2.) Now create a new layer (cntrl + shift + N) and name it "planet." From here, place the cursor in the center of the image, then while holding alt+shift and using the elliptical marquee tool (shift to maintain a perfect circle, and alt to create the circle from the cursor outward), draw the circle to your preference.
3.) Fill the circle with black, put the foreground color to white and the background color to black. Then go to filter-render-difference clouds. Press "ctrl+F" until you get the one you like.
4.) After this go to Image-Adjustments-levels and make the top values 0 1.00 and 150.
5.) At this point a little contrast can make the image pop out a bit more, so go to image-adjustments-brightness/contrast. Slide the contrast cursor to about 15 - 20, make sure you don't have too much contrast, or else the end result will look like a cartoon.
6.) From here we want our planet to look realistic, not like a cartoon, so duplicate the planet layer and name it "planet 2." Now go to filter-pixelate-pointillize, and choose a cell size of 5, press "ok." Now go to image-adjustments-desaturate to get rid of the color. Now, lower the opacity of the layer to 50%.
7.) Merge the two layers by pressing ctrl+e on the top layer. Go to filter-blur-gaussian blur, and enter .5 pixels. Go to filter-distort-spherize and enter an amount of about 50%. Your planet should now look like this...
8.) Now go to Image-adjustments-color balance. Apply these settings
Shadows: +50 - 0 - -100
Midtones: +75 - 0 - -100
Highlights: +80 - 0 - -15
Now you have the planet's color. Remember that our sun is mostly bright orange, not yellow or red. Therefore, we need to lighten it up a bit. Create a blank new layer, and make sure not to unclick the circle around the planet, we still need this. From here, click on your foreground color, and under H enter value 25, and under value L 64, from here drag the color selection circle to the top right. For the background color, use the brightest yellow you want. Now fill the circle of this layer with the clouds filter, and set the blending mode to "screen," at an opacity of 25%.
9.) Merge the two layers by pressing "ctrl+e" on the top layer. Then make a duplicate layer (I know it sounds silly to do this after merging, but it's easiest to work with a smaller amount of layers). Now at this point you may deselect your planet. From here go to image-adjustments-brightness/contrast for the top layer, slide the contrast cursor to 45, then click "ok." Now, change the opacity of the top layer to 50%. From here, we are now able to work on solar flares.
10.) Almost there! at this point, grab your "smudge" tool, and set it to "normal" mode, with a value of 30%. This is just to begin with, and this part is purely experimental, but while the top layer is still chosen, click and drag out the edges of the sun to give it a glow, and a solar flare look. From here, you can change the strength and size of the smudge tool when the sun has a full luminous bloom to it, doing this will basically give your sun a sense of liveliness and realistic flares. Avoid working too much inside the sun, it's much more difficult to achieve realistic flares on the surface, although it can be done using a smaller sized circle and a lesser strength (30 pixel and 30% strength for example). I have done a few instances on this sun to show you how it does look with flares on the surface.
11.) Take your time with all the small perfections if you can. This next part is optional if you feel like your planet looks a little too bright. From here, duplicate your top layer again. Now, go to image-adjustments-threshold, and give it a value of about 100 - 125, but feel free to play around, I gave it a value of 110. At this point, go to filter-blur-gaussian blur, and give it a value between .5 and 3, I used 1. Set the layer blending mode to "hue," and lower or raise the opacity to whichever level you feel will most accent the image, or make it most realistic, once again this step is optional. I set mine to an opacity of 35%.
And there you have it, that's my little tutorial and I hope it helped you to achieve a realistic fiery planet, remember to play around with settings once you're comfortable and good luck. Also try different blending modes and add a background if you like to get a fancy final result.
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