Adding motion blur

Crazyhorse

Crazyhorse

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Hi

What would the best way (idiots guide) be to add some motion blur? I'm talking horses jumping or cantering. Should the blur be on the horse or the background for the best effect?

I made a pathetic attempt as I wasn't really sure what to do. I'm rubbish at doing that sort of thing on layers.

Any help appreciated.

Many thanks.

Lisa
 
Not sure about horses, but it's often the background thats blured to give the impression of speed (gives a sort of panning effect) but horses cantering are not moving very fast so I'd be tempted not to add much blur. Wayne
 
Its better to just shoot at the right shutter speed.
But use quick mask and paint out the subject, then add motion blur to the rest of the image :)
 
Hi

Thanks for the replies. I know what you mean about not adding too much blur.

Trev, sorry about this but could you tell me how to use a quick mask as I'm rubbish. I have CS4 extended.

Many thanks.

Lisa
 
i would have thought that shooting on shutter priority with a highish shutter speed will give you a nice focused image on the horse with quite a narrow depth of field, which would blur the background image just enough to give the desired effect.
 
With CS4 I'd use the quick selection tool, not too big and just paint the horse, if it goes off hold ALT and paint over the off bit, when you have it all selected, go to select/inverse and add your blur.
Wayne
 
Be careful with motion blur and masking.

Photoshop sees the masked area as a blank (white) area, and blurs this in the image area. Now with a small mount of blur this may be OK. If it's annoying you'll need to clone some blured image into the area.

There is another technique but it's a bit more complicated, so try the Quick Mask option first, using the quick selection tool
 
Quick reply. I need to get to work...
Assumption: You have a PC and Photoshop CS3.

1. Open your image
2. CTRL+J to duplicate it. You should see a copy of the image pop into the layers palette on the right hand side.
3. Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Add the effect you want
4. Mask the layer by pressing ALT+(clicking on the box with a circle in it next to the "fx" buttin at the bottom of the layer window). If you've done this right, you should see the copied layer with a black box next to it, and the blur should dissapear off the screen.
5. Select a brush, set the hardness to 0%, Opacity to about 30%, set the foreground to White (alternately press d & x on the keyboard to flip between black & white).
6. Paint white onto the black layer mask to reveal the blur underneath in the areas you want it. If you mess it up, just select black as a foreground colour, and paint black over your white to hide the blur again.
7. Change the opacity of the layer once you've finished. If you're like me, you'll have over-blurred your background, and changing the opacity to 50-70% usually "reins in" (pardon the pun) the effect.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the speedy response. I really need to get out the door!

-H
 
lazaroonie said:
i would have thought that shooting on shutter priority with a highish shutter speed will give you a nice focused image on the horse with quite a narrow depth of field, which would blur the background image just enough to give the desired effect.
Click to expand...

That would blur the background, but would not give the impression of motion.
You need a slow shutter speed and pan to get the desired illusion of motion, with the subject in focus and the background blurred.
 
Hi

Thanks for the replies.

Harlequin, thanks so much for the guide, yes I have cs4.

Lisa xx
 
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