I have produced a step by step tutorial on how I produced this shot:
using this original
I use Photoshop CS5 to do this process
STEP 1
Open the original image. In all my processes I always start by duplicating the background image. Hit layer - duplicate layer and click OK on the dialogue box.
STEP 2
I wanted to get a better composition of the shot by getting the water line in the centre of the shot. To do this I increased the canvas size to add a bit of space at the top which we can fill with sky. To do this hit image - Canvas Size. In the dialogue box you can then increase the canvas size in any direction. In this shot I anchored it at the bottom and added enough space at the top to get the line in the middle.
STEP 3
Now you have a blank space at the top. We want to add some sky to this. To do this we select the blank area with the rectangle marquee tool. Then hit Edit - Fill. In the dialogue box there is a dropdown box. In this box select “Content-Aware”. Then hit OK. This will fill the blank space with sky. When using this fill function it does not always work out to well but by selecting areas that look fake and repeating the content aware fill you will get something fairly realistic. Its not a massive issue for this as we will be blurring the sky soon anyway.
STEP 4
Now you have an image with the water line in the centre and sky filled to the top. Now we want to blur the water and sky. I did different blur levels to the sky and water but you can do it all the same if you want. To blur the sky I used the marquee rectangle tool and dragged it to select only the sky. I copied this selction as a new layer by hitting Layer - New - Layer via Copy. This adds a new layer of only the sky. TO this I then added the blur by hitting Filter - Blur - Motion Blur. In the dialogue box I selected a 0 degree angle and then used the slider to get the desired level of blur. You can view this in the dialogue box. Once happy hit OK.
STEP 5
Now you have a blurred sky do the same step as above but for the water. Select the water, copy to a new layer and add the motion blur you want.
STEP 6
Now you have some great blur. But you will see that the canoe has gone. SO we want to add it back in. Select the original layer and drag the marguee tool around the canoe. Hit Layer - New - Layer via Copy. This will add a new layer with the canoe on. You need to drag this layer to the top above all the other layer. Do this by clicking and dragging the layer thumbnail on the righthand side to the top.
Now you will see the canoe again but also some sky and water that is not blurred. We need to erase this. I did this by zooming right onto the canoe so it fills the page using the zoom tool. I then selected the erase tool and started slowly erasing the water and sky around the canoe and man. This takes a bit of time and accuracy. You will need to reduce the size of the erase tool to get into the nooks and cranies but make sure you don’t erase any of the canoe. Once this is done zoom out again (hit zoom tool and hit the “fit to screen” button at the top). You will now have a perfectly in focus canoe again.
I was hoping this was why you loaded the original! Thanks for taking the time. I haven't explored Lightroom enough to know yet... is this doable there?
Thanks for that Richard. I recently downloaded a free version of photoshop, but have yet to venture in to see what it's all about. This is a good lesson to get started on.
@onie more than a pleasure. Its a fairly simple process but will get you using photoshop for sure. You will find the erase tool is something you will use a fair bit, selecting sections and applying filters too.
@brav brilliant, will try this, Thank you :)
I am on an old version of photoshop so I dont think I have content aware in fill but I wont worry too much about that.
@brav I followed your instructions but my original layers are motion blurred as well??
not sure why...
How do I keep the layers independent of each other? I must be doing something wrong.
Great guide. The only thing I would do differently would be to clone out the canoe entirely before blurring that layer, but in a case when you're blurring this much, it's not really necessary anyway.
Very cool! Thank you for posting the steps... My photoshop skills are very limited and its always helpful to get step by step instructions on how to achieve a specific effect... Bookmarking this thread for future reference!
Thank you,
It looks like you already have a challenge going here. You could just cut and paste a thread? I will definitely be trying this as soon as I wake up a little more fully. @northy@monika64 I look forward to seeing what you do. @grizzlysghost Aaron, I have a suspicion you are going to end up a host more than student.
agh
Now I see how stupid I was. I thought when I hit the link I went to Richards home page.
The challenge has begun.
Now I need to go get some caffeine so I can get started. ;)
@brav Sorry I've chosen a similar photo to yours, I don't have any other that I thought would look right. I can see some room for improvement but I've learnt a couple of new things. I used PSE.
Step 1: Why? Why do you work on separate layers all the time? Can't you get the same effect by selecting the areas you want to work on at each stage?
Step 2: Again, why? Why increase the size of the image when you could as easily get the centre line where you want by cropping a little off the bottom? (Apart from the obvious - nobody likes having bits chopped off their bottom.)
@Cheesebiscuit Step 1 I always do this just incase I mess things up. Step 2 I was aiming for a tall and narrow shot. prefer to add rather than take away. Also teaches the people using this guide all about content aware fill as a techneque.
@juliehill nicely done Julie, My problem is that when I blur each of the layers it blurs all of them and I dont have an original un-blurred layer to work select from.
Does anyone know why this is happening? I am on photoshop cs2. @brav
@monika64
Hi Monika, this is probably way off base since I have no idea what I am doing, but somewhere when I was pushing buttons there was a choice to have it effect all lower layers or something to that effect. Maybe you somehow got something like that checked?
@monika64 this should not be the case each layer should be independant. A test will be as follows. Against each layer thumbnail will be an eye symbol.this allows you to make a layer disapear. Click the eye symbol on all layers but the firdt one. Is that blured?
Ok first thing I found out is I evidently don't shoot anything that is moving. I had to go back quite a ways to find a moving object in any of my pictures.
I also had to do some searching and guessing at other namings in PSE11. I never did find a content aware fill. I guess I will go on help search for that. Google here I come.
OK, I worked out my layering issue, I think I was duplicating the wrong layer. Now my main issue with my image is the 'ghosting' (of the red windsurfer I am using) is quite pronounced and makes the whole picture look fake. there is a red blur on both sides of the non blurred windsurfer.
Any suggestions? maybe I need a less pronounced subject. @tigerdreamer I dont have “Content-Aware” either on photoshop CS2
:(
@monika64 I know this seem a pain but its good practice. As they say you learne from your mistakes. In cases like this before you do the blur filter you might want to try erasing the surfer and replace it with sky and water. This is done either by content aware fill or cloning tool or by copying
Oh ok, I thought as much, I have plenty of similar photos, without a subject, that I could motion blur. To be honest though I think the canoe in yours takes it from a blurred photo to something exceptional. I guess I'll wait until I have a less pronounced (or silhouetted) subject.
Thanks for your lesson, it was very educational :)
Thanks to Richard @brav for his tutorial on Motion blur I have taken this to the extreme, nothing subtle here and my husband thinks they are a mess, but I rather liked the outputs and it distracted me for an hour.. Thanks again to @brav… more at http://365project.org/fungirlslim/create-and-expe/2013-01-26 http://365project.org/fungirlslim/create-and-expe/2013-01-27 http://365project.org/fungirlslim/create-and-expe/2013-01-28
@monika64 I got the ghosting too, and I can see there are some photos where you wouldn't want that. I am glad there is a solution, but it also looks somewhat like the ghosting we were looking for in the rear curtain camera settings challenge.
Yes thank you Richard. I have already learned many new things.
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I am on an old version of photoshop so I dont think I have content aware in fill but I wont worry too much about that.
not sure why...
How do I keep the layers independent of each other? I must be doing something wrong.
It looks like you already have a challenge going here. You could just cut and paste a thread? I will definitely be trying this as soon as I wake up a little more fully.
@northy @monika64 I look forward to seeing what you do.
@grizzlysghost Aaron, I have a suspicion you are going to end up a host more than student.
agh
Now I see how stupid I was. I thought when I hit the link I went to Richards home page.
The challenge has begun.
Now I need to go get some caffeine so I can get started. ;)
Step 1: Why? Why do you work on separate layers all the time? Can't you get the same effect by selecting the areas you want to work on at each stage?
Step 2: Again, why? Why increase the size of the image when you could as easily get the centre line where you want by cropping a little off the bottom? (Apart from the obvious - nobody likes having bits chopped off their bottom.)
Does anyone know why this is happening? I am on photoshop cs2. @brav
Hi Monika, this is probably way off base since I have no idea what I am doing, but somewhere when I was pushing buttons there was a choice to have it effect all lower layers or something to that effect. Maybe you somehow got something like that checked?
I also had to do some searching and guessing at other namings in PSE11. I never did find a content aware fill. I guess I will go on help search for that. Google here I come.
Any suggestions? maybe I need a less pronounced subject.
@tigerdreamer I dont have “Content-Aware” either on photoshop CS2
:(
Thanks for your lesson, it was very educational :)
Yes thank you Richard. I have already learned many new things.