PhotoshopElements

Blur or soften edges

The Blur tool softens hard edges or areas in an image by reducing detail. Blurring a busy background can bring your target images more into focus. You can also use Blur filters for this purpose.

Original photo (left), and photo after blurring the background (right)

  1. Select the Blur tool .
  2. Set options in the options bar:
    Brushes pop‑up menu
    Sets the brush tip. Click the arrow next to the brush sample, choose a brush category from the Brushes pop‑up menu, and then select a brush thumbnail.

    Size
    Sets the size of the brush, in pixels. Drag the Size pop‑up slider or enter a size in the text box.

    Mode
    Specifies how the pixels you blur blend into other pixels in the image.

    Strength
    Specifies the amount of blur that occurs with each stroke

    All Layers
    Blurs all visible layers. If this is deselected, the tool blurs only the active layer.

  3. Drag over the part of the image you want to blur.