Editor Guided - Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 for Photographers - page 171

BEFORE AFTER SIMPLE DOF AFTER CUSTOM DOF

as the user is able to choose precisely which parts of the picture are sharp and which are blurred. And
because this approach employs a layer mask for the effect, you also have the opportunity to edit the mask
at a later date to change the areas left sharp and the characteristic of the transition between sharp and
blurred areas. Cool!

Custom DOF

1 2 3

Open a photo into the Guided Edit workspace
using the first two steps of the previous tech-
nique. Choose the Custom option in the
Method section of the Depth of Field panel.

Click onto the Quick Selection Tool button
in the first step of the instructions. Drag the
tool over the areas you want to remain sharp.
If need be, hold down the Alt/Opt key to re-
move unwanted areas from the selection.

Next, click the Add Blur button in the second
step of the instructions to apply the DOF ef-
fect to the image.

4 5 6

Use the Blur slider in the final step to adjust
the degree of blur in the photo before click-
ing Done to apply the changes. For further
editing, select the Full option from the Cre-
ate task panel (at the top) to switch to the
Full Edit workspace.

Display the Layers panel (Window > Layers)
and click onto the layer mask thumbnail of
the upper layer. Choose the brush tool and
to make blurry areas sharp simply paint over
these parts with a white brush.

Alternatively, if you want sharp areas to be-
come blurry, paint these sections with a black
brush. You can also soften the transition be-
tween sharp and blurry picture parts by
painting over the edge with a soft-edged
brush set to a low opacity.