Photoshop Tutorials: Bourne Ultimatum Color and Motion Blur

Step 9: Apply The Motion Blur Filter To The Background Copy Layer ("Layer 1")

We're going to add our motion blur effect to the image, and we'll use Photoshop's classic and appropriately named "Motion Blur" filter to do it. We want to apply the motion blur to the copy of the Background layer that we created back at the beginning of this tutorial, so click on "Layer 1" in the Layers palette to select it. You'll know it's selected because it will appear highlighted in blue:

Now that we have the correct layer selected, let's go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, and then choose Motion Blur. This will bring up the Motion Blur filter's dialog box. Set your Angle to around -40°. Then drag the slider at the bottom to adjust the Distance of the motion blur. The value you set this to is going to depend a lot on the size of your image. I'm using a small image for this tutorial, and for me, a value of about 35 pixels gives me roughly the same effect used in the Bourne Ultimatum movie poster:

If you're using a large, high resolution image, you'll want to set your Distance value higher. Use my image below as a guide for the blur distance you're aiming for:

Step 10: Add A Layer Mask To The Motion Blur Layer

What I'm going to do next is allow the two people in the image to show through the motion blur effect, and I'm going to once again use a layer mask for that. With "Layer 1" still selected, I'm going to click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

This adds a layer mask to our motion blurred layer, and it also adds a layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette. I can tell from the white highlight border around the thumbnail that the layer mask is already selected for me:

I can now use this layer mask to hide the motion blur from in front of the two people in my image, which I'll do next.

Step 11: Paint With Black On The Layer Mask To Hide The Motion Blur

With black still as my Foreground color and the layer mask on "Layer 1" selected, I'm going to use my Brush Tool again to paint over the areas in the image where I want to hide the motion blur, which in my case is in front of the two people. I want to use a soft-edged brush for this, so I'm going to hold down my Shift key and press the left bracket key on my keyboard a few times, which will give me a nice soft edge for my brush. Before I begin painting, I'm going to go back up to the Options Bar and set the opacity of my brush back up to 100%:

Once again, I'm going to resize my brush as needed using the left and right bracket keys, and I'm simply going to paint with black over the two people in my image, allowing them to show through the motion blur. As I approach the edges of the people, I'm going to keep my brush just inside the edge to give me a nice blend between the people and the motion blur around them. If I make a mistake and accidentally paint over an area I didn't mean to, I can simply press X on my keyboard to switch my Foreground color to white, just as I did when painting on the Hue/Saturation layer mask, and paint over the mistake. Then I'd press X again to switch back to black and continue painting away the motion blur:

I'm going to continue painting over the guy until I've removed all of the motion blur in front of him, leaving a nice effect around the edges:

And here's my image after painting away the motion blur effect in front of the woman behind him as well: