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Aldo Missio
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Creating Prop Blur with Photoshop

March 22, 2021 · in How-to · · 8 · 3.7K

I've only built a couple of wheels-up, in-flight models, and have used clear acetate for the prop spin. However, I have admired many of the great "flying" models posted by the "experten" of the iModeler community. I've had a bit of fun "spinning" the stationary props in their photos with photoshop. I promised one of our colleagues I would send him instructions, but I thought it would be good to share them with everyone.

I'm not a photoshop ace, just have a few useful tricks I've learned over the years producing maps and handouts for my job in outdoor education. I also have a really old version, Photoshop 7.0. I don't know about the details of other photo editing programs, but I'm sure their are other products with similar capabilities.

I've taken screenshots of the process and captioned them, so hopefully it is clear. If not, please post a question in the comment thread (vs private message), as if you have a question, I'm sure someone else is wondering the same thing.

Happy modeling everyone.

Reader reactions:
5  Awesome

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8 responses

  1. Thanks for this useful tip, Aldo.
    Clear step by step instructions with great results.

  2. Great tip, Aldo!
    Thanks for sharing with us!

  3. Great work. I did one with photo shop, one or two with air jets and the breeze spun up a couple for me as well. It adds to the realism.

  4. Really outstanding, Aldo! Thanks for sharing. Some of us wouldn't begin to know how to do this, so your detailed instructions are VERY welcome!
    @aldog

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