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I really like Blender 3D's Lens Distortion node. Specifically the chromatic aberration effect. I would like to recreate it in Photoshop but I can't figure it out.
Really like the pulling/stretching in the corners and the heavy chromatic aberration effect. I like how the center is still in focus but the distortion is amplified out into the corners.
After hours of trying I cannot figure it out. Does anyone here know how Blender is doing this exactly or can point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
Unfortunately you cannot get it by misusing Lens Correction. It is too smart, it doesn't generate chromatic aberration if there's none. But you can distort R,G and B channels differently.
Let's check the case with an example. It has big BW contrasts to get much color.
Duplicate the image layer to have a spare copy.
Insert to the duplicate a few percent radial zoom blur (Filter > Blur > Radial Blur > Zoom)
Open the Channels panel. Select the blurred layer in the Layers panel. Make a selection by applying Select All.
Select one channel, say R in the channels panel and stretch it symmetrically larger by holding Shift+Alt at the same time. Select another channel, say B and stretch it smaller. The fake color aberration is ready:
The blur isn't a must, but it generates some intermediate colors which do not exist without blur. The daylight color spectrum which can be seen for example when one watches things through a thick magnifying glass is much richer than the 3 colors of RGB.
You can make the colors even richer by moving 2 channels apart in other way than radially (=by symmetric stretching). But that generates aberration to the whole image area. You can fool by inserting a radial gradient layer mask and let the original image cover the mid part:
