Expert: Scott Valentine - 11/5/2007

Question
I was editing a photo and while using a lighting filter under the Render Pallette I deleted the Flashlight style which was listed as a default. Flashlight is one of 16 styles. How do I recover Flashlight style under the Render Lighting effect? Any help short of uninstalling the program and reinstalling would be appreciated.
Thanks  

Answer
Cris - I think you may have an option here. The preset is stored as a document in the plugins folder. For CS3, the path is PhotoshopCS3/Plugins/Filters/Lighting Styles. If you can not find the document there, you may have to find someone with the same version you are running and copy the document to your plugins/filters folder.

You have already hit on the sure-fire cure; reinstalling Photoshop. I realize this is an unpleasant task, but if you can not find a copy of the file, that may be your only choice.

However, I do have some good news. You can create your own style and save it as a preset. This is not an ideal solution, but should give you a way to create a custom preset that you can use in lieu of the Flashlight style. There is some good information in the Photoshop help files that explains how to create new presets, and specifically how to manipulate settings (add/remove lights, change colors, set textures, etc) for the Lighting filter. This may save you some headache.

If you have further questions, or would like help with the Lighting filter, please do let me know.

Cheers,

-Scott