

  24. User Gravatar

    Comment by Affordable Web Design on August 12, 2008 at 2:49 am

    A very killer tutorial. Thank you for posting and helping to make it happen for me lol.

  25. User Gravatar

    Comment by MiKeL_zO! on August 13, 2008 at 11:40 am

    this is going to be my next project! thanks Master Tom! All hail Master Tom!! Rock on! \m/

  26. User Gravatar

    Comment by NaldzGraphics on August 14, 2008 at 7:20 am

    great tutorial.im gonna try to make one using paris hilton.lol:)keep up the good work

  27. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 14, 2008 at 12:57 pm

    Niels: Thanks for the feedback, is there any part in particular that you found hard to follow?

    Affordable Web Design: Thanks! I’m really glad you enjoyed it.

    Mikel: Haha, appreciate the comment as always :)

    NaldzGraphics: Awesome, I hope that you’ll share your outcome here.

    To all: Sorry for the delayed responses to your comments, my internets been down for days (really annoyingly).

  28. User Gravatar

    Comment by RECEPC on August 14, 2008 at 8:52 pm

    great…perfect..

  29. User Gravatar

    Comment by Antonwoods on August 19, 2008 at 6:30 am

    wow i really like this tutorial, and i think i may have just found my daily resource feed. Thanks for the tutorial Tom and ive subscribed. Keep these quality tutorials coming!

  30. User Gravatar

    Comment by Antonwoods on August 19, 2008 at 8:38 am

    Oh and I forgot to show, the outcome of me following your tutorial. http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonywoods/2776891111/

    :)

  31. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on August 19, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    Thanks RECEPC!

    Antonwoods: Thanks for the kind words and for subscribing, I really appreciate the support. I checked out your final result and it’s awesome! I’m consistently impressed by the results that my visitors are getting. I hope that you’ll consider replicating some of my other tuts :) Oh and I should be introducing a Flickr group soon if you were willing to show off your work.

  32. User Gravatar

    Comment by Fubiz on August 26, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    Nice !

  33. User Gravatar

    Comment by RUGRLN on September 7, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    Fantastic tut dude!

  34. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on September 12, 2008 at 2:21 am

    Thanks guys :)

  35. User Gravatar

    Comment by Azzy on September 27, 2008 at 6:51 am

    this is by far the best tutorial i have ever seen. Completely Awesome!!

  36. User Gravatar

    Comment by Martijn on November 9, 2008 at 10:19 pm

    Fantastic work! ive followed this tut today( took almost my whole sunday:P) but its fantastic! i gave it my own taste, used a own picture, its great! only you got a idea how i can save it on 1440×900 format? so i can use it as my wallpaper! 10/10!

  37. User Gravatar

    Comment by DL on November 18, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    Great tutorial but i did get lost at step 12 & 13. Whatever it’s meant to look like didn’t happen on my screen.

  38. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on November 18, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    Thanks for the kind words guys, I really appreciate it.

    Martijn: I would just crop it to that size (go to image>canvas size and adjust the size here). If you made it smaller I’m afraid you’ll only be able to resize it larger and then crop it.

    DL: Did you set your cloud layer to ‘color dodge’. This should make the clouds only appear over your floor pattern.

  39. User Gravatar

    Pingback by Every Great Photoshop Lighting Tutorial Ever (all 75 of them) - psdfan.com - on December 3, 2008 at 1:17 am

    [...] 46. Replicate Justin Timberlake’s LoveStoned Music Video [...]

  40. User Gravatar

    Comment by Lee on December 3, 2008 at 1:28 pm

    I like it. Very cool.

  41. User Gravatar

    Comment by meltz on December 12, 2008 at 8:22 am

    this is so cool …

  42. User Gravatar

    Comment by Jonathan.- on January 4, 2009 at 11:30 pm

    Man.. I search this for weeks! You are MY GOD!

    \o/

    Greetings from Argentina! :D

  43. User Gravatar

    Comment by Aidan Nelson on February 3, 2009 at 8:55 pm

    Realli Interested In This Tutorial,,
    Like The Concept Of It,
    But One Thing That Is Gettin Me Is The Merging Bit Of It..
    I New To This Stuff, Any Advice On How To Merge Becuase Obviously You Need To Merge To Make It Work, And I Wanna Do This One Badly ..
    Thanks Mate ..!!
    Aidan…

  44. User Gravatar

    Comment by SuperHuman on March 16, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    wow…im stuck on step 1…i cxant get the magic wand to select the different colors of the equalizer…its just not working for me

  45. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on March 17, 2009 at 12:54 am

    Are you on the correct layer? Select the layer containing your equalizer image and then make sure you have enough tolerance on your magic wand tool to select all of it. Alternatively, a much easier way is to option+click on your equalizer image layer to select ALL data on this layer. Hope this helps :)

  46. User Gravatar

    Comment by Bseweje on March 31, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    this is sooooooo coooooooool. thanks for taking the time to write the tut.

  47. User Gravatar

    Comment by Nodachi on April 30, 2009 at 3:02 am

    Hey man. I’m a producer and I was searching for some inspiration to make my next profile image for my websites. Good lord, thank you so much for all this, its an amazing tutorial. I’ll keep an eye for all of your stuff.

    Thanks a lot!

    João

  48. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on April 30, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Cheers João! I’m really glad you liked the tutorial.

  49. User Gravatar

    Comment by lukester911 on May 27, 2009 at 10:12 pm

    unfortunately I’m struggling on step 8, im making marks with a size 60 brush, white and have tried both soft light and normal versions of the brush.

    However when I change to layer blending option to overlay it looks nothing like your image and is really annoying me…

  50. User Gravatar

    Comment by lukester911 on May 27, 2009 at 10:18 pm

    oh, and does the colour you’re using make a difference in this step as the equalisers are a yellow colour on my image

  51. User Gravatar

    Comment by Kemar on June 5, 2009 at 10:27 pm

    This tutorial is hard to understand. Especially for beginners. Can someone help me understand this tutorial better?? If you can explain it better, please contact me @ blumagic93@yahoo.com

  52. User Gravatar

    Comment by Tom on June 5, 2009 at 11:04 pm

    Hi Kemar. Are there any parts in particular that you found hard to follow?

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