Motion Light Trail is a fun effect to add to a moving object. It is great for making wallpapers, avatars or just playing around.
Here are the before and after pictures:
Step 1. Making the selection
First we need to select the object. For this we use the Lasso Tool. I prefer the Magnetic Lasso tool but it can also be done with the regular one or the Poligonal one. The key is time and patience.
Magnetic Lasso Tool
When done selecting click on Layer -> New -> Layer via Copy. Your selection will be copied into a new layer. Here you can repair the selection with the eraser tool or aditional selectiong and copying of the poorly selected parts until you are happy with the outline.
Step 2. Duplicating the Layer
Duplicate the Object layer by right-clicking on it and selecting Duplicate Layer. I named the new layer Motion Light Trail 1 (see image below).
Step 3. White Fill
We will now color the object on the Motion Light Trail white. To do that click outside of the object with the Magic Wand Tool and then Select->Inverse. Now the object should be selected. Then Click on Edit->Fill and choose white color. Press OK and the object will become white (see below).
The motion light trail has to be placed behind the original object. For that go to Layers and move the Motion Light Trail layer under the Object layer (see image below). Use the Move Tool to move the layer to the side. I moved it to the right because the skater is coming from that direciton and it creates a nice touch to the motion.
Step 4. Opacity
Now make a few more trails using the same procedure. Each new layer has to have a little less Opacity. You can set the opacity in the layer window (see below).
I decided that this picture looked best with four motion light trails. Here is the end resut. I hope you find this tutorial interesting!
