100 DIGITAL CAMERA^ MARCH 2021 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
Embrace blur for
maximum creativity
Adding blur to pin-sharp images may
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James Abbott
James is a professional
photographer who
specialises in landscape
and portraits. He’s an
advanced Photoshop
user and has created
hundreds of tutorials.sing blur in your images can
perform a wide range of
functions, depending on how the
blur has been applied. Motion
blur, changing the depth of field
and even defocusing the lens are three of the
main ways of controlling blur in-camera, but
some techniques can only be applied during
post-processing. We’ll take a look at four
techniques here with two that can only be
applied during post-processing, with the
additional two being possible in-camera
but with the use of specialist lenses.
While mimicking lens effects during
processing is rarely as good as the real thing,
we’re sure you’ll agree that the techniques
we’ll be looking at here are highly effective.
These techniques aren’t tied to a specific
subject and can be used with any image;
think of them more as a finishing touch to
an already processed image that just needs
one last effect to tie everything together.U
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GET THE LOOK1
Desaturated
diffuse glow
Click on the Background Layer
to select it, then press Ctrl/
Cmd+J to duplicate it. Hold down Ctrl/
Cmd+Shift+U to desaturate the new layer
before going to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
and set Radius to 30 pixels, then click OK.
Change the Blending Mode from Normal to
Overlay or, if you’d like a slightly more subtle
effect, Soft Light. You can now leave the
effect as it is, or reduce the Opacity of
the layer to fine-tune the effect.FILE & VIDEO
http://www.digital
cameraworld
.com/dc239
WATCH THEVIDEO!