Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to take a regular photo
and and a romantic, star-diffusion, filter effect.
In this example, the effect is confined to the subjects in the foreground,
however, I'll also show you how to confine it to just the background.
Open a photo you'd like to add this effect to.
Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl + J
on Windows or Cmd + J on a Mac. Click the layer mask icon
to make a layer mask next to the copy.
We're going to place the photo into the layer mask.
To do this, go to Image and "Apply Image".
It's black and white because layer masks are always black and white.
When you clicked "Apply Image", this window instantly appeared.
The Source is your original photo
and the Target is the layer mask of your photo's copy.
Make sure the Blending Mode is Multiply
and the Opacity is 100%. Then click OK.
Click the photo to make it active
and change its blend mode to Screen. Make a copy of it
and go to Filter,
Blur and Motion Blur. Make the Angle: minus 45 degrees.
The Distance determines how long your star effects will be.
So, experiment with the Distance. For this photo,
I'll make the Distance: 200 pixels. Click the thumbnail of the middle photo to make it active
and go to Filter, Blur and Motion Blur.
This time,
make the Angle: + 45 degrees. Then,
click OK. The Motion Blur is very soft,
so we'll sharpen it. First, click off the eyeball of the top layer to hide the layer.
Go to Filter, Sharpen and Unsharp Mask.
For this example,
I'll make the Amount 185% and the Radius: 150 pixels.
Keep the Threshold
and Zero levels. Then, click OK or press Enter or Return.
Make the top layer visible and active.
Apply the last filter to this layer
by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + F.
Next, I'll show you how to keep the star effect on your subjects
and hide it on the background.
We'll group the motion blur layers into a folder by holding down Shift
and clicking on the thumbnail of the middle layer. This highlights both layers.
Now, press Ctrl or Cmd + G. Click the layer mask icon
to make a layer mask next to the folder.
Open your Brush Tool. Make the Size
relatively large, the Hardness: 0% and the Opacity 50%.
Then, press Enter or Return. Press the F5 key
at the top of your keyboard to open your Brush panel.
Make sure the only thing checked is "Smoothing".
Press F5 again to close the panel.
Brush around your subjects until the stars are completely hidden
or mostly hidden.
Conversely, if you have a photo that you'd like the background to retain the stars,
but hide them over your subject, first,
make sure the layer mask is active and then, brush over your subject to hide the stars.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!