Let’s take a look at the final effect:
1. Create a new document. Here I use a document size of 800 x 600 pixels, but you can also use a larger document than this. Open the material file we need.
2. Create a new layer and name it "First Smoke", then use the Pen Tool to create a path as shown below.
3. Create a new layer. Be sure to set the foreground color to white and the background color to black. Then perform filter-render clouds. After the cloud is created, we use the CTRL+T Free Transform command to adjust its size to facilitate adding more details for the subsequent explosion effect.
4. Now return to the path panel, hold down the ALT key and click the "Load path as selection" button in the path panel, and set the feather value to 10 pixels in the pop-up dialog box. Then go back to the cloud layer in the layer panel and execute Layer-Layer Mask-Show Selection in the layer menu.
5. Create a new layer folder on the top layer, name it "Little Smokes." Then create a new layer in this new folder. We will create three "mushroom clouds" and "mushroom columns" of different shapes in this new folder in a moment.
Repeat step 3 to create a new layer. Then use the Lasso tool to create an elliptical selection, as shown below. Then repeat step 4 (this time just set the feather value to 2 pixels). Then create another 2 layers respectively and repeat this step 2 times or until you are satisfied.
6. We create a new layer on the "Little Smokes." layer folder, name this layer "Smoke 2." Then repeat steps 3 and 4 again, but this time we only need to make a "mushroom cloud" "Shape" selection area.
When repeating step 4, we use a sphericalization filter (Filter-Distort-Spherization) on it as shown below:
7. Now let’s add some details to the mushroom cloud. Create a new folder named "Smoke Details." and create a new layer in the folder. Repeat step 3, and then go to Filter-Distort-Extrude. Then use the eraser tool, set the eraser brush hardness to 0, size to 20 pixels, and remove some "burrs" on the edges. Repeat this step multiple times until you are satisfied.
8. Set the layer blending mode of the "First Smoke" and "Smoke 2" layers to Hard Light, and set the layer blending mode of their respective layer folders to Hard Light.
Now go back to the background layer. Then on top of it do Layer - New Adjustment Layer - Hue/Saturation in the Layer menu and the settings are as follows:
9. Go back to the "First Smoke" layer. Then execute Layer-New Adjustment Layer-Levels in the layer menu, and the settings are as follows:
10. In the execution layer-new fill layer-gradient, use #ffa200 and #2f2200 for the gradient color and other settings as shown below, then set the layer blending mode of the layer to Overlay, and then make a copy of the layer to enhance the effect.
