| Give your photos a contemporary look by generating focus and depth using Photoshop’s Color Halftone filter. The Color Halftone Filter changes the image into a collection of small, subtle circles, which provides an appearance that’s similar to a close-up on a television screen. However, this effect will add softness and texture, and generate a creative focal point. To add motion and additional softness, use the Radial Blur filter. In this photo of a rather striking woman, her eyes and face become a stronger focal point by using the Layer Mask. It allows you to mask the effects applied to the entire photo, and keep only the parts of the face you want in sharp focus and free of texture to draw attention. Using the Gradient in the Layer Mask will allow a nice, smooth transition between the photo and applied effects.
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Download the portrait.zip archive, extract portrait.tif, launch Photoshop and then open the file. Press F7 to show the Layers palette. Drag the Background layer to the Create New Layer button to duplicate it.
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Choose Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. In the resulting Radial Blur dialog box, drag the Blur Center to the left, use the options shown and click OK
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Click the Add Layer Mask button. Press D to set Mask Default colors, then press X to inverse them so that Black is the Foreground color. Select the Gradient tool (G). Use the options in the resulting Options bar. Position the pointer right between the woman’s eyes and drag diagonally downward as shown at left to create the gradient.
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Drag the Background layer to the Create New Layer button to duplicate it. Move this new layer to the top of the Layers palette. Choose Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone. Use the options in the resulting Color Halftone dialog box and click OK.
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Command-click Background copy’s Layer Mask thumbnail to make it a selection. With Background copy 2 selected, click the Add Layer Mask button. Set the Layer Mode to Color Dodge and the Opacity to 20%.
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The final image is shown at left (click to enlarge).
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