Kingfisher in action

[Michael Liskay]

I am posting the same image twice, once with the original background, which I do not care for, and after doing some amateur blurring using Photoshop 2025, which I have not been using much the last 5 years and therefore feel like a total newbie. I get the impression that the border between the subject and the background needs some work. Almost as if the edges of the subject were subject to some blurring (??). Comments on the two versions and any advice for making the blurred image better would be appreciated!

 

[AlanLichty]

Amazing capture - I love the dive. I have not tried doing much with motion blurred backgrounds but your second image does a pretty good job of isolating the subject and keeping me focused on the bird.

 

[Jeffrey]

Why you're attempting to do is quite possible, but it requires careful masking and knowing what parameters to set in the blur control.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice pose of the bird. They important part of what your are doing is the masking. Once done you can play with the blur parameters till you get the effect you are looking for.

 

[Michael Liskay]

Thanks Jeffrey and Jameel ! Yes, need to do some masking training!

 

[JimFox]

Hey Micheal, this is really cool.

As to the background blur, it's actually eazy peazy!

1. Make a Layer of your Image
2. Select the bottom Layer, select loosely around the bird.
3. Use Content Aware Fill or the new AI Generative Fill to remove the bird.
4. Still on the Bottom Layer use Gaussian Blur to your liking.
5. Now Select the Top Layer. Use Select Subject to select the bird, be sure not to Feather and make the Layer.

That way the Gaussian Blur won't also blur the edges of the bird so that it bleeds into the background.

Try that and let me know how it works.