Add Action (and Fun) to a Still Image

I'm going to try to post Photoshop tips all this week here on my blog. I have something else cookin' that may postpone this idea. :-)

Today's tip: Add action to a still image with the Radial Blur filter.

Here is how to do it:

• Go to Filter > Convert to Smart Filters.

• Go to Blur > Radial Blur > Zoom. Play around the the position of the blur point and the amount of blur.

• In your Layer's panel, click on the Smart Filters Layer Mask.

• With black selected as the foreground color in the Color Picker, choose a soft brush and "paint out" the blur over the main subject or subjects. However, before you start "painting," reduce the Opacity of the brush in the Options bar at the top of your screen so your "painting out" happens slowly, which gives you more control than when you "paint out" at 100 percent Opacity.

Above is the original image. As you noticed in my enhanced image, I also added a "sun" courtesy of the Lens Flare filter in Photoshop.

Below are two more examples.

 

I teach stuff like this on my workshops, when we are not shooting and making more traditional enhancements in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Explore the light,

Rick

P.S. For the ultimate control over painting in Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture, check out a Wacom Pen Tablet.