How to create space nebula backgrounds in photoshop

Create a new file in Photoshop (File -> New) and make sure your settings are:

Width: 1024 pixels
Height: 512 pixels

Color Mode: RGB - 8 bit

Then press OK.


Select black in the colour picker and paint your new file black... coz we're in space...


Now create a new layer that we will put our nebula clouds on (Layer -> New... -> Layer then click OK)


Next, select the Ellipse selection tool and set the feather to 50px.


Select a region where you would like to create your first nebula section.

Next select a foreground colour for your nebula section and make sure your background colour is black.


Now click Filter -> Render -> Clouds.


Keep doing this for different areas of the image until you have a nice coloured nebula. Keep the colour changes small between nebula sections so that the nebula looks natural and not forced.


If you want to add a little bit of extra colour as an undertone to your clouds, select the layer that you have your current clouds on and select blending options (Right click the layer -> Blending Options...) and set the blend mode to screen. This makes the stuff on the layer see-through based upon its distance from black.



Next create a new layer and move it underneath our clouds layer.


Now select a dark foreground colour (close to black but with colour) and then create another cloud under your current ones. See the effect it creates?

Before:

After:

Ok, so we've got our nebula cloud looking pretty nice, lets get some highlights going on. Switch your second cloud later to blend mode -> screen like the first one, then create a third layer and move it below the second.

Paint this layer completely black like our background layer.

Now select Filter -> Render -> Lens Flare. Set the brightness to 80 and then click ok.



The lens flare is rendered onto your nebula but it's super huge so...

Select the center area of the flare with our ellipse tool like so:


Now press CTRL-C to copy your selection.

Delete layer 3 and deselect your ellipse.

Now press CTRL-V to paste your selection. This looks the same but we've got a much more natural flare because of the feathered edges.


The flare is still too big so lets scale it down. Select Edit -> Free Transform then whilst holding shift (to maintain aspect ratio), drag a corner marker until your flare looks about this big:


Now move your flare into the middle of the picture. This is where we add the magic... select Filter -> Distort -> Twirl... and set the degrees to 250 then click OK


Now select Filter -> Distort -> Wave..., click the randomize button then click OK

Your flare will now look something like this at the moment:


Now repeat that a few times by pressing CTRL-F... two or three times is fine and should produce a flare like this:


Lastly, select Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 7 pixels and click OK. Move your flare into a nice position and set the layer Opacity until it looks natural:


Now repeat the flare creation and create some more nebula lighting until it looks finished...


That's it!