Feathered Edge on Photo

[Engine44]

Good morning,

There are many types of edges or borders that can be applied to a photo.  I would like know how learn how to create a feathered edge

Are there built-in functions for this edge?  Thanks.

[Murfee]

Good morning @Engine44, there is no built in tool but it is quite easy to create.

Draw the shape you want, add a gaussian blur to the shape using the fx panel, drag the shape over the thumbnail of your image

[h_d]

Here's one way:

Draw an Ellipse over the image, set its Opacity to around 50% so you can see the underlying image while you adjust the shape to fit:

On Mac, Cmd-click on the ellipse icon in the Layers panel. (Probably Control-click on PC?)  This will create a selection ("marching ants") of the ellipse shape.

Hide the ellipse shape by unchecking it in the Layers panel.

Use Feather from the Select menu to blur the edge of the selection. The value you choose will depend on the size of the image. The 20/50 pixels mentioned in the tutorial you link to will probably be too little on a full-size out-of-camera image:

.

From the Select menu, choose Invert Pixel Selection

From the Layer menu, choose New Fill Layer. Set the fill colour to white.

If you're happy, delete the ellipse layer and deselect. If you're not, step back through the history, adjust the feather value, rinse and repeat.

Cheers,

H

 

 

 

[Engine44]

28 minutes ago, Murfee said:

Good morning @Engine44, there is no built in tool but it is quite easy to create.

Draw the shape you want, add a gaussian blur to the shape using the fx panel, drag the shape over the thumbnail of your image

 

[Engine44]

I guess I'm doing something wrong.  The shape I want already exists.  It is the edges of the rectangular photo.  When I apply the blur, the whole photo is blurred.

[Murfee]

4 minutes ago, Engine44 said:

I guess I'm doing something wrong.  The shape I want already exists.  It is the edges of the rectangular photo.  When I apply the blur, the whole photo is blurred.

If you need a rectangular shape draw one in place then apply the blur to the shape, then drag the shape over your photo

[Engine44]

Thanks. If I draw a rectangle on the photo a dashed square appears. You say drag the shape over the photo but it is already over the photo. Am I supposed to draw the rectangle somewhere else?

[Murfee]

4 minutes ago, Engine44 said:

Thanks. If I draw a rectangle on the photo a dashed square appears. You say drag the shape over the photo but it is already over the photo. Am I supposed to draw the rectangle somewhere else?

I used the shape rectangle, not the selection rectangle

[Engine44]

3 minutes ago, Murfee said:

I used the shape rectangle, not the selection rectangle

Ok. I used the Rectangle Tool and drew a rectangle over photo.  The rectangle is white and covers most of the photo.  Was I supposed to draw the rectangle somewhere else?  Thanks.

[Dan C]

17 minutes ago, Engine44 said:

I guess I'm doing something wrong.  The shape I want already exists.  It is the edges of the rectangular photo.  When I apply the blur, the whole photo is blurred.

That sounds as though you're applying the FX to the Pixel layer, and not the masked shape layer.

When Murfee mentions 'drag the shape over your photo', they're referring to dragging the rectangle layer over the image layer, in the Layers Studio. Please note there are 2 locations to drag the rectangle to, one clips the rectangle within the image, the other masks the image to the rectangle. For more info on this, please see here - 

Please see my below screen recording showing the workflow that I'd suggest for your feathered edge - 

I hope this helps!

 

[Murfee]

Does this recording help?

 

 

[h_d]

Just for the record, @Murfee's method is far superior to the one I suggested.

[Engine44]

27 minutes ago, Murfee said:

Does this recording help?

 

 

Feather edges 2.mov 6.33 MB · 1 download

 

Yes.  Thank you for your time and patience.

[Murfee]

12 minutes ago, Engine44 said:

Yes.  Thank you for your time and patience.

You are welcome, I am glad you have managed to do what you needed. You can use any shape that you want so it is very versatile