How to Add Motion Blur in Adobe Photoshop CC (2021)

Adding motion blur to a photo can bring the feeling of speed to a shot. If you take a picture of a car driving by, odds are the photo came out really clear and crisp. That is because to capture a fast moving subject you need a high shutter speed. The tradeoff is that the background comes out perfectly sharp too, which can make the car look like it is just sitting there.

To fix this, we can add motion blur back in using Photoshop. The idea is to select the background (everything except the subject), apply a directional blur to it, and leave the subject sharp. It is a quick process and the results can be really convincing.

How to Add Motion Blur in Photoshop

1. Open your image in Photoshop.
2. If your image is set as a Background layer (you will see a lock icon next to it in the Layers panel), click the lock to unlock it. This allows us to work with selections and masks.
3. Go to Select > Subject. Photoshop will use AI to automatically select the main subject in your photo. This works best when there is a clear foreground subject like a car, person, or animal.
4. Now go to Select > Inverse. This flips the selection so that only the background is selected while the subject stays protected.
5. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. This opens the Motion Blur dialog.
6. Adjust the Angle to match the direction of movement. For a car driving left to right, you would use 0 degrees. For something falling, try 90 degrees.
7. Adjust the Distance slider to control how strong the blur is. Higher values create a faster, more exaggerated look. Start around 30-50 and adjust from there.
8. Click OK and the blur will be applied to the background while your subject stays sharp.

Tips for Better Results

• Clean selections matter. If Select > Subject didn’t grab your subject perfectly, you can refine the selection with Select and Mask before applying the blur. Use the Refine Edge Brush to clean up hair or complex edges.
• Radial blur is another option if you want to simulate the zoom effect of a camera lens rather than directional movement. You can find it under Filter > Blur > Radial Blur.
• For even more control, duplicate your layer first, apply the blur to the copy, and then use a layer mask to paint in exactly where you want the blur to appear.

There you have it. If you have a clear and crisp subject, this effect is only a few clicks away. It is a great way to add drama and motion to photos that feel a little too static.