Blur tool

Since I generally do a minimum amount of photo-editing this has not come
up before, but I now want to blur out a small portion of the background
in an otherwise great photo.

Using Photoshop, the blur tool does absolutely nothing.

What did I miss?


I asked my wife who has considerably more Photoshop knowledge than I do
and she said it's just for making small adjustments...but I want to
considerably blur-out a small area.


I know it can be done, so what did I miss?

On 1/18/2016 10:21 AM, philo wrote:
Since I generally do a minimum amount of photo-editing this has not come
up before, but I now want to blur out a small portion of the background
in an otherwise great photo.

Using Photoshop, the blur tool does absolutely nothing.

What did I miss?


I asked my wife who has considerably more Photoshop knowledge than I do
and she said it's just for making small adjustments...but I want to
considerably blur-out a small area.


I know it can be done, so what did I miss?


There may be many reasons your blur tool isn't working. However, here is
one alternative. Duplicate the layer
Make a selection around the area you want to keep sharp. Leave plenty of
room.
Invert Your selection, and then feather it generously.
Click on the mask on the bottom right of your workspace. You should see
a black outline around the area you want to keep sharp.
Click filters | blur | either Gaussian or lens, (Whichever your prefer.)
Blur to taste.

Note the purpose for feathering your selection is to obtain a gradual
blur vignette.

There are commercial filters that will do this, but I am assuming you
don't have them.
And before anyone comes up with a "better" way, I acknowledge there very
well may be. The above method works for me.



--
PeterN

On 01/18/2016 09:51 AM, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 09:21:21 -0600, philo wrote:

Since I generally do a minimum amount of photo-editing this has not come
up before, but I now want to blur out a small portion of the background
in an otherwise great photo.

Using Photoshop, the blur tool does absolutely nothing.

What did I miss?


I asked my wife who has considerably more Photoshop knowledge than I do
and she said it's just for making small adjustments...but I want to
considerably blur-out a small area.


I know it can be done, so what did I miss?

Duplicate the background layer. Make a selection using a lot of
feather of the area you want to blur. Go to FilterBlur and choose
one of the blur settings. Gaussian blur, for example. Adjust the
blur setting as needed. When acceptable, flatten and save.

If necessary, duplicate that layer and clone to blend.

Always work on a duplicate layer of the original. If you do it wrong,
just delete the duplicate layer and start over.






Thanks but I did not want to use the blur filter, I wanted to use the
blur tool

It's on the same panel as the healing tool and the healing tool works
just fine

On 01/18/2016 10:02 AM, PeterN wrote:
On 1/18/2016 10:21 AM, philo wrote:
Since I generally do a minimum amount of photo-editing this has not come
up before, but I now want to blur out a small portion of the background
in an otherwise great photo.

Using Photoshop, the blur tool does absolutely nothing.

What did I miss?


I asked my wife who has considerably more Photoshop knowledge than I do
and she said it's just for making small adjustments...but I want to
considerably blur-out a small area.


I know it can be done, so what did I miss?


There may be many reasons your blur tool isn't working. However, here is
one alternative. Duplicate the layer
Make a selection around the area you want to keep sharp. Leave plenty of
room.
Invert Your selection, and then feather it generously.
Click on the mask on the bottom right of your workspace. You should see
a black outline around the area you want to keep sharp.
Click filters | blur | either Gaussian or lens, (Whichever your prefer.)
Blur to taste.

Note the purpose for feathering your selection is to obtain a gradual
blur vignette.

There are commercial filters that will do this, but I am assuming you
don't have them.
And before anyone comes up with a "better" way, I acknowledge there very
well may be. The above method works for me.






That works but is more complicated than I had hoped for

thanks

On 1/18/2016 10:25 AM, Tony Cooper wrote:
layer and clone to blend.

Always work on a duplicate layer of the original. If you do it wrong,
just delete the duplicate layer and start over.






Thanks but I did not want to use the blur filter, I wanted to use the
blur tool

It's on the same panel as the healing tool and the healing tool works
just fine

Well, it depends on what you want to do. You have the choice of using
a tool that does not effectively do what you want or using another
method that will do what you want.

If you insist on using the tool, then make sure it is set on "Normal",
"Dark", or "Light" depending on the area and adjust the strength.
Repeated use increases the blur. It has incremental effect.




If the blur tool worked as easily as the healing tool it would sure save
me a lot of trouble. OTOH this is not something I'd do on a regular
basis so to do a fair amount of extra work for one image is not a major
big deal

On Jan 18, 2016, philo wrote
(in article ):

Since I generally do a minimum amount of photo-editing this has not come
up before, but I now want to blur out a small portion of the background
in an otherwise great photo.

Using Photoshop, the blur tool does absolutely nothing.

What did I miss?


I asked my wife who has considerably more Photoshop knowledge than I do
and she said it's just for making small adjustments...but I want to
considerably blur-out a small area.


I know it can be done, so what did I miss?

To start with what edition of Photoshop are you working with?

What portion of the photo are you trying to blur, background, edges, other?
The blur tool is useful to soften edges.

From what you are saying it seems there is an area you want to blur
considerably, so that is where an adjustment layer and layer mask would work
best.

1: In the layers panel duplicate your background layer.
2: From the menu go to Filter-Blur and select an appropriate blur filter
type. I would suggest “Gaussian blur� with the radius set between 2-6.
3: Apply that filter to the adjustment layer. It will blur the entire image.
4: Return to the adjustment layers panel and while holding down the
alt/option key add a layer mask. This is done by clicking on the layer mask
icon at the bottom of the layers panel, to produce a layer mask filled with
black. The blurred photo will now appear unblurred.
5: Select a soft edged brush and with the black layer mask active, paint in
white over the area where you want the blur effect. To correct, switch back
to black and paint in the correction.
6: Now you are either finished or you can adjust opacity of that layer to
taste and finish.

--

Regards,
Savageduck

On 1/18/2016 11:10 AM, philo wrote:
On 01/18/2016 09:51 AM, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 09:21:21 -0600, philo wrote:

Since I generally do a minimum amount of photo-editing this has not come
up before, but I now want to blur out a small portion of the background
in an otherwise great photo.

Using Photoshop, the blur tool does absolutely nothing.

What did I miss?


I asked my wife who has considerably more Photoshop knowledge than I do
and she said it's just for making small adjustments...but I want to
considerably blur-out a small area.


I know it can be done, so what did I miss?

Duplicate the background layer. Make a selection using a lot of
feather of the area you want to blur. Go to FilterBlur and choose
one of the blur settings. Gaussian blur, for example. Adjust the
blur setting as needed. When acceptable, flatten and save.

If necessary, duplicate that layer and clone to blend.

Always work on a duplicate layer of the original. If you do it wrong,
just delete the duplicate layer and start over.






Thanks but I did not want to use the blur filter, I wanted to use the
blur tool

It's on the same panel as the healing tool and the healing tool works
just fine

Are you sure you are using the blur tool? On CS6, and CC2015, It is on
the same panel as the sharpen and smear tools.

Also What strength is it set for.

The blur tool seems to have a subtle effect, so it takes a lot of
blurring. The effect will be more noticeable if you set the hardness of
the brush somewhere about 50%.

HTH

--
PeterN

On Jan 18, 2016, Savageduck wrote
(in news.com):

On Jan 18, 2016, philo wrote
(in article ):

Since I generally do a minimum amount of photo-editing this has not come
up before, but I now want to blur out a small portion of the background
in an otherwise great photo.

Using Photoshop, the blur tool does absolutely nothing.

What did I miss?


I asked my wife who has considerably more Photoshop knowledge than I do
and she said it's just for making small adjustments...but I want to
considerably blur-out a small area.


I know it can be done, so what did I miss?

To start with what edition of Photoshop are you working with?

What portion of the photo are you trying to blur, background, edges, other?
The blur tool is useful to soften edges.

From what you are saying it seems there is an area you want to blur
considerably, so that is where an adjustment layer and layer mask would work
best.

1: In the layers panel duplicate your background layer.
2: From the menu go to Filter-Blur and select an appropriate blur filter
type. I would suggest “Gaussian blur� with the radius set between 2-6.
3: Apply that filter to the adjustment layer. It will blur the entire image.
4: Return to the adjustment layers panel and while holding down the
alt/option key add a layer mask. This is done by clicking on the layer mask
icon at the bottom of the layers panel, to produce a layer mask filled with
black. The blurred photo will now appear unblurred.
5: Select a soft edged brush and with the black layer mask active, paint in
white over the area where you want the blur effect. To correct, switch back
to black and paint in the correction.
6: Now you are either finished or you can adjust opacity of that layer to
taste and finish.

....and that might read more complicated than it is. So here is a demo of what
I was saying, slightly exaggerated, but just to show how quickly and
effectively it can be done.
http://adobe.ly/1WnAdO0

--

Regards,
Savageduck

On 1/18/2016 10:52 AM, PeterN wrote:
On






Thanks but I did not want to use the blur filter, I wanted to use the
blur tool

It's on the same panel as the healing tool and the healing tool works
just fine

Are you sure you are using the blur tool? On CS6, and CC2015, It is on
the same panel as the sharpen and smear tools.

Also What strength is it set for.

The blur tool seems to have a subtle effect, so it takes a lot of
blurring. The effect will be more noticeable if you set the hardness of
the brush somewhere about 50%.

HTH




I have set the hardness up all the way, I think the tool just does not
have the degree of blurriness I need.

Thanks

On 1/18/2016 10:51 AM, Savageduck wrote:
On Jan 18, 2016, philo wrote
ment layer and layer mask would work
best.

1: In the layers panel duplicate your background layer.
2: From the menu go to Filter-Blur and select an appropriate blur filter
type. I would suggest “Gaussian blur� with the radius set between 2-6.
3: Apply that filter to the adjustment layer. It will blur the entire image.
4: Return to the adjustment layers panel and while holding down the
alt/option key add a layer mask. This is done by clicking on the layer mask
icon at the bottom of the layers panel, to produce a layer mask filled with
black. The blurred photo will now appear unblurred.
5: Select a soft edged brush and with the black layer mask active, paint in
white over the area where you want the blur effect. To correct, switch back
to black and paint in the correction.
6: Now you are either finished or you can adjust opacity of that layer to
taste and finish.

\


I'm using CS-6 and the blur tool just does not have sufficient power to
be of use...

will simply have to cut out the portion I need to keep sharp, then blur
the background

thanks