Step 1: Open a photo into Photoshop

Begin by opening a photo into Photoshop. To do this, choose File> Open, browse for the file, and click OK.



Step 2: Create a duplicate of the layer

Press Ctrl+J or choose Layer> Duplicate Layer to create a duplicate of the Background layer. You should now have a new layer. Double-click on the text of this layer and you will be able to edit the layer name. Name this layer Star Diffusion.



Step 3: Add a layer mask

Add a layer mask to the Star Diffusion layer by clicking on the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers pallet or by choosing Layer> Layer Mask> Reveal All. You should now have a white thumbnail beside the layer mask.



Step 4: Create a copy of the image as a layer mask

After you change the layer name, the layer mask will be deselected. Before we continue, click on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layer pallet to activate it. It should have a white border around the thumbnail indicating that it has been selected. With the layer mask selected, choose Image> Apply Image. In the Apply Image tool, simply click OK to use the default settings. The layer mask should now have a copy of the image.



Step 5: Change the blending mode to Screen

In the Layers pallet, change the blending mode of the Star Diffusion layer to Screen.



Step 6: Duplicate the Star Diffusion layer and group the two layers

Make sure that the Star Diffusion layer is selected then press Ctrl+G or choose Layer> Group Layers. The layer group put the layer into a group to keep the layers organized. Double-click on the group name and rename this group to Star Diffusion. Now, select back the Star Diffusion layer and press Ctrl+J or choose Layer> Duplicate Layer to duplicate the layer.



Step 7: Apply a diagonal motion blur

Select any one of the two Star Diffusion layer and choose Filter> Blur> Motion Blur. Set the Angle to -45º and adjust the distance according to the length of the streaks that you want. If you're working on a high resolution image and the distance setting does not let you create streaks long enough, use the highest setting, click OK, and then press Ctrl+F to repeat the filter until you get the length you desire.



Step 8: Apply the opposite diagonal motion blur to the other Star Diffusion layer

Now select the other Star Diffusion layer that you did not apply the motion blur effect to. Choose Filter> Blur> Motion Blur and use the same distance settings as before but use the opposite angle setting by simply removing the - from the angle (ex. 45º instead of -45º). If you're working on a high resolution image and you had to repeat the filter in the previous step to get long streaks, don't forget to repeat the filter again so that this layer has the same streak length as the other Star Diffusion layer.



Step 9: Sharpen the Star Diffusion Layers

We now have a star diffusion effect, but it seems quite blurry and it's not every noticeable. To make it more visible, we'll use the Unsharp Mask filter to sharpen the layers. First, select any one of the two Star Diffusion layer and choose Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask. In the Unsharp Mask tool, adjust the amount and radius settings to make the effect more visible.



When done, click OK, and apply the filter again on the other Star Diffusion layer by selecting the layer and pressing Ctrl+F or choosing Filter> Unsharp Mask.



Step 10: Mask the effect out of the foreground

This star diffusion Photoshop effect can interfere with the subject in the photo by covering it. To correct this, we'll simply mask out the effect from the important areas in the photo. Begin by selecting the group in the Layers pallet and then clicking on the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers pallet or choosing Layer> Add Layer Mask> Reveal All. Once you have a layer mask, select the eraser tool and erase the areas that you would like to hide the diffusion effect from. Start with a soft and large round brush with a 50% opacity. The opacity of the brush can be changed from the option bar located near the top of the Photoshop window and the brush settings can be accessed by right-clicking anywhere in the document window.



Step 11: Alter the color of the Star Diffusion effect (optional)

If you want to be more creative, you can alter the color of the star diffusion effect. For example, in the image below, the color of the two layers were changed to make the background bokeh look like it came from a city instead of a park. To alter the color of the effect, select the Star Diffusion layer and adjust the hue with the Hue/Saturation tool (Ctrl+U or Image> Adjustments> Hue/Saturation). Then, select the other Star Diffusion layer and use the Hue/Saturation tool again to change the color. You may also checkmark the Colorize option in the Hue/Saturation tool if you want to use a specific color for the entire layer.



Final Results

Original image



Star Diffusion Photoshop tutorial



Star Diffusion (Different Variation)

Have you ever seen any fruits or vegetables with a face? In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to make realistic view collage with fruit and human face.
In the beginning you should find the picture of ay fruit or vegetable. I prefer to use this one picture of pear. Open up the picture.

Then you need to find appropriate picture of human face to put it on the fruit. You can use mine picture or feel free to use your own. Ok, open up the picture and copy it to the first canvas with fruit. Then set up opacity to 45% for this layer and use Edit > Free Transform to reduce the picture and rotate it as on my picture below.

Set up opacity to 100% for current layer again and begin cleaning work with Eraser Tool. Use soft round brush with opacity about 30%. Remove all parts, leaving only the eyes, lips and nose.

After that select hard round brush and make clear finger area.

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate layer and hide the copy (click on the eye, which indicates layer visibility). Go to lower layer and apply Image > Adjustments > Color Balance with next presets:

See the result below:

After that use Image > Adjustments >Hue/Saturation:

The picture should look like this:

After that select the Burn Tool (Brush: 70px, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 30%) to make some burn work.

Go back to the hidden layer and make it visible again. Select the Eraser Tool again and remove all content, leaving just eyeballs, nostrils and mouth.

Then apply Image > Adjustments > Levels to this layer:






See the result below:

After that get out the Burn Tool (Brush: 70px, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 30%) again and darken nostrils and mouth areas.

Select the Eraser Tool and a soft round brush with 30% opacity and make little clean work on the same areas.

Looks good, isn’t it? Ok, move to the next step. We should add the pear texture to the face. Go to the background layer and make selection with Polygonal Lasso Tool as was shown on my picture below.

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate selected area on the new layer. After that move this layer above all the layers and change layer mode to Soft Light for it.



Then make some brightness and contrast corrections with Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast.

Now you should have something like this:

After that select the Eraser Tool again and remove clear borders of this texture.

Use the Burn Tool (Brush: 40px, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 30%) one more time to make features more clearly.

On this step we are done! Hope, this tutorial was useful for you.