Space Lighting FX

Tutorial used: http://abduzeedo.com/space-lighting-effects-10-steps-photoshop-tutorial

I started with a black background and added a soft radial gradient peeking over the top.

Here I created a new black layer and added RGB lights (Filter > Render > Lighting Effects > RGB Lights)

...now with Gaussian blur.

Another black layer was added on top with the blending set to Screen. Small stars were added here by adding Noise and altering the Levels so that only the desirable amount of specks of white were left behind.

Now clouds were added to give a nice texture and a more gas-like appearance. Also, the color of the stars was changed to a colorful spectrum using a gradient.

The lens flare was added to give a nice illuminating effect. Now it really starts to look like a colorful space nebula.

To make the letter Z, I started with new layer. Then I painted in white, using a large brush on 0% hardness. Afterwards, I chopped it down on the side to create a clear line. Next step was to simply duplicate, rotate, and resize as necessary to create the Z. Done!

Final (for some reason the stars don't look the same as in the PSD file...)

I had some trouble with getting this one to look decent, but once I took my time and paid real attention to the instructions it wasn't that bad. I decided to make a 'Z' for my name. It's crazy how people can come up with designs like this. I guess they just might do some random things, see what turns out, and learn from it.