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Photoshop filters – radial blur

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By Simon Hawketts ·

I've been playing with photoshop quite a lot lately because I've been scanning a lot of photos which my Dad took in the 1950s to 1970's and cleaning them up and in some cases adding some colour. During my experiments and after watching some videos as part of the learning process, I've been trying out some filters and I made some changes I like to this picture of my Daughter which I originally took last year.

Although I don't normally like lots of 'messing about' of pictures in photoshop, I like this filter effect which I got quite simply by selecting my Daughter and her toy, inverting the selection and then applying the radial blur filter to the selection. The filter effect is a simulation of zooming a lens during an exposure and is the sort of effect that would be quite difficult to do outside photoshop. I'd be interested in peoples opinion - do you like this sort of effect or do you think it looks too 'over processed'?

The original picture was taken with a soligor C/D 28mm f/2.8 K mount lens fitted to my Sony Nex 6.

Picture of a small girl with her toy
Picture of a small girl with her toy - radial blur added in photoshop

Comments (7)

  1. Lutz Braum
    I think this effect would look better on a subject that is moving, that way it looks more natural, as if you just used a long shutter rather than a PS effect.

    Comments (1)

    1. Simon Hawketts
      Yes - that's a good point. I think perhaps the novelty of using photoshop has made me see a dramatic effect which was easy to apply rather than that effect being appropriate. I guess as I get more experienced I'll be better able to judge. Thanks for the comment by the way
  2. Michael Andrew Just
    I like this look!
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