Welcome to our Photoshop in 60 Seconds series, in which you can learn a Photoshop skill, feature, or technique in just a minute!
Photoshop in 60 Seconds: Bokeh Effect
That beautiful bokeh effect achieved by out-of-focus photography can now be applied to any photo! Recreate the look with a quick Photoshop Action for all your portrait or landscape photography. Browse our incredible selection of Photoshop Actions available on GraphicRiver and Envato Elements for more great effects.
In this quick video, learn how to create a Photoshop Action that produces a warm bokeh effect. Use a custom brush, layer styles, and more to achieve this look!
How to Create a Bokeh Photoshop Action
Start by creating a custom brush. Hit F5 to bring up the Brush panel. Using a Hard Round Brush, adjust the Scatter to 1000%, and then Save your custom brush so that we can use it later for the action.
Now go to Window > Actions and set up a new bokeh Action in the Actions panel. When you're ready, click Record to begin recording the next steps.
Open your photo in Photoshop. Here I'll be using this Woman Stock.
Copy and Paste two backgrounds from this Noise Blurred Backgrounds set above your image. Select both layers and lower the Opacity to 20%, and then set the Blend Mode of the first one to Hard Light and the second one to Screen.
Create a New Layer and use the custom Bokeh Brush we created earlier to apply a few bokeh. Set the Layer Blend Mode to Overlay, and then Right-click and go to Blending Options, adding a quick Inner Glow with the following settings:
Duplicate (Control-J) the layer, bringing the copy down slightly, before going to Filter >Blur > Gaussian Blur and blurring it with a Radius of 5 pixels.
Set a New Layer to Color Dodge. Paint soft brown colors (or use the Eyedropper Tool to select dark colors from the photo) for more intensity. Lower the Opacity to 22%. Follow up with a New Adjustment Layer for Exposure, setting the Exposure to 1 and the Opacity to 20%.
When you're finished, remember to click the Stop button on the Actions panel to use this action for future photos.
Here is the final effect.
Experiment with this action on more images for awesome results!
Want to see this in action? Check out the video above to see this lesson at work!
A Bit More Detail
Learn how to create more photo effects from our experts! Check out the following tutorials below:
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Adobe PhotoshopVintage Style: How to Create a Photo That Looks Old![]()
Photoshop ActionsPhotoshop in 60 Seconds: How to Create a Vibrant Duotone Action![]()
Photoshop ActionsHow to Create an Instagram Filter Photoshop Action in 60 Seconds![]()
Photoshop ActionsHow to Create a Quick and Dirty Sketch From a Photograph With a Photoshop Action
60 Seconds?!
This is part of a series of quick video tutorials on Envato Tuts+ in which we introduce a range of subjects, all in 60 seconds—just enough to whet your appetite. Let us know in the comments what you thought of this video and what else you'd like to see explained in 60 seconds!
