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Before adding light streams to an image, first ask yourself where you want the light source for the steams. What aperture or opening will the light be streaming through? What is in the path of the steams? Once you’ve made these decisions, you can begin.

Open the image you will be adding light beams to and create a new layer. Select a hard black brush, and paint over the aperture (or opening) where you want the light to stream through. This might be a window, flashlight, or gap in the trees. Be as accurate as possible when painting. It’s the small details in the openings that give light streams character.

Choose Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Adjust the amount to 100, Blur Method to Zoom, Quality to Draft, and move the Blur Center to the estimated position of your light source. Since there’s no preview, this can be a bit tricky. Don’t be afraid to Undo and reposition. If the light source is out of the image window, enlarge your canvas so you can reach it. Once you have the blur originating from the light source, apply it several more times. (Command/Ctrl-F). Then apply a Radial Blur one last time with Quality set to Best.

Choose Edit > Transform > Scale to shape the light streams. Zoom out, place the center point of the transformation outline on the center of your aperture, and resize pressing Shift-Option/Alt, dragging the handles beyond the canvas if necessary.

Create a new layer, fill it with white, and place it below the light streams layer. Create another new layer and turn off the visibility of the light streams and white-fill layers to see only the original image. On the new layer, paint a white silhouette of the objects that will be blocking the light streams. Place the silhouette layer above the light streams layer, and turn on the visibility of all the layers. Select the entire canvas (Command/Ctrl-A) and copy to clipboard using Copy Merged (Shift-Command/Ctrl-C).

Select the Background layer and make it the only visible layer. Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon and choose Curves. Click OK to close the curves dialog box. Option/Alt-click the layer mask thumbnail on the Curves adjustment layer. Press Command/Ctrl-V to paste the clipboard contents, the Option/Alt-click the layer mask thumbnail again.

Double-click the Curves adjustment layer thumbnail to open the Curves dialog box and adjust the curve to darken the non-light stream portions of the image.

Duplicate the Curves adjustment layer, select the layer mask thumbnail, and press Command/Ctrl-I to invert the layer mask. Double-click the Curves adjustment layer thumbnail to open the Curves dialog box and adjust the settings to lighten the light streams.

With this technique, the original image isn’t altered, so you can continue to edit and add additional adjustment layers. Watch for visual cues that contradict your new lighting.