How to Radial Blur the Background of a Photo

Photography Tips  •  Photoshop Tutorials

Before Changes

After Changes

This tutorial is to help you learn how to blur the background of a photo.  The blur we are going to use is a radial blur applied only to the background.  Ok, once you have your photo open in photoshop:

First of all we need to isolate the background part of the photo from the subject you wish to remain the same.

1. In order to do this use the Quick Mask Mode and make sure the colors you are using are black and white. If you need more help with this step please refer to our tutorial on Separating a Subject from it’s Background.

2. After you finish making your selection with the Quick Mask Mode, Copy the selection to a new layer.  Your layer menu should now look like this.

3. Then (with the new layer selected), apply a radial blur to the new layer containing the background.  (Filter>Blur>Radial Blur).

Use the Zoom Method for this situation.  And I used an intensity of 20, but that can vary depending on the picture.  When you are done messing with the options, press OK to see the results.

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