Add Motion to Your Photos

Add Motion to Your Photos
by Syndee Rogers-Nuckles

Adding interesting effects to your photos is one of the best things about Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. With filters and effects at your fingertips you can do things with your photos that you can’t replicate with a digital camera alone.

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to take a photo and add motion with the Radial Blur filter.

Step One: Prepare the Workspace

  • Open a photo (File > Open) you would like to add the Radial Blur filter to. **For best results choose a photo where the focal point is in the center of the photo.
  • In the Menu Bar, choose File > Duplicate. Click OK.  (Photoshop: Choose Image > Duplicate.)
  • Close the original photo (File > Close).

Here is the photo I will be working with.

little boy play in water

Step Two: Add the Radial Blur Filter

  • Press Ctrl J (Mac: Cmd J) to duplicate the layer.
  • In the Menu bar, choose Filter > Blur > Radial Blur.
  • In the dialog box, set the Amount to 58, the Blur Method to Zoom, and the Quality to Best. If the subject in your photo is not centered, click with your mouse and drag the Blur Center to line up with the approximate center of the subject. Click OK.

little boy play in water

Step Three: Erase to Reveal

  • Get the Eraser tool.
  • In the Tool Options, open the Brush Preset Picker and choose a Soft Round brush. If you don’t see a Soft Round brush, open the menu and choose Default Brushes. (Photoshop: Open the menu, choose Reset Brushes, and click OK.) Set the Size to 300 px, the Opacity to 80%, and the Type to Brush. (Photoshop: Set the Size to 300px, the Mode to Brush, the Opacity to 80%, and the Flow to 100%.)
  • Directly on the photo, click and drag to erase over the areas where you want to reveal the photo layer below. To change the size of the brush, press the Right and Left Bracket keys.

0216_DST_Radial_Blur_Erase

little boy play in water

Step Four: Move the Photo onto a Scrapbook Page

  • Press Ctrl E (Mac: Cmd E) to merge the photo layers.
  • Save the photo (File > Save As) with a unique name.
  • Open a layered scrapbook page (File > Open) on which you would like to use the photo.
  • Click on the photo document to activate it.
  • On the document, click on the photo and drag it onto the scrapbook page.
  • In the Layers panel, click on the photo layer and drag it into the top position.

Here’s my finished page with the Radial Blur photo. I can’t wait to see what you come up with in the Digi Scrap Tutorial Gallery.

0216_DST_Radial_Blur_LO

Credits:
Page & Photo: Syndee Rogers-Nuckles, Chepko Danil
Kit: ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: One Word by Syndee Rogers-Nuckles
Software: Photoshop Elements 14, Adobe Photoshop CC 2015

 

Download PDF

 

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Syndee Rogers-NucklesAuthor: Syndee Rogers-Nuckles | Contact Us
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Comments (10)

  1. Donna

    When I looked at this blog post, I knew I had the perfect picture to add to a layout using this technique. Thanks for such fun tutorials!

    February 4, 2016 at 3:28 pm Reply
    • Syndee Rogers-Nuckles

      So glad you like it!

      February 4, 2016 at 7:06 pm Reply
    • Syndee Rogers-Nuckles

      I can’t wait to see what you come up with Donna!

      February 9, 2016 at 6:37 am Reply
  2. Carol B

    Thank you for this great tutorials Im sure Ill find a photo to use for this one its marvellous

    February 9, 2016 at 6:18 am Reply
  3. Wow Syndee, must give this a go, I hope it will work for background on a card with a flower in the centre, wish me luck

    February 9, 2016 at 5:20 pm Reply
  4. chris

    Wow Syndee this is great, I am going to try this for a background on my greeting cards with a flower in the centre, wish me luck

    February 9, 2016 at 5:22 pm Reply
  5. Anita

    So cute! Thanks!

    February 9, 2016 at 7:52 pm Reply
  6. Shaunna

    Awesome!

    February 10, 2016 at 8:16 am Reply
    • Syndee Rogers-Nuckles

      Thanks so much Shaunna!

      February 10, 2016 at 8:36 am Reply
  7. This is a really cool effect! Thanks so much for sharing it!

    February 11, 2016 at 8:13 pm Reply
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