Written By Steve Patterson

In this photo effects tutorial, we'll learn how to add a sense of speed to an object using an easy to create motion blur effect! This "speed trail" effect is very popular in sports photography since it's a great way to add motion, direction and excitement to an image, creating the illusion that an athlete, for example, is blazing past the competition at super human speed. Of course, this effect works just as well with a photo of your kids running in the backyard, or people dancing at a party, or any image where the subject should appear to be moving.

I'll be working with Photoshop CS4 for this tutorial, but you can create this effect with any version of Photoshop. Here's the image I'll be using:

Here's how the image will look after giving the racecar a high speed motion trail:

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Let's get started!

Step 1: Select The Object You Want To Apply The Motion Blur To

In many of our photo effects tutorials, the first step is to protect our original image from harm by creating and then working on a duplicate of the Background layer. For our motion blur effect though, there's no need to do that because we're not going to be working on the entire image. Instead, we're going to apply the motion blur only to the main subject in the photo. To do that, we'll need to separate the main subject from the rest of the image and place it on its own layer. In my case, I want to apply the motion blur to the racecar, so the first thing I need to do is draw a selection around the racecar.

Use the selection tool of your choice (Lasso Tool, Pen Tool, etc.) to draw a selection around your main subject. When you're done, you should see a selection outline (sometimes called "marching ants") around the entire object (or person, whatever the case may be). Try to make as accurate a selection as possible. For best results, I highly recommend using the Pen Tool. Check out our Making Selections with the Pen Tool tutorial for full instructions on how to use it. You can also read our Full Power Of Basic Selections In Photoshop tutorial for help with getting the most out of Photoshop's basic selection tools:

Step 2: Copy The Selected Area To A New Layer

With the subject now selected, we need to copy it to its own layer. Copying a selection to a new layer is done exactly the same way as copying an entire layer. The only difference is that only the area inside the selection gets copied. Go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choose New, and then choose Layer via Copy:

For a faster way to copy a layer or selection, simply press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). Nothing will appear to have happened to the image in the document window, but if we look in the Layers palette, we can see that we now have a new layer, which Photoshop has automatically named "Layer 1", and if we look in the new layer's preview thumbnail to the left of the layer's name, we can see that the layer contains only the part of the image we selected (in my case, it contains the racecar). The rest of the layer is transparent, which is represented in Photoshop by a gray and white grid pattern:

Step 3: Apply The Motion Blur Filter

With our subject now on its own layer and separated from the rest of the image, we can apply our motion blur effect to it. Go up to the Filter menu, choose Blur, and then choose Motion Blur:

This brings up Photoshop's Motion Blur filter dialog box. First, set the Angle of the motion blur streaks so that they match the direction your subject is moving in. In many cases, the direction movement will be horizontal, either left to right or right to left, so an angle of 0° would work perfectly. In my case, the racecar appears to be moving uphill slightly, so I need to set my angle to around 2°. You can use the angle control wheel to the right of the input box to help set the angle by clicking inside of it and dragging your mouse to rotate it, keeping an eye on your image in the document window for a preview of the angle as you're rotating the wheel. You can also simply type a value for the angle directly into the input box and then use the Up and Down arrow keys on your keyboard to increase or decrease the angle. Hold down your Shift key as you press the Up or Down arrows to increase or decrease the angle in 10° increments.

Next, drag the Distance slider at the bottom of the dialog box to set the length of the motion blur streaks. Dragging the slider all the way to the right will give you the longest streaks and is usually what you want for this effect, but again, keep an eye on your image as you drag the slider for a preview of the results:

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the Motion Blur dialog box and apply the blurring to the image. Your photo should now look something like this:

We'll finish off the effect by intensifying the motion blur streaks and masking away the areas we don't need next!

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