Recent Additions:

Creating a Simple Web Advertisement

Toon Site Navigation Header

Creating Cool Celebrity Wallpapers

Shopping Site Animated Banner

Designing a Cake Shop Logo

Creating a Girlie Smiley

Drawing a Cartoon Horse

Colorful Beads Text Effect

XP Style Wind Mill Icon

Water Ripples Navigation Header

Shopping Mall Logo

Creating a Lovefool Smiley

Animated No Smoking Sign

Creating and Animating Incense Sticks

Creating a Futuristic Logo

3D Leather Text Effect

Changing Calendar Dates

Logo with Iconic Headphones

Animating a Dolphin Diving Into the Water

Creating Diamond Earrings

Animated Night to Day Effect With Rising Sun

 

Back Light Effect
Step One
Okay, this is very easy to do and yet it's very cool. This effect mainly use making layouts and also buttons. Let's get started. Open a image that you want to apply this effect on. Here, I will use a picture from the movie Matrix.

Step Two
Select the area that you want to put the Backlight effect using any of the selection tools. In this case, I used Rectangular Marquee Tool(M).

Step Three
Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and using the Paint Bucket Tool(G) fill the select area with your choosen color. Most people use black or white in this case. But you are welcome to use any colors you wish to use, I guess.
Step Four
Now this is the important part. In the Layer Palette, decrease the Opacity of the Layer 2 to whatever you like. It's usually 30%-70%. And guess what! You've done it! Wasn't that easy?

Here's what I came up with,