Photoshop: Smooth (Long-Exposure) Waterfall Effect
This is a very easy tutorial showing how to give a waterfall the smooth texture you would get by using a long exposure when taking the picture.
Below is the original picture, credit to Mike Mcgarry. Right-click the picture to save, and then load it up in Photoshop.
Blurring the Waterfall
Select the Lasso tool and make a rough, but fully inclusive, selection of the waterfall as shown below.
Next, press CTRL+C to copy the selection, and press CTRL+V to paste it right on top of the original background layer. The new layer will be called "Layer 1" by default, so double-click directly on the text and rename it "Waterfall." Your Layers pallet should now look as shown to the right.
With the Waterfall layer selected, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and input the settings shown below.
The idea is to match the Angle to the direction of the waterfall and to set enough of a Distance value to render all details smooth. To easily adjust these values, you can click inside the input boxes and use your mouse wheel to raise or lower the values. Press OK when you are happy with the results.
Unblurring Surrounding Elements Using a Layer Mask
Now we want only the waterfall itself to be blurred, so we need to do something about the immediately surrounding elements that we have blurred along with it.
For this, we'll create a Layer Mask. Click the small "Add layer mask" button at the bottom of the Layers pallet, and you will see a white thumbnail, which is the mask, appear next to your Waterfall layer's thumbnail; shown to the right.
Click on the mask (white thumbnail) to be sure it is selected; you will see a border around it when it is properly selected. Now we want to fill it completely black. Press D to reset your colors to white and black, and press X to switch black to the foreground color. Now using the Paint Bucket Tool, hotkey G, click directly on your image to fill the mask black. Upon doing this, you will notice that the blurred Waterfall layer has disappeared, or been "masked," and that the mask's thumbnail itself has been filled black as well.
Long story short on the mask: black hides, or "masks," the corresponding area of the layer and white reveals it again (grays have intermediate effects).
While the mask is still selected, use the Brush over the waterfall only, using pure white at 100% opacity; we are still painting on the mask and not on the Waterfall layer itself. This will reveal the blurred Waterfall layer where you are brushing. You may also use the Smudge tool to blend this "unmasking" effect into a smooth grade with its surroundings.
Also notice that the white that you are now painting on the mask is represented in the mask's thumbnail, which hopefully gives you a clear understanding of what the layer mask is doing.
A Finished Milky Smooth Waterfall
That's all there is to it. Brush over the entire waterfall in this manner, and you're done!
Continue Reading:
Also See:
Categories: Photoshop
Your thoughts
Allowed HTML: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback" link, and copy the URL.
Comments
Share your thoughtsBe the first to comment on this article.