Here I will show you a quick and easy way to create a star field to use in background or space images.

1. Create a new image in Photoshop
   Say 500×500 with black set as the background color.
2. Create 2 new empty layers.
   Select the top layer and fill it with white (D then Ctrl+Backspace)
   Set the opacity of this layer to 1% and the layer type to Dissolve.
3. Now, to add any effects to this layer, we need to rasterize it.
   To do this we will simply merge it with the blank layer below by pressing Ctrl+E.
4. OK, make sure you have the top layer selected. Now from the menu bar select Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur…
   Use a small amount of blur on the stars. You will notice that the stars start showing some depth. I set Radius to 0.5%.

Voila, now add some planets and a spaceship and you have the universe. Wow was that easy.

Downloads

I have created an action of this Tutorial that you can run on your images. You can download it here.

This zip file contains the step 2 PSD, the Photoshop action and the finished PSD with all the layers.

Written by Ron Gallant © 2002