This effect produces a nice light blast from the focal point of an object and is a popular advertising look.
1. Duplicate your layer by pressing Cmd+J (Ctrl+J).
2. Desaturate the duplicate layer by pressing Cmd+Shift+U (Ctrl+Shift+U).
3. Apply a Zoom Blur by selecting Filter>Radial Blur>Zoom.
4. Use an amount of 100 at Good quality. Move the center-point by dragging within the dialog box.
5. Specify the maximum blur and position the focal point for the blur at the focal point of your object. Click OK.
6. Repeat the Blur filter by pressing Cmd+F (Ctrl+F).
7. On the top layer, make a Levels adjustment (Image>Adjustments>Levels. Bring the black and white sliders towards center. Move the gray slider, (the midpoint) away from black.
8. Change the blend mode of the layer to taste.
9. Run a levels adjustment on the background to add some additional contrast.
10. Using a soft-edge brush and the eraser tool set to 30 percent opacity, erase away parts of the blast layer, leaving just the image below. I did this over detailed areas such as the face.
Zoom Lines in After Effects
Need to pull the same zoom effect in After Effects? Here’s how.
1. Add your clip into a new comp. The easiest way to do this is to drag your shot onto the new comp icon at the bottom of the project window.
2. Duplicate the shot by pressing Cmd+D (Ctrl+D). Name the layer Rays.
3. Desaturate the duplicate layer by choosing Effect>Image Control>Hue/Saturation. Set the Saturation Slider to -100.
4. Starting with AE 6.5, the Cycore Effects are bundled on your install disc. Choose Effect>Blur>CC Radial Fast Blur. If this is not an option, choose the regular Radial Blur and be prepared to go walk down the street for a cup of coffee. Adjust the Center and Amount of your effect.
5. Adjust your Levels on the Blur Layer by Choosing Effect>Adjust>Levels. Pull your Black and White Input sliders in towards the edges of your Histogram. This will increase the contrast of your layer
6. Experiment with different blending modes and opacities. You may want to adjust the gray slider on the Levels effect to tweak the rays’ intensity.
7. To limit the effect, duplicate your original source layer, name it Mask and place it on top. If you have a lot of motion in the shot, you’ll need to keyframe a mask and roughly rotoscope the shot with a soft edge. If the shot is fairly static, just double click it to load in the footage window and use your Eraser tool.
8. Change the Track Matte of the Rays layer and set it to Alpha Inverted using the Matte layer.
9. You may want to combine this effect with the previously mentioned Film Look technique to boost saturation.