How to Create a Lens Dust Photoshop Action Effect

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create an amazing lens dust effect. If you want to create a more advanced lens dust effect like the one below, with just one click and in just a few minutes, check out LensDust Photoshop Action.

What You’ll Need

To recreate the design above, you’ll need the following:

• Stock Image

1. Let’s Get Started

First, open the photo you want to work with. To open your photo, go to File > Open, choose your photo and click Open. Before we begin, check a few things:

1. Your photo should be in RGB Color,8 Bits/Channel mode. To check this, go to Image> Mode.
2. For best results, your photo size should be 1500–3000 px wide/high. To check this, go to  Image > Image Size.
3. Your photo should be the Background layer. If not, go to Layer> New> Background from Layer.

2. How to Select the Subject

Step 1

In this section, we’re going to make a selection of our subject and then copy the subject to a layer. Go to Layer> New> Layer to create a new layer and name it Temp.

Step 2

Select the Brush Tool (B), pick a soft brush. The color doesn’t matter

Step 3

Control-click on the thumbnail of this layer to make a selection of this layer. Then hide this layer, select the Background layer and press Control-J on the keyboard to create a new layer using the selection.

Step 4

Name this layer Subject, then Right-click on the Temp layer and choose Delete Layer.

3. How to Enhance the Focus

Step 1

Select the Background layer and press Control-J on the keyboard to duplicate it. Then go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur and see the settings below:

Step 2

Change the Opacity of this layer to 30% and name it Background Blur.

Step 3

Go to Layer> New> Layer to create a new layer and name it Background Darkening.

Step 4

Press D on the keyboard to reset the color swatches, go to Edit> Fill, and set Contents to Foreground Color, Blending to Normal, and Opacity to 100% as shown below:

Step 5

Change the Opacity of this layer to 10%.

4. How to Create Dust Particles

Step 1

Select the Subject layer and press Control-J on the keyboard to duplicate it. Then go to Filter> Pixelate> Pointillize and set the Cell Size to 45 as shown below:

Step 2

Press Control-Shift-U on the keyboard to desaturate this layer and name it Temp_1.

Step 3

Hide all layers except the Temp_1 layer. Then go to Select> Color Range, set the Fuzziness to 200 and using the Eyedropper Tool, select the particles of any color by clicking any particle.

Step 4

Go to Select> Select and Mask, see the settings below:

Step 5

Select the Subject layer and press Control-J on the keyboard to create a new layer.

Step 6

Go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur and see the settings below:

Step 7

Hide the Temp_1 layer. Then press Control-J on the keyboard twice to duplicate this layer twice.

Step 8

Shift-click on Layer 1 to select all the layers in between at once, and then press Control-E on the keyboard to merge them into one layer.

Step 9

Press Control-T on the keyboard and set the Width and Height to 125% as shown below:

Step 10

Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Linear Dodge and name it DP_1.

Step 11

Right-click on the Temp_1 layer and choose Delete Layer.

Step 12

You can repeat this method to create as many dust layers as you want. You can also use different pointillize, color range, lens blur and transform settings when creating more particles to achieve different results. Here’s the result:

Step 13

We’re going to create more dust particles but using a different method. Go to Layer> New> Layer to create a new layer and name it Temp_1. Then drag this layer to the top of the layers in the Layers panel.

Step 14

Control-click on the Subject layer thumbnail to make a selection of that layer and press D on the keyboard to reset the color swatches. Then go to Edit> Fill, and set Contents to Foreground Color, Blending to Normal and Opacity to 100% as shown below.

Step 15

Press Control-D on the keyboard to deselect. Then go to Filter> Pixelate> Mezzotint and set the Type to Coarse Dots as shown below:

Step 16

Hide all layers except the Temp_1 layer. Then go to Select> Color Range, set the Fuzziness to 200 and using the Eyedropper Tool, select white by clicking some of the white particles in the photo.

Step 17

Go to Select > Select and Mask and see the settings below :

Step 18

Select the Subject layer and press Control-J on the keyboard to create a new layer.

Step 19

Hide the Temp_1 layer, press Control-T on the keyboard and set the Width and Height to 200% as shown below:

Step 20

Go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur and see the settings below:

Step 21

Press Control-J on the keyboard twice to duplicate this layer twice.

Step 22

Shift-click on Layer 1 to select all the layers in between at once, and press Control-E on the keyboard to merge them into one layer. Then press Control-J again to duplicate this layer.

Step 23

Control-click on Layer 1 copy 2 to select these two layers at once and press Control-E on the keyboard to merge them into one layer. Then press Control-J again to duplicate this layer.

Step 24

Control-click on Layer 1 copy 3 to select both of these layers at once and press Control-E on the keyboard to merge them into one layer.

Step 25

Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Linear Dodge and name it according to the sequence of the dust particle layers; in this case, DP_5.

Step 26

Right-click layer Temp_1 and choose Delete Layer.

Step 27

Another thing you can do to create more dust particles is select any dust particle layer and press Control-J on the keyboard to duplicate it. Then you can press Control-T on the keyboard to transform it, or you can move it using the Move Tool (V). Here’s my result:

Step 28

Shift-click on the DP_1 layer to select all the layers in between at once and go to Layer> New> Group from Layers to create a new group from the selected layers and name it Dust Particles.

Step 29

Drag this layer group right below the Subject layer in the Layers panel.

5. Final Adjustments

Step 1

Select the Subject layer, go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation to create a hue/saturation layer, and name it Saturation.

Step 2

 Double-click on the thumbnail of this layer and in the Properties panel, set the Saturation to +30 as shown below:

Step 3

Press D on the keyboard to reset the color swatches. Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Gradient Map to create a new gradient map adjustment layer and name it Overall Contrast.

Step 4

Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Soft Light and set the Opacity to 25%.

Step 5

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves to create a new Curves adjustment layer and name it Color Look.

Step 6

Double-click on the thumbnail of this layer and in the Properties panel, see the settings below:

Step 7

Press Control-Alt-Shift-E on the keyboard to create a screenshot, then press Control-Shift-U to desaturate this layer. Then go to Filter> Other> High Pass and set the Radius to 2 px as shown below:

Step 8

Name this layer Sharpening, change the Blending Mode of this layer to Linear Light, and set Opacity to 50%.

We’re done !

As always, keep experimenting with different techniques and don’t forget to post your work below, along with any questions, comments or critiques!

If you want to create a more advanced lens dust effect like the one below, with just one click and in just a few minutes, check out LensDust Photoshop.