This photo shows one of Liverpool's Chinatown lions. Liverpool is England's 5th most populous city. Home of the Beatles and the Merseybeat poets, Liverpool was once a proud hub of trade and culture until the 1970s, when its ports and manufacturing industries began a sharp decline. Now, years later, Liverpool is once again on the rise. Named as Europe's official Capital of Culture for 2008, Liverpool's cultural life is on display for the world to see.

Behind the Photographic Art Scene:

To create the "zoom blur" in Adobe Photoshop, I created a new background copy layer, which I then processed through a radial zoom filter, with the center on the lion's face. I then added a layer mask to the zoom blur layer and painted away the zoom from the lion's face, as well as from the Chinese writing below.

You can also create a zoom blur effect in-camera if you have an SLR camera and zoom lens. Focus and center the area that you want your blur to emanate from. Use a slower shutter speed to give you time to zoom. Start zooming the lens, then press the shutter. Make sure you continue zooming until a second after you release the shutter, to ensure that you don't accidentally stop before the photo is taken. The zoom blur will be centered on the middle of the photo. To get an off-centered zoom blur, which is what I wanted here, you'll need to use Photoshop on a normal photo or crop your in-camera, zoom-blurred photo afterwards.

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