[dd_user]

Originally located in PhotoshopCAFE

STEP 1

On a new layer, create a black to white gradient, diagonally from the top left, to the bottom right.




STEP 2

Filters>Render>Differance Clouds




STEP3

Now invert the image. Cmd/Ctrl+I
You can start to see the lightning




STEP 4

Adjust levels to bring out the lightning, Cmd/Ctrl+L.

In the levels box: slide the black arrow to the right and the middle one to the right too, until it looks nice and clean






STEP 5

Now to add a bit of color:

Go to Hue/Saturation Cmd/Ctrl+U Click the colorize box and slide the Hue till you like the color.




STEP 6

Now to add it to your image:

Just place the lightning on a layer above your image and change the layer blending mode to "screen". Here I duplicated the lightning layer 2x and rotated it a little.