ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 9

USING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 9
Filters, effects, styles, and artwork
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Blurring the background of a photo
Gaussian Blur
The Gaussian Blur filter quickly blurs a selection by an adjustable amount. Gaussian refers to the bell-shaped curve
that Photoshop Elements generates when it applies a weighted average to the pixels. The Gaussian Blur filter adds lowfrequency
detail and can produce a hazy effect. You can set the blur radius in the filter options to determine how far
the filter searches for dissimilar pixels to blur.
Motion Blur
The Motion Blur filter blurs in a particular direction (from -360º to +360º) and at a specific distance (from 1 to 999).
The filter’s effect is analogous to taking a picture of a moving object with a fixed exposure time. You can set the blur
angle and distance.
Radial Blur
The Radial Blur filter simulates the blur of a zooming or rotating camera to produce a soft blur. The Amount option
controls the blur amount. Spin blurs along concentric circular lines and lets you specify a degree of rotation. Zoom
blurs along radial lines, as if zooming in on or out of the image and lets you specify an amount from 1 to 100. Blur
quality ranges from Draft for fast but grainy, results to Good and Best for smoother results, which are indistinguishable
except on a large selection. You can specify the origin of the blur by dragging the pattern in the Blur Center box.
Smart Blur
The Smart Blur filter precisely blurs an image. You can specify a radius to determine how far the filter searches for
dissimilar pixels to blur, a threshold to determine how different the pixels’ values must be before they are eliminated,
and a blur quality. You can also set a mode for the entire selection (Normal) or for the edges of color transitions (Edge
Only and Overlay Edge). Where significant contrast occurs, Edge Only applies black-and-white edges and Overlay
Edge applies white.
Surface Blur
The Surface Blur filter blurs an image while preserving edges. This filter is useful for creating special effects and for
removing noise and graininess. The Radius option specifies the size of the area sampled for the blur. The Threshold
option controls how much the tonal values of neighboring pixels must diverge from the center pixel value before
becoming a part of the blur. Pixels with tonal value differences less than the Threshold value are excluded from the blur.
Last updated 1/27/2011