How to Make a Colorful Blur Effect in Photoshop

Photoshop Effects

You probably know how to blur an image or a text in Photoshop, which can be made using a few different methods. But if you want to color that blur effect using more than 2 colors you may notice that things starts to get a bit tricky. So today, I will show you a very easy method to make a colorful blur effect in Photoshop that will take you less than 5 minutes and that you can later edit (both the colors and the blur effect) without having to make the whole effect again.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and make a new file at any size you want. In this case, I will setup mine at 1600 x 1200 px with the background color set to black.

Step 2

Select the Horizontal Type Tool (T) and type your text using any font at any size. I will be using "Artland" at 325pt.

Step 3

Go to Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object.

Step 4

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 6,5 pixels and click OK.

Step 5

Go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Field Blur. Set the Blur amount to 15 px and click OK in the top toolbar.

Step 6

Go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt-Shift. Set the Blur to 25 px, the Distortion to 60% and be sure to check the Symmetric Distorion option.

Step 7

Drag the 2 inner lines closer to your text as shown.

Step 8

Now, drag the top and bottom dotted lines closer to your text as shown.

Step 9

If you wish, position your cursor over the blue anchor points, rotate the effect to your liking, and click OK in the top toolbar. In this case, I will rotate the blur effect 5,5º to make it a bit more appealing.

Step 10

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map.

Step 11

Click on the gradient thumbnail to open the gradient editor.

Step 12

Lastly, set any color at any place you want and click OK in the Gradient Editor window. In this case I've added 3 new color stops with the following values:

1. Location 0 - Color #1e1e1e
2. Location 5 - Color #57673d
3. Location 15 - Color #da9e1d
4. Location 65 - Color #e6222c
5. Location 100 - Color #b622b4

A Final Tip

Now that you know how to make a colorful blur effect in Photoshop, you can edit the gradient colors and even the blur effects without making the whole process again since they are all applied to an Smart Object.