Fake motion blur

FIND OUT HOW TO FAKE THE PANNING EFFECT IN PHOTOSHOP FOR A MOTION-BLURRED BACKDROP

1 Select the subject

Open the portrait into Photoshop then go to Select>subject. Grab the Quick Selection brush and paint to add any other areas in to the selection, or hold Alt and paint to subtract. Go to Select>select and Mask. Increase the Radius to improve the edge, then choose Output: New Layer with Layer Mask.

2 Fill the background

First up, go to the Layers panel, hold Cmd/ctrl and click the thumbnail of the layer mask to load it as a selection. Highlight and reveal the bottommost layer then go to Select>modify>expand and expand by 5 pixels. Next, go to Edit>fill, set Contents: Contentaware and hit OK.

3 Blur and tint

Go to Filter>blur Gallery>path Blur. Drag a curved line through the image to create motion blur in the direction of your choice, then adjust the speed and taper sliders to control how the blur looks. Hit OK. Finally, add a tonal effect to boost the colours and contrast of the finished product.