18 Feb 2008 04:53:24 | Nashville
Some people are startled on how wonderful images look with
blurred edges. They certainly don’t know how easy it is to do
it. It is called a feathered edge in Photoshop (PS). You can put
in many feathered images together to get a wonderful collage
that melts seamlessly together using the Octagonal and
Rectangular tool or the Lasso Tools in PS.
Feathering is one of the most commonly used techniques when
creating wallpapers. It is set by a radius measurement in pixels
which means that it occurs in both directions or on both sides
of the selection boundary. Since it’s set by pixels, a feather
value will have a very different effect on images of very
different resolutions.
The feathering effect to combine two or more images smoothly in
PS is easy to be learned. As a start, it’s advisable to use two
images. Here we go. First, create a new image of any size you
want and paste the image. It should be on layer 1. Now, here
comes the feathering effect. Choose the Rectangular Marquee tool
and you will see the thing that says Feather. Once you have
found it, change the px to between 15-20. Then, select around
one-third of the image on the left side and press delete. Now,
you can see some of the second image through the first image.
Using the Selection menu, you can set the amount of feathering
you wish. Higher numbers, mean wider the spreads of feathering.
You can also set the amount of feathering by using the Options
bar text entry field for "Feathering" in PS versions 6, 7 and
CS. From here, just click the QuickMask button if you wish to
test your feather. Now, you can see the feather in action. If
you want an even clearer demo, double-click the QuickMask button
in the tool bar; and in the QuickMask dialog, set the mask color
to white; and the Opacity to 80 to 90%. Keep selecting some
parts of the first image and press delete until the two images
are combined smoothly. That's it! You now have a feathered image.
Feathering blurs edges by building a transition boundary between
the selection and its surrounding pixels. This blurring can
cause some loss of detail at the edge of the selection. Always
remember that the amount of feathering or 'blur' you assigned
will be centered at the active selection. At present, feathering
is a software term for the traditional technique known as
vignetting: a soft edged border around an image which blends
into the background. You can make this any shape you like.
Folks, try the feathering effect in Photoshop now. With it,
you’ll be able to experience and learn this interesting and
enjoyable technique that is previously enjoyed by web and
graphic designers only.
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information that may be related to brochures printing and other
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