Open a new document in Photoshop "Ctrl N", and apply the background color or image that you will use on your web page. Add a new layer by clicking the "new layer" icon on the bottom of the layers palette, and draw a perfect circle by holding down the "shift" key as you draw with the circular marquee tool. Fill this with some color that contrasts with your background (see Figure 1).
Now add another layer above this one and draw a rectangular marquee to add the stem of the bulb and fill with another color (see Figure 2). You may have to move it around a little bit for it to line up right.
Choose "merge down" from the layer palette options at the top right, and then "Ctrl click" the layer in the layer window to select the outline as in Figure 3.
Click on the "Channels" tab of the palette and add a new channel with the button at the bottom. Fill your selection with white, deselect, and use "Filter" ... "Gaussian blur" with a radius of 4. Now use Levels "Ctrl L" to round off some of the corners of your blurred image. Notice how the bottom image here is more "bulb-like" ?
Return to the layers palette and load this channel that you created "Ctrl - Alt - 4" onto a new layer, and then fill with white. Do a Gaussian Blur while you still have it selected until you get something like this .............Ignore the rings - bad .gif !
Maintain your selection and add a new layer above this one. Fill it with black, then use "Filter" .... "Render" .... "Lens Flare" on this layer (layer 3 in my sample). Change the blending mode at the top of the palette to "Screen" and you will get something like Figure 4
Copy your original white layer (the one you blurred) and move it above the "Screen" layer that we just made. Now apply two layer effects to this layer - "Outer glow" and "Inner glow" using settings similar to those on the right. You should get something like Figure 5.
To make the bottom, metallic part of the light bulb we're basically going to repeat the first steps above, but we use the rectangular marquee and our two contrasting colors on separate layers. After it looks about right to you merge these together and "Ctrl Click" the layer to select it. Move to the channels palette next, fill it with white, deselect it and blur with a Gaussian Blur of 4, and then use levels to round it off a little - does any of this sound familiar?
Return to the layers palette and load this new channel "Ctrl - Alt - 5". Choose the gradient tool at left, hit "D" and then "X" to make white your foreground color and black the background, and finally fill from the center of the selection to the right with the gradient. You should have something like Figure 6 on the right. Adjust the levels if it is too light or dark.
Last but not least, keep your selection from the step above and add one new layer above it. Draw a series of evenly spaced white lines 1 or 2 pixels wide on this layer. Copy this layer, "Ctrl Click" to select it and fill with black. Now move the black lines down 1 or 2 pixels and you should have the threads on your bulb! You might need to adjust the opacity a little to make them look right.
To animate your bulb like this, save the document and go to Imageready 2.0. See the "spinning pole" tutorial for tips on using this application. All you really do is show your "Outer and Inner glow" layers on some frames and hide them on others - easy.