Background Blur Effect

A friend of came to me to ask if blurring a background and leaving a main object in a photo possible in Photoshop. Since I have not done this before, it would be a learning experience for me as well.

Lets just start with this image below. Taken during my lunch break by a colleague of mine. These two ladies were asking directions to Summit Hotel. I happened to be there and gave touring directions while my colleague snapped this picture. I guess they were like aliens seeking directions or something. They were too nice to be considered ‘humans’. Just joking.

Here are the steps I experimented using Photoshop.

1) Select the object that you wish to stand out of the crowd using the ‘Magnetic Lasso Tool’
2) Once selected, right click on the selection and choose, “Layer Via Copy”
3) Notice that a new layer would appear under the layer properties window
4) Select the “Background” layer under the layer properties window
5) Select from menu, Filter > Blur > Motion Blur
6) I used Angle = 0, Distance = 40, click OK to finish
7) There you go, the background blurred and the object stays
8) To further enhance the photo, I inserted a pixilated, banner backdrop.
9) The finished product as below