Blur in photoshop?

[cA70]

Ok, ive got two layers, the subject and the background in photoshop 7.

I'm trying to keep the subject the same but blur the background layer. Ive tried all the blur tools and none of them seem to do anthing decent. Am i doing it wrong?

Ive seen buring work on the blur tool, but that one does one little circle and to keep it even through the picture might not work that way.

How does everyone esle do it?

[rcrobert]

I'm not sure I understand the question, but here is what I would do to blur the background. If you've already got the subject isolated (on its own layer), I think you can just select the entire background layer (click on it, and hit CTRL A -- or lasso it). Then, I'd apply Guassian Blur under the filters. Play with the sliders until you get the amount of blur you want.

I think that's all there is to it. Hopefully, a PS pro will join in here soon and correct me!

Good luck!

[slejhamer]

Rcrobert is mostly correct - simply run the gaussian blur filter (filters > blur > gaussian blur) on your background. However, you will probably notice some color bleeding (haloing) around your subject. To avoid this, simply clone the area around the subject (on the background layer) with nearby background colors, or use the smudge tool to push the bleeding edges back.

For a more sophisticated look, set the blur to a level stronger than you wish, and then use the eraser tool (very large soft brush set to 50% opacity) to gradually reduce the blur. By doing this, you can control how much blur is applied to different portions of the background, creating a more realistic depth of field effect. There is a tutorial for this here: http://info.zavalaphotography.com/tutsoft.html. It is geared to portraiture but has uses in other genres.

Cheers,

[cA70]

I finally figured it out with your help, i did try that last time but it didn't work. The reason is because the layer was on 'overlay' instead of normal. This must of been undone when i skiped to far back though the history.

Thanks. And that tutorial looked like its in detail so i've saved it (to pc) for when i dont have an assignment due for uni.