solareclips~Julie Alexander

My basic understanding of the process is as follows…. (Please feel free to add to this. I am still new at getting this to work properly!)

1)Open your image
2)Duplicate the background layer (Right click on the background layer and choose duplicate) and name that layer Sharp
3)Create another duplicate of the background layer.
4)Change the Blending mode of the Sharp Copy to screen
5)With the Sharp Copy layer selected, right click and choose Merge Down
6) Right click on the Sharp layer, choose Duplicate and name this layer Out of Focus
7)On the Filter Menu, choose Blur – Gaussian Blur (Depending on the resolution of the image you are using, the amount of blue needed will change. Use enough that the shapes are still visible, but detail is not.)
8)Change the blending mode of the Out of focus layer to multiply.

Once you are complete, you may find it necessary to adjust the opacity of your Out of Focus layer and/or apply a levels (or curves) adjustment layer to the Sharp layer if some tweaking is necessary. You can also adjust the amount of blur you apply to the out of focus image, as well as adjustments such as level, brightness and contrast and it is good practice to apply sharpening to your image Sharp layer.

Example of a finished piece, (I know that this isn’t the best, but like I said I am still learning this!)