Ricoh thanks for that. There are a few ways of doing it. Most recently I have been experimenting with Nik Analog Efex as a plugin running under Lightroom.
In Nik Analog Efex there are three specific filters you can elect to use alone or "stacked" if you wish. There is a bokeh filter (its name speaks for itself), a motion blur filter(which allows you to move pixels in a single direction) and a zoom and rotate blur filter (which allows you to move pixels in a spiral kind of motion). In this case I think I used a combination of these filters. Plus I used some vignette filter as well (also a part of Analog Efex as well as many other image processing programs).
I also am pretty sure I may have applied another filter from the Nik Analog Pro suite. This is a filter which applies what they call a Photo Plate filter. This is designed to mimic some of the flaws, distortions and artifacts seen in old vintage glass photo plates . In effect how it does this is by applying a texture over the top of the image. This texture can be selectively applied to appear in some parts of the image but not in others so the main subject is not too strongly affected - or affected not at all if that's what you want.
Other software (e.g. Corel Paintshop Pro - which I also use) typically have some kind of smudge filter. And these can be used to move pixels and smudge the image or parts of it selectively. It is rather more "hands on" though and needs more work.
Another way of achieving something of this sort of effect is to use Corel Paintshop Pro or Photoshop or some other image editor that supports
layers. Using layers you can import a texture image of some sort, apply that as a layer over top of the main image then by adjusting the transparency of the new layer and using an eraser tool (which is also a part of photoshop etc) rub part of that layer out so you can see the underlaying image where you want it to appear. There are lots of texture files in jpg or png etc available to download for free on the internet. Just Google these words " image texture grunge files" I use this technique when I feel it will produce a more interesting result or something the Nik product etc cannot. It sounds complex but I found once I started experimenting its not very hard to learn if you are willing to fail sometimes - and it's fun.
But as I say in relation to the specific image you asked about, I used the Nik suite. Here is another image where I am pretty sure I did something similar. (Though this one was shot through a bus window so that flare is part of the image too.)
Member of the Anti-social Social Club by
Life in Shadows, on Flickr
And here which is really just an experiment in using the above tools creatively. The pixels have more obviously been moved about here and I do not know if I had a specific idea about what I was trying to achieve but I kind of liked the result which is a bit like an image in an old distorted antique mirror, so I kept it. (You need to be open to this kind of serendipitous outcome till you learn the tools - another reason to experiment).
Cafe Colombia - Adelaide Central Market 4 by
Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Oh and finally. Here is another one. In it the background the bokeh was already pretty good but I wanted to enhance it a bit more to make the image a bit more interesting. You can in this one see the effect of one of the Photo Plate filters which makes it look as if the image was shot through a dirty glass window. I experimented, I liked the result (after trying several alternatives) so I kept it.
Thoughtful by
Life in Shadows, on Flickr
