Creating a glow is an easy special effect. It's essentially a drop shadow that isn't offset at all from the original object and is often in a color other than black. In Hour 17, “Adding Type to Pictures,” you learned how to use Photoshop's Glow layer style to apply a glow to lettering. Here's a different and easy way to put a glow around type or an object.
Try it YourselfCreate a Glow Around an Object Let's create a basic glow around an object. I have an object that's practically screaming for a glow. It's a translucent trackball. You can download this from the book's web page. It's called trackball.jpg. When the main book page has loaded, click the Downloads link to get to the files, or use an example from your own collection. It's helpful if the object that will glow is easy to select.
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Of course, this is Photoshop, so there are several ways to accomplish more or less the same result. You could skip the preceding step 6, and simply fill the selection and go on from there. You could even use the Outer Glow Layer Effect, although it doesn't look quite as good to me. It's certainly quicker and easier, and it might be exactly what you want.
We've only scratched the surface of glow effects, so I encourage you to try all sorts of settings and colors. Experiment with the brightness and size of the glow. Also try other blur filters for glows that imply movement or dimension. Have fun!