Soften certain areas and draw focus to your subject by applying blur with your favorite brush. Select the Blur tool in Photoshop, choose a brush tip and strength, and drag it over the spots you want to blur. You can do the same in Lightroom. Show movement with motion blur.
How do you selectively blur the background?
- Open a photo. In Photoshop, go to File > Open and select a photo from your computer, or, if you're following along with the sample go to “selective-focus-blur.
- Open the Blur Gallery.
- Define a focal point.
- Adjust the blur area.
- Adjust the blur transition.
- Adjust the blur amount.
- Done!
Select Artistic Effects and go to the Blur option. As you hold your mouse over it, your image previews the blur effect. If you're happy with the level of blurring, select the option to apply the change. To reduce or increase the blur, select Artistic Effects Options to customize the effect.