Adobe Photoshop Tutorial: Create A Photo Within A Photo

Step 9: Duplicate The Background Layer Once Again

Before we go applying our Radial Blur, let's duplicate the Background layer one more time so that we have a separate layer on which to apply the filter, since we never want to touch our original pixel information of our image on the Background layer. Select the Background layer in the Layers palette, press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate it, then double-click on the new layer's name and call it "Radial Blur", as I've done below:

Step 10: Apply The Radial Blur Filter To The New Layer

With the new "Radial Blur" layer selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Blur, and then select Radial Blur, which brings up the Radial Blur dialog box:

As circled in red above, I've entered an Amount value of 40. The Amount value determines how much of blur effect you'll get, and you may want a different value. For Blur Method select Zoom and set the Quality to Best. The Blur Center option in the bottom right determines where the blur will originate from in your image. Try to position the blur center close to where the subject in your photo is by clicking at that approximate location in the Blur Center box. It's not the most accurate thing in the world and it make take you a couple of tries before you get it right, so don't be afraid to undo the filter with Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac) and try again. I'm happy with my Radial Blur settings, so I'll click OK to apply the blur to my Radial Blur layer:

Step 11: Lower The Opacity Of The Radial Blur Layer

This last step is optional, but I think my radial blur is a bit too intense and I want to blend it in more with the original image on the Background layer, and I can do that simply by going up to the Opacity setting in the top right corner of the Layers palette, clicking directly on the word "Opacity" to turn my mouse cursor into the "scrubby slider" icon, and then dragging my mouse to the left to lower the opacity. I'll lower mine to 60%, which I think looks good:

For comparison, here's my original image once again:

And here's my final result: