Image and Post by Rick Sammon – Follow Rick Sammon on Twitter
How cool! Thanks to Photoshop, we can add a sense of motion to a still wedding image, which in turns can add more life and more excitement to a still photograph. What’s more, as you’ll see, this technique can “hide” a poor background.
The Radial Blur filter in Photoshop is the secret (well, one of the secrets/techniques) for creating this effect.
Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Open an image and go to Filter > Convert to Smart Filter.
Step 2: Go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur > Zoom. Play around with the amount. I usually don’t go above 50. Also, you can place the center of the blur anywhere in the image by clicking in the Blur Center window and moving the center of the blur. Click OK.
Step 3: In the Layers panel, click on the Layer mask. Set black as the foreground color in the Color Picker at the bottom of the Tool Bar, and then select a soft edge brush. Start masking out (paining out) the blur over the subjects with the Opacity (on option on the Menu Bar at the top of your monitor) set at 100 %. As you move outward from the main subjects, gradually reduce the Opacity. Your goal is to make a smooth transition between the blurred and sharp areas of the image.
