Inside Photoshop® CS

Softening the Image Focus

Before constructing the magazine cover, we will first make a false focus effect by blurring the background and, partially, the girl. No, no, I'm not joking. Remember the prime focal areas: eyes and lips:

Adjusting the Image Focus

1.

If you have flattened your image, first duplicate your Background layer by dragging it to the Create a new layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Even though the image is flattened, all the selections saved earlier are available. Choose Select, Load Selection, and then choose Body girl from the Channel drop-down list. Invert the selection (Shift+F7), right-click (Macintosh: hold Ctrl and click) on the Background copy layer title, and choose Layer via Cut from the context menu.