Photos of the Week

This evening I have been experimenting with a method for using Photoshop to simulate photos shot with a Lensbaby. Lensbabies are a kind of tilt-shift type lens that lets you keep your subject in focus while blurring the other parts of the photo.

I played around with some on-line tutorials, with some success. I sort of adapted what I learned from a couple of tutorials and created my own version of what to do that gives results that are quite similar to the Lensbaby. Here is how I created the effect.

First, I converted the image to 8-bit color. Next, I duplicated the background layer and applied a radial blur by going to Filter-> Blur-> Radial Blur. Under the radial blur menu, click Zoom for the blur method, and use Best quality. I used 6 for the blur amount, but experiment with what looks best for your photo. Drag the center of blur to the location in the photo that you want to keep sharp. This will give the effect of more blur the farther you move from the subject. You can also add a Gaussian blur (Filter-> Blur-> Gaussian Blur) to soften the effects of the radial blur. Once you have your top layer blurred, apply a layer mask and paint out the area of the photo that you want to keep sharp. Paint the mask with black to reveal the sharp image beneath. Be sure to use a large brush with soft edges so that the sharp areas of the photo blend nicely with the blurred parts.