[notsosavvy]

I have my background paper in my layout and have the pictures also. I would like to just blend the edges of the pictures so they are not the hard square look but not the oval I get by selecting.. Is there a way to do this using a light brush?And then can I still move the photo around? I have PSE7 and windows 7 ultimate 64

[teecee]

notsosavvy, on 12 September 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

I have my background paper in my layout and have the pictures also. I would like to just blend the edges of the pictures so they are not the hard square look but not the oval I get by selecting.. Is there a way to do this using a light brush?And then can I still move the photo around? I have PSE7 and windows 7 ultimate 64

There are several ways to blend photos into the background. Here are some tutorials:

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial: Blending Photos Into Your Background
Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial: The Big Brushed Photo Effect
Feathering Photos Together for Digital Scrapbooking

There are also products available in the boutique that are wonderful to help with blending. Here are a few of my favorites:
ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Blendability
ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Background Blenders - Masks
Dynamic Brush Set: Background Blenders

There is also a video tutorial for the Background Blenders Brush Set here: Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial: Using Dynamic Brushes in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

[MariJ]

Hi. Yes if you click on your eraser/BRUSH tool and then go to your default brushes and select a soft round brush you can erase around the edges of your photo in any shape you wish. You can turn down the brush opacity as you work closest to your photo and then turn it higher as you move outwards towards the background. At 100% opacity you will be erasing everything but still with a soft edge. If you play around you can get the hang of it.
Don't forget to duplicate your photo first and then turn that layer off. Then work on the duplicate layer so if you make a mistake you still have your original pic.
Good luck! . (ps I also really like using Syndee's brush set: "Painted" to do this sort of blending. It works great for me!)

[SodScrap]

Theresa gave you some great links to products and tutorials!! Marilyn's advice is important too! Don't forget to copy the photo layer first!!

Did those work for you? Let us know if you have more questions!

[notsosavvy]

Thank you so much for the help.Marij, that was just what I was looking for. It worked great, and Teecee, thank you for the links. I will certainly check them out as I would like to learn more.You guys are awesome. Someone always knows the answer.

[teecee]

notsosavvy, on 12 September 2012 - 03:36 PM, said:

Thank you so much for the help.Marij, that was just what I was looking for. It worked great, and Teecee, thank you for the links. I will certainly check them out as I would like to learn more.You guys are awesome. Someone always knows the answer.

Glad we were able to help! Let us know if you have any more questions.

[Smiles]

If you are cropping a photo with a shape, you can also feather several pixels at the edges, which will give a similar effect.

[Belle]

http://www.youtube.c...be_gdata_player Here is a link to Brandy's tutorial. Hope the link works.

[MariJ]

Smiles, on 12 September 2012 - 07:10 PM, said:

If you are cropping a photo with a shape, you can also feather several pixels at the edges, which will give a similar effect.

Wow, Gayle never thought of that - great idea, thank you! I learn something new every day on SGs.

[LenaLotta]

Belle, on 13 September 2012 - 02:58 AM, said:

http://www.youtube.c...be_gdata_player Here is a link to Brandy's tutorial. Hope the link works.

Thank you for the link Belle, it works perfectly well and it's a super duper tutorial.
From now on there'll be major changes in my blendnings!
Thank you Brandy for making this tutorial!!!

[Belle]

LenaLotta, on 14 September 2012 - 04:01 AM, said:

Belle, on 13 September 2012 - 02:58 AM, said:

http://www.youtube.c...be_gdata_player Here is a link to Brandy's tutorial. Hope the link works.

Thank you for the link Belle, it works perfectly well and it's a super duper tutorial.
From now on there'll be major changes in my blendnings!
Thank you Brandy for making this tutorial!!!

My pleasure. I saved the link to the video on my PC so that I can watch it whenever I want. Looking forward to your layouts.

[Brandy M]

You are welcome Lena & thanks Belle for pointing it out.

[B&K Mom]

WOW!!! A tutorial from the blending QUEEN! That's awesome. Brandy's blending ROCKS! Thanks for the link, Belle.

[Scrappin_LYB]

Almost missed this one! THANK YOU, Brandy, for the tutorial, and to TEECEE for posting the links. I've been quite frustrated with blending---can't get it to look beyond that of a 3-yr-old's efforts! LOL Maybe there is hope for me yet!